Eli Goodsell is the Executive Director of the Chico State Ecological Reserve and prescribed burn leader. We discuss fire- wildfire, prescribed burns, training and healing from fire devastation. Eli discusses experiences and practices after the Park Fire, including prescribed burns and pyro-therapy. He offers resources for Los Angelenos post fire with an understanding that facing fire as a community is a very much alive for us here in Los Angeles. He also looks at climate change and its impact on the number of and the intensity of wildfire.
This discussion takes place less than a month after the fires that devastated Alta Dena and Pacific Palisades, California. More than 40,000 homes were destroyed in these fires.
Watch the Presentation
This discussion takes place on February 27th, 2025 and is part of the SEI Where We Live Spring Seminar Series
Learn More
Explore related resources and readings that expand on topics discussed during the talk:
- Eli Goodsell profile
- San Diego Cal Fire and “good fire” Learn more about CAL Fire’s work in San Diego with local tribal communities- using prescribed fire as a restoration tool.
- “Forest therapy for wildfire survivors: Spending time in the woods can help wildfire survivors recover.” High Country News, Rebecca Randall, November 1, 2024. A look at forest therapy strategies to help wild fire survivors to find healing opportunities in the aftermath of devastation of the Camp Fire and the immense loss faced by those in Paradise California and surrounding areaas
- “Differences in interference processing and frontal brain function with climate trauma from California’s deadliest wildfire” PLOS,Gillian K. Grennan, Mathew C. Withers et al, Jan 18, 2023. Find out more about the impact of climate trauma on the well being and brain function of those impacted.
- PBS: Weathered Series: “The Real Story of the LA Fires” This documentary discusses the history of major fires within city limits, how we stopped it and the whys and hows of the re-ignition of these metropolitan fires. They address the Los Angeles fires of Jan 2026- when firefighters had just started to gain control.
Why It Matters
With climate catastrophe comes a significant increase of wildfire and urban fire danger. Understanding the implications of this type of devastation and what it takes to prevent, prepare, heal and restore our communities couldn’t be more relative.