Taro Pusina

After receiving his Bachelor in Science Degree in Natural Resources and Forestry from the University of California, Berkeley, Taro Pusina cruised timber and conducted stand exams for a forestry consulting firm in Alaska, Washington State and Oregon.  On a whim he switched careers and fell in love with wildland fire’s ability to restore and maintain natural systems and build resilience to catastrophic wildfire around wildland urban interface communities and the natural, cultural, wilderness, recreation and other values around them.  He subsequently worked for Yosemite National Park, Bureau of Land Management, Bishop Field Office and Inyo National Forest in fuels, prescribed fire and wildland fire positions including tree climber/faller, module captain, battalion and division chief and fire management officer.  In addition to a solid foundation in fire preparedness and suppression, Taro is passionate about science based, progressive, proactive fuels and prescribed fire treatments and management of natural lightning ignitions for multiple objectives including suppression/protection and resource benefit.  He is a fire behavior analyst on an interagency incident management team and maintains qualifications including type 3 incident commander and operations section chief, type 1 burn boss, strategic operational planner, division supervisor, firing boss, field observer, and advanced tree faller and climber.