All-Lands Stewardship
For us, “stewardship” means taking care of our land and resources by combining the best available science with local knowledge. In a region of highly fragmented land ownership, this means cooperation, collaboration, and working across property lines to promote ecological integrity and resilience.
Stewardship Crew
We employ a cross-trained crew serving the Mt. Adams region with forestry, fuels, and fire projects. On any given day, our crew might be working on a roadside fuel break, installing a beaver dam analog, implementing prescribed fire, or planting trees to restore a streambank.
Cooperative Land Management
MARS provides capacity to federal agencies—whether by facilitating conversations or providing “boots on the ground” assistance—to support collaborative, responsible land management across our region.
Fire Adapted Communities
Our staff provides assistance for local rural communities in recognizing and mitigating their wildfire risk. We provide home wildfire risk assessments, produce educational materials, and help with community planning & outreach.
South Gifford Pinchot Collaborative Group
MARS serves as the fiscal sponsor for the South Gifford Pinchot Collaborative Group, a community-based partnership that helps guide the development, facilitation, and implementation of projects on the South Zone of the Gifford Pinchot National Forest.
Monitoring
Before, during, and after implementation, we track and communicate the ecological impacts of our projects. On the Mt. Adams Community Forest as well as for partnering land managers, we monitor indicators ranging from species composition, to stand age and density, to fuel accumulation, fire effects, and beyond.
Columbia Gorge TREX
We host an annual Prescribed Fire Training Exchange (TREX) to provide an immersive training opportunity for fire practitioners and land managers of all backgrounds. We partner with numerous organizations and agencies to implement prescribed burns across the Gorge region during the TREX.
Programs
Mt. Adams Prescribed Burn Association
We help coordinate a coalition of private land managers supporting one another on prescribed burn projects. As one of the founding members of the PBA, MARS serves as the fiscal sponsor, hosts training events, and manages a shared equipment cache.