The University of Wisconsin Stevens Point and their partners present a monthly webinar series focused on prescribed fire for forest managers.

Prescribed Burn Associations

Prescribed Burn Associations are critical for restoring fire adapted landscapes, imparting knowledge, and sharing resources. Join us as we discuss ways to regionally encourage and support private landowners to create sustainable and effective PBAs.

Geo​rge Jensen, Southwest Georgia Prescribed Burn Association Coordinator, Tall Timbers Research Station & Land Conservancy ​

George Jensen, originally from Savannah, Georgia, grew up in Berlin, Wisconsin. George attended the University of Wisconsin, Stevens Point, where he studied Wildland Fire Science and Conservation Biology under Dr. Ron Masters. ​During this time, George had heavy involvement in the UWSP interagency fire crew, where he was an officer for two years; George burned with the crew in Wisconsin, Oklahoma, Chicago, Florida, Georgia, and, South Carolina. George also worked for the federal government on a fuels module and helit​​ack crew and did fire with WDNR. Upon graduation, George took a job as a Conservation Biologist for the Endangered Resources section of the WNDR and was also on the state burn team. George was also private lands biologist for the private sector in central Wisconsin. George attended graduate school for forestry at Mizzou under Dr. Ben Knapp. George worked his master’s tenure at the Jones Center at Ichauway, where he researched how Resistance, Resilience, and Transition silviculture treatments affect fire behavior and effects in longleaf pine ecosystems during atypically hotter and drier days. He also studied fine-scale fire effe​cts in patches of longleaf pine. Currently, George works for ​Tall Timbers as the Southwest Georgia Prescribed Burn Association Coordinator and is an Adjunct professor of ecology at Thomas University in Thomasville, Georgia.

Additional presenter TBA soon.

Moderator

Michael Tiller, Ph.D., Assistant Professor of Forest and Fire Management, College of Natural Resources, University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point

Michael grew up in Northern California where he enjoyed an active outdoor lifestyle hunting, fishing, camping, and skiing in the beautiful Sierra Nevada Mountains and coastal redwoods. He enjoyed a 10-year career with Cal Fire serving as a Firefighter and Fire Apparatus Engineer. In 2006, he moved to College Station, Texas where he attended Texas A&M University and earned a B.S. in Wildlife and Fisheries Science. After completing his B.S. degree, he attended Stephen F. Austin State University where he earned an M.S. degree in Environmental Science and Ph. D. in Forestry, both with a research focus on understory fuel flammability in forest and rangeland ecosystems. Michael also served as a Wildland Urban Interface Specialist for the Texas A&M Forest Service for 2-years where he was actively engaged with fuels management and prescribed burning. He recently accepted an Assistant Professor of Forest Ecology position at UW-Stevens Point where he leads the fire science program and serves as an adviser for the UWSP Fire Crew.