Humans have lived with, benefited from, and sometimes been at risk from fire for thousands of years.
In this era of frequent wildfires, it’s time to deepen our understanding of this element that can cook our food, heat our homes, and also cause hard-to-imagine destruction.
Please join Cook Memorial Library and Chocorua Lake Conservancy on Wednesday, August 20, at 6:30 PM at Cook Library in Tamworth for a Climate & Community Book Discussion. We’ll talk about the book Fire Weather: A True Story from a Hotter World, by John Vaillant. Fire Weather is available at Cook Library, or try your local library!
Dylan Alden, Dispersed Recreation Manager for the US Forest Service Saco Ranger District, and Jessie Dubuque, USFS wildlife biologist for Saco Ranger District, will be on hand to answer questions and show some of the equipment they use when they support wildland firefighting efforts in the western United States.
Winner of the Baillie Gifford Prize for Nonfiction, Fire Weather was also a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize, the National Book Award for Nonfiction, and the Pen/Galbraith Award for Nonfiction, and a best book of the yearThe New York Times, The Washington Post, The New Yorker, TIME, NPR, Slate, and Smithsonian.
Fire Weather is the account of a colossal wildfire in Canada and a wide-reaching expiration of the rapidly changing relationship between fire and humans. Robert MacFarlane, the bestselling author of Underland, says it “Grips like a philosophical thriller, warns like a beacon, and shocks to the core.” David Wallace-Wells calls it “Riveting, spellbinding, astounding on every page.”
John Vaillant is the best-selling, award-winning author of several nonfiction books and a novel. He has written for the New Yorker, The Atlantic, National Geographic, and others. He lives in Vancouver.
This free program is part of the CML/CLC series “Climate & Community.” Please register in advance above, or just show up! Copies of the book are available at Cook Library and check your local library, too. The Cook Library is wheelchair accessible.
Dylan Alden is Dispersed Recreation Manager for the US Forest Service Saco Ranger District of the White Mountain National Forest. A biology degree led her toward a lifetime of work in the outdoors and a career in recreation management with USFS. This role has also allowed her to support the national effort of wildland firefighting, where she has worked on hand crews and helicopter crews, and more recently as a resource advisor for firefighters, helping them to understand the recreation resources and wilderness areas in a wildfire perimeter, and how to tailor firefighting tactics to reduce the risk of additional harm. Dylan enjoys running, biking, hiking, floating in water, and long walks on Tamworth roads.
Jessie Dubuque is the wildlife biologist for the US Forest Service Saco Ranger District of the White Mountain National Forest. She obtained a B.S. in Environmental Science from Northern Vermont University and has a M.S. in Wildlife Habitat Conservation and Management from Oregon State University. She has worked for the Forest Service in two Regions spanning both coasts, and participates in wildland firefighting out west in the summers. Her passion lies in managing public lands with a multi-use mission and enjoys sharing her knowledge of conservation and land stewardship through public education. Jessie practices sustainable living, permaculture and integrated pest management practices on the apple orchard she shares with her husband and children in Tamworth. She is an avid gardener and enjoys hiking, camping, and recreating outdoors with her family as much as possible.
Banner image: Photo by raquel raclette on Unsplash