Prescribed Fire Practitioner Lara O’Herlihy (they/she) has been stewarding land in Sonoma County, the traditional homeland of the Pomo, Coast Miwok, and Wappo people, for the last five years as a Stewardship Specialist at LandPaths. Growing up in Sonoma and Lake counties, Lara has interacted closely with catastrophic wildfire and sees good fire as not just an integral part of tending land but also of building community resilience. Lara began working in prescribed fire in 2023 and this inspired the creation of the Queer Forestry and Fire Program at LandPaths. They are passionate about getting fire into the hands of more people, making these spaces more inclusive, and building our community’s sense of agency and understanding. Lara is especially enthusiastic about California grasslands and returning fire to these ecosystems.