It’s #WTREX demob day! 🛻💨 “Demob” is short for demobilization - which basically means packing up our gear, turning in borrowed items, cleaning the facilities at the Preserve, and eventually…riding off into the Niobrara Valley sunset. We’ll miss this place 😌

It’s the last full day of #WTREX Nebraska !

These past two weeks have been full of learning, laughing out loud, and nerding out about fire together. Pics from yesterday's blacklining burn 🔥

Today we'll be breaking down camp and celebrating. We love our #WTREX community!

It's our last operational burn day of #WTREX Nebraska!

Today, we're taking advantage of a burn window to do some blacklining operations in the Niobrara Valley Preserve.

With the weather changing this afternoon, we have decided NOT to burn today (Tuesday 4/30).

Today, we're heading out into the field to scout our potential burn unit and monitor conditions. Any burning will take place within the Niobrara Valley Preserve.

Pictured here is our Fire Effects Monitoring (FEMO) team, who keeps us aware of weather updates and changes❤️‍🔥

#WTREX

Today, we successfully burned a 189 acre unit within the Niobrara Valley Preserve. Participants got a chance to be in new positions, lean on their experience, and most importantly - work together as an efficient and focused team.

#WTREX #WomenInFire

It's our first operational burn day! Visitors to the Niobrara Valley Preserve may see smoke beginning in the mid-afternoon, dispersing by evening.

We're circling up and talking strategy (as Han so wonderfully depicts here) and loading gear up into trucks.

#WTREX #WomenInFire

It’s been a busy weekend at #WTREX Nebraska! ❤️‍🔥

We have potential burn windows this week and are prepping our gear for operational days out in the field.

Stay tuned - we will post any operational updates on our channels!

#WomenInFire

Our thoughts go out to the people and places impacted by the recent tornados in Nebraska and other Great Plains states. We were not impacted by the storms at the Niobrara Valley Preserve.

WTREX events are made possible by an incredible team that cares deeply about making fire more welcoming for everyone. 🌱

Since the 1st #WTREX in 2016, WTREX’s Program Director Lenya Quinn-Davidson has continued to develop the program into something meaningful, far-reaching, and fun!

Weather conditions haven’t been great for #RxFire at #WTREX Nebraska this week - so we’ve scouted units, heard from NE fire practitioners (thanks Pheasants Forever), and so much more!

Fingers crossed for some good burn windows in the near future.

Stretching boundaries, connection-building, and camaraderie. In today's #FireNetworks blog, we've rounded up resources and reflections on WTREX, its value for participants, and how it has grown and evolved over the years fireadaptednetwork.org/wtrex-prescrib…

After a full day of module breakouts, trainings, and delicious food (see last post), we somehow managed to get everyone cleaned up, in their WTREX t-shirt (thanks Little Mountain Print Shoppe), and in formation for a group photo.

Here are the results 📷❤️‍🔥

Nothing keeps us smiling AND fueled up at #WTREX Nebraska like the cooking of Tara Quinn and Ariel (Ella) Hanson😋

Thank you Tara and Ella! Your meals are just the comforting ticket after a long day out on the prairie 🌾

Bonus - Tara is WTREX Program Director Lenya Quinn-Davidson's mom! ❤️

It’s the first full day of WTREX Nebraska!

We’ve been busy getting to know each other, setting working agreements and learning about psychological safety with our facilitator Maria Estrada, and gaining some tools from our on-site mental health professional Virginia Avery ❤️‍🔥

Happy #EarthDay2024 from the Niobrara Valley Preserve 🤩🦬🌎

Participants are arriving today to kick off #WTREX Nebraska. Many thanks to the Nature Conservancy in NE for hosting us at this beautiful preserve, a fire-adapted ecosystem that many bison call home!

📸: Miranda Flora

More than 50 people will gather at The Nature Conservancy's Niobrara Valley Preserve on April 22 to kick off WTREX Nebraska!!

Stay tuned for photos and stories from the event, and to meet our newest bison friends!

📸 credit: Chris Helzer and Amanda Hefner

#WTREX #GoodFire #WomenInFire

Upcoming opportunity: Women's Weekend at the National Fire Academy. June 15-16, 2024 in Emmitsburg, Maryland, hosted by the US Fire Admin (USFA).

The event is FREE, and ALL are welcome to apply.

Application and more info:
usfa.fema.gov/nfa/programs/n…

Jennifer Fawcett, member of the WTREX organizing cadre, will be speaking at the IAWF conference in Ireland!

A must watch video on last year's #WTREX South Africa from VWS Wildfires:

youtube.com/watch?v=ONtsiX…