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Shaded Fuel breaks are more than trimming the shrubs

Shaded Fuel breaks are more than trimming the shrubs

A video worth watching

Designing a story around defining fuel breaks was more complicated than I thought. Shooting the video was the easy part. You might overlook significant landscape fuel breaks in some areas, regions, or even major parks, as they look like lovely open spaces. Purposefully designed to have a park-like look, shaded fuel breaks are great places to hike, picnic on a hot day, or stalk wildlife. But to an advancing wildfire, shaded fuel breaks offer a challenge. The strategically managed ground vegetation, cooler soil temperatures, and higher moisture levels can slow a fire just enough for firefighters to make a stand and stop progression.

Shaded Fuel Break Explainer

For this project, I started with a broader focus on the San Vicente Redwoods area. It’s a land preserve and working forest in the Santa Cruz Mountains. The park features several informational displays about how fire affects a landscape. There was a lot to cover here. I decided to narrow my focus to the maintained shaded fuel breaks in place for the 2020 CZU Lighting Complex fire.

As a journalist and video maker, I rarely make a storyboard before discovering the elements. I have an idea of how to put together a story in general and apply those principles to gathering materials. Then, I build that into the timeline of the story arch. This one is pretty basic.

After publishing a rough cut of the video, I received great feedback on how I could make it better. Placing a direct-to-camera “stand-up” explaining what a fuel break is really brought the video together. Also, some suggested I remove the quick “nat” edit transitions. I decided to leave them in, yes a little distracting, but fancy and shiny artwork stayed in.

Shooting the video needs to be purposeful. I’m not too fond of unmotivated long shots, like zooms that only reveal a wider shot, pans that only show more of the same, or shake-filled videos. Each shot should be composed to deliver a message. That message might be part of the broader illustration, but it should be composed nonetheless.

Audio should always be there, much like in the editorial on “Audition,” the sound should be just as important to the video created as the visuals. This means the soundscape needs to be created for drones, slow motion, or another video with unusable audio.

When recording the audio, it’s important to find a nice dead area for sound. This means a place free of echoes or distracting noises like a running refrigerator. Step into your favorite padded sound booth with no distractions and all electronics off. If you can, stand up! It extends your diaphragm, and I had to wait for the neighbor’s gardener to stop using the leaf blower, but I managed. For me, my sound booth is my car.

I hate pics of myself!

Lastly, my editing process. I see a video editing program as an organizational tool. I’ll give you more greasy details if you request them in the comments! But take a look at this screenshot of my editing desktop.

More to come in the coming days.

a basic editing setup, take a look at my file organization.

Here is the script I was working from:

Volunteer Stewardship

Volunteer Stewardship

Being a good land steward doesn’t require a master’s degree in forestry or scientific expertise. In fact, all you need is a respect for open spaces and a desire to care for them. This form of land stewardship not only benefits the environment but also contributes to your mental and physical health.

National Trails Day (June 1st 2024) is a nationwide volunteer event that aligns the grassroots movement for parks and trail upkeep with the community. Thousands of people from around the country assemble, and local groups like the Santa Cruz Mountain Trail Stewardship (SCMTS) provide a massive workforce for one day to maintain trails for multiple users for the entire year. 

People standing on a trail about to repair. Edges of trail have green grass trail is rocks and brown

It’s not a free-for-all with hoes and shovels, but it is made easy for folks. Ecosystem and Environmental management professionals work with 

organizers of local events, weeks or months ahead, to target areas needing vegetation management or drainage issues and build a list of objectives for the day.

Skills Not Required-

Organizations like SCMTS have meticulously trained crew leaders to provide instruction and make every event safe and more fun than work. Trail veteran volunteer Chris Walters has been leading small workgroups for years and says it’s only fun for him if others are also having fun. 

If you have ever swept a floor, picked up a leaf, or shoveled anything, you have more than enough skills to come out and giggle. If you’re looking for a higher level of engagement, they have that available, too.

Mental Health-

Volunteering combined with physical work provides an incredible source of dopamine to the body. That release will give the volunteer a sense of purpose, place, and accomplishment. It reduces anxiety and depression and provides an individual with a sense of purpose. Just the action of coming out and volunteering will add value to that open space for the individual, encouraging them to return and provide upkeep for that land. Although it may not seem directly connected, this is similar to how indigenous groups feel. They belong to the land and are stewards of the land. 

Oh, is it science you’re after? Well, the Cleveland clinic researched volunteerism and mental health benefits, and they found that “Volunteering can be great for a person’s mental health; when you help other people, it activates the reward center in your brain and releases serotonin, dopamine, and endorphins, which is why many people often feel better after volunteering.” 

Volunteering Can Provide a Boost to Your Mental Health

https://bit.ly/3VdrmWd

Community Connections-

The people you meet during volunteer projects can become some of the most interesting connections in your life. These projects bring together a diverse group of individuals with a shared curiosity and a drive to make a difference. 

Volunteering at community events is a positive way to bond over a shared interest without even trying. It is inherently community-building.  

Group Briefing

In a study titled “Exploring the Effects of Volunteering on the Social, Mental, and Physical Health and Well-being of Volunteers,” researchers found that volunteering will actually extend your life. Yes. A fountain of youth in your fountain of generosity. The study found overwhelmingly that the umbrella effect of volunteering has a unique combination of mental and physical well-being benefits. This includes reduced social anxiety, increased physical health, and a sense of purpose for the volunteer, in addition to the economic benefits to the organization they are volunteering for. 

Lastly, most volunteer events include some kind of social hour where participants can gather and discuss the day’s achievements over a cold beverage. 

The Social, Mental, and Physical Health and Well-being of Volunteers:

https://bit.ly/3yxZ7c6

Tying it all Together-

Land stewardship takes many forms. Professionals do their work, and users can do a little, too. The important element is that everybody is doing it for a common goal: to make the world a better place for future generations.  

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