October 10, 2017 - The Mariposa Museum and History Center will host a Fireside Chat with local author Marcia Penner Freedman. Freedman will be discussing her book 'Fighting Fire in the Sierra National Forest' at the history center on Sunday, October 15, 2017 at 2:00 P.M.
Admission is free. The museum is located at 5119 Jessie Street in Mariposa.
For more information visit the Mariposa Museum & History Center on their website & Facebook page.
To live in the foothills on the periphery of the Sierra National Forest is to live with the certainty of summer wildfires.
Each year, from April forward, Californians watch the sky and sniff the air for telltale signs of smoke. While fire remains a constant threat, the strategy for combating it has evolved with the understanding of its beneficial role in the forest environment.
Marcia Penner Freedman traces the history of firefighting and fire management from the forest's early years through the policy shifts that began in the 1960s and the measures used today.
About the Author
Several years ago, while on a hike in the Sierra National Forest, Marcia Penner Freedman sat with her friends, resting beside a small lake. When a helicopter flew in, sucked up water into a giant tank and flew out, the conversation turned to wildfire. As the helicopter repeated its routine, Freedman's interest in firefighting was aroused. After that, she began learning all she could about the subject.
At one point, she attended a prescribed-fire field trip put on by Southern California Edison Forestry. That's when her interest in learning about wildfire turned to a determination to write about it.
Freedman was born and raised in the New York City Metropolitan Area. Prior to her 1999 move to the small town of Oakhurst outside Yosemite National Park, she had lived for twenty years in Los Angeles, where, in 1995, she received a PhD in educational psychology from the University of Southern California.
For fifteen years, Freedman split her career between writing and teaching psychology and child development at a community college.
Since her retirement from her community college position, she has devoted herself exclusively to her writing.
As a member of the board of directors of the Coarsegold Resource Conservation District, Freedman hopes to use her writing skills to educate the general public about the importance of reducing the fuels on their properties.
