Fire Lines and Memory Maps: Building a Restoration Career After the Crew Leaves
You know that moment when the smoke clears and the crews pack up, and suddenly it's just you, the ash, and a thousand questions? That's where this work begins. Not with a grant proposal, not with a GIS map—though those come later—but with a simple, uncomfortable truth: if we don't capture what people remember about this land before it burns, we're restoring a place we never knew. I've watched restoration projects fail not because of bad science, but because nobody asked the old-timer who knew where the spring used to run. So let's talk about building a career out of asking those questions, and doing it in a way that doesn't collapse when the adrenaline fades. Who Needs This and What Goes Wrong Without It Post-fire restoration as a community-led vocation You didn't sign up for this.