Wildfire Ready | Talk with a Fire Scientist 

Details:

How can the plants around your home affect wildfire risk? Join Santa Barbara Botanic Garden’s first fire scientist, Kristina Fauss, Ph.D., for an engaging look at the science behind wildfire-resilient landscapes. Learn how plant flammability, defensible space and home hardening work together, and discover practical steps you can take to help protect your home and community while supporting California’s native biodiversity. Attend in person or tune in online.

Pricing:

Virtual Attendance: Free

General Public: $15

Garden Members or Students with a Valid ID: $10

Not a member, but want to unlock this discount? Join here. 

About Kristina Fauss

Kristina Fauss, Ph.D. studies the relationships between people, nature, and technology to better understand and support resilient human-environment systems. She earned her Ph.D. in Geography from the University of California, Santa Barbara in 2026 after beginning her career in civil engineering and applying systems thinking to environmental challenges. Her research focuses on wildfire science across multiple scales, from laboratory combustion experiments to geospatial fire hazard analysis and fire movement modeling. By combining fieldwork, experiments, remote sensing, and computational modeling, she works to improve our understanding of wildfire behavior and inform effective approaches to hazard mitigation and ecosystem resilience. As a Fire Scientist at the Garden, Kristina is excited to advance collaborative research that connects science with conservation and land stewardship.

Refund Policy:

We require at least 72 hours’ notice for cancellations. Refunds will be issued to the original form of payment, minus a 15% processing fee. Cancellations made within 72 hours of the class start time are nonrefundable and cannot be rescheduled.