The Cross-Park RAD project team members (including NC CASC’s Heather Yocum) announce that their focus groups are in progress! They’ve just returned from back-to-back visits to Sequoia Kings Canyon (SEKI) and North Cascades (NOCO) where they had the chance to engage with park staff and explore decision-making processes related to ecological transformation.

At SEKI, the team met with 10 staff members to discuss decision-making around high-intensity fires in giant sequoia groves. They learned a lot about fire regimes and the ecology of sequoia groves, and especially appreciated hearing about the emotional aspects the staff dealt with in the aftermath of fires. In NOCO, the team engaged with 12 staff members to delve into the decision-making processes regarding wildfires in the park's west-side, old-growth forest, where frequent and large wildfires are now considered "the new normal." Although the focus groups were conducted outside the park in Sedro-Woolley, the team visited the park beforehand and observed the burn areas from the 2015 Goodell Fire and the 2023 Sourdough Fire. In both SEKI and NOCA, the drive into the parks provided the team with a sense of their vastness and the extent of the challenges faced by park staff.

A visit to Acadia National Park is up next, in early March, and then Glacier National Park in mid-April, to complete the data collection phase of this project.