Santa Barbara PBA
Santa Barbara County
The Santa Barbara County Prescribed Burn Association (SBCPBA) is a program of the Cachuma Resource Conservation District (CRCD) and a community-driven volunteer network helping landowners and neighbors safely put good fire back on the land. We were chartered in September 2026, and our first year is underway.
To learn how to get involved, please join our mailing list by emailing SantaBarbaraCountyPBA+subscribe@groups.io. To learn more about what we do and why, read more below.
Hope to see you on a burn soon!
Why we burn
By returning good fire to the landscape, alongside other process-based stewardship that builds community and ecological resilience, we rebuild relations with the place we call home. Our burns serve many goals: reducing hazardous fuels, improving rangeland and grassland health, protecting and caring for our oak woodlands, reducing invasive plants, conserving soils and watersheds, and restoring native flora for native wildlife habitat. We plan each burn around the land's needs and monitor what returns.
Just as importantly, our burns build relationships with fire, the land, and community, expanding on Santa Barbara County's strong history of community resilience. We hope to partner with fire agencies, land trusts, community organizations and community members, land owners, and local Indigenous land and fire stewards. We aim to support Indigenous stewardship of this land, including cultural fire, a practice that is both long-standing and ongoing.
We look forward to partnering with local and statewide nonprofits and fire agencies in organizing the Santa Barbara County TREX 2027 alongside Sedgwick Reserve, Santa Barbara County Fire Safe Council and other partners. More to be announced early 2027.
Landowners: If you are interested in exploring good fire as a method of stewardship for your land or land you steward, please fill out this Intake Form.
Volunteers: There are many ways to get involved, from education and outreach to volunteering on burns. We'll offer trainings throughout the year, from introductory workshops to firefighter qualifications.
To learn how to get involved, please join our mailing list by emailing SantaBarbaraCountyPBA+subscribe@groups.io.
Meet the Team:
Tara Saylor PBA Lead & Co-Founder tara@sbcpba.org
Monica Matthews PBA Operations Lead & Co-Founder monica@sbcpba.org
Get involved:
Join our mailing list: SantaBarbaraCountyPBA+subscribe@groups.io