“I am currently serving as the Executive  Director and Project Developer for Eastern Madera County Fire Safe Council. When I was born, my father worked at the North Fork sawmill. Talk of forest health and land stewardship was prevalent at the dinner table. When I moved my family back into Eastern Madera County, we were just beginning to see a rapid increase in widespread devastating wildfires. With a background in outreach, education, and non-profit leadership, I put my focus on obtaining the skills I needed to be an active practitioner in wildfire mitigation. Taking my stewardship skills to another level, I obtained training in Wildland Firefighting and Community Wildfire Risk Assessment and Mitigation Best Practices. I am certified by the National Fire Protection Association as a Community Wildfire Mitigation Specialist. I am also a Firewise Community leader and am partnering with Coarsegold Resource Conservation District to bring wildfire prevention and preparation skills to our mountain community youth through a rich education program. I am proudly serving as a Steering Committee Member of the Yosemite Gateway Prescribed Burn Cooperative and am excited to share the opportunity to help our landowners learn to harness the benefits and learn strategies related to prescribed fire.”

Mimi Stal serves as Compliance and Program Support Specialist for the Eastern Madera County Fire Safe Council. She has education in business and agriculture and brings a wide range of experience in a variety of sectors. Mimi has been working as a spider in the web in different project management related roles. After having lost her home in the Fork Fire in 2022, she has lived through the challenges of wildfire in our mountain communities first-hand.

In her free time, she likes to work on her ranch, go hiking or ride her horses.

Alison is the Fire Advisor for Mariposa, Madera, and Fresno Counties and is based out of the University of California Cooperative Extension Office in Mariposa. Since August, Alison has coordinated YGPBC while working to secure funding to bring on a full-time coordinator. 

Prior to moving to Mariposa, Alison graduated from the University of Oregon (UO) with a Masters of Science in geography and Masters of Nonprofit Management where her research focused on modeling the effects of prescribed fire on carbon storage and future fire regimes in the Siskiyou Mountains. She also worked as a research assistant at UO’s Ecosystem Workforce Program where she did natural resource-based social science research, including how organizations are working cross-boundary to mitigate wildfire risk, the impacts of wildfire smoke on communities, and socioeconomic monitoring of landscape restoration projects. Before attending graduate school, Alison worked as a wildland firefighter with the US Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management during the 2017-2019 wildfire seasons. 

Alison is passionate about restoring fire-adapted ecosystems, helping community members learn how to live with wildfire, and building a community around prescribed fire.

“I am currently the Executive Director of Coarsegold Resource Conservation District (CRCD). I’ve called North Fork home since 1992, attending North Fork Elementary, Sierra High School, and later Fresno State. This community, both the people and the natural beauty of our environment, make this amazing place to call home. I have been thrilled to work with CRCD and connect with our community as the Regional Firewise Coordinator for Madera County. I look forward to participating in the effort to conserve the natural resources of eastern Madera County through my service with Coarsegold Resource Conservation District and Eastern Madera Fire Safe Council. I share a small homestead in North Fork with my amazing wife and two beautiful children, where we live amongst our dogs, cats, chickens, ducks, goats, and a variety of organic fruits and vegetables.”

Laura is the coordinator for the Yosemite Gateway Prescribed Burn Cooperative, where she works assisting landowners to safely use prescribed fire as a land management tool and educating communities about prescribed fire in Mariposa and Eastern Madera Counties. Prior to working in this position, she worked for the Forest Service and Yosemite National Park as a wildland firefighter and fire effects monitor. Laura went to UC Santa Cruz and graduated with a degree in Mathematics (but please don’t ask her to do math problems!). She grew up in the foothills of Northern CA and spent many years working as a whitewater rafting guide. She loves getting outdoors, whether for recreation or working to make the landscape more fire safe and fire resilient. Laura firmly believes that working to make our homes and communities more fire safe can also bring ecological balance back into our forests and beloved landscapes in the Sierra Foothills.

Anthony Misner entered the wildland fire community while in college working for the California Department of Forestry (now CalFire). Since that time he has worked for both Madera and Mariposa County Fire Departments as an engine and water tender operator. He has taught pre-hospital emergency medical care and wildland fire with Yosemite Adult School for over 30 years. He has been instrumental in bringing the Great Sierra Forestry Corps to Eastern Madera and Mariposa County. Throughout his years in emergency services, he has been a champion of prescribed fire in returning our landscape to a healthy balance.