For wildland firefighting, a boost in diversity
Forest Service in partnership with HBCUs
HAZEL GREEN, Ala. — Before starting college, Taylor Mohead had never been outside her hometown of Houston, Texas. Now, the recent Tuskegee University graduate is trekking around trees in Hazel Green, Ala., in fire gear and sweltering heat.
The US Forest Service intern is among 20 students from historically Black colleges or universities who are participating in a prescribed burn demonstration under instructors’ supervision. They clear paths, light fires, and make sure the embers are out when they’re done. It’s part of an apprenticeship program that will give them the credentials to hit the ground running toward a fire line.
It’s a grueling way to spend summer break, but Mohead is relishing it. She never pictured herself fighting forest fires.
“Look at me. I’m really small. I’m really short. And then being a woman of color, that’s something, too. I feel like that’s more inspiring,” Mohead said, grinning. “I got goosebumps right now.”
The on-site fire academy is part of the 1890 Land Grant Institution Wildland Fire Consortium, a partnership between the US Forest Service and a cluster of HBCUs comprised of Florida A&M University, Southern University in Louisiana, Tuskegee University, and Alabama A&M University.
The recruitment effort comes as wildfire season around the US grows due to climate change and minorities remain underrepresented in forestry and firefighting. The number of wildfires this year is below the 10-year average, but hot and dry conditions are raising the risk, according to the National Interagency Fire Center.
The idea for a consortium came during the pandemic to address a “mission critical area of the Forest Service,” said Stephanie Love, the USDA Forest Service’s national diversity student programs manager and an Alabama A&M alum. The initiative became official in 2021.
“These four HBCUs have some of the top agricultural programs at HBCUs in the nation. So, it just makes sense to align our efforts and move together in the same direction,” Love said. “We’re trying to create a pipeline of students who are pursuing this natural resources education and forestry and fire.”
The hope is every student comes away with a foundation to chart one of many possible paths in forestry, ecology, agriculture, or firefighting.
The consortium is building on top of a decadeslong relationship between Alabama A&M and the Forest Service. A USDA Forest Service Center of Excellence in Forestry was created at the school in 1993 to prepare students for jobs with the agency.
The Bulldogs established a nationally accredited firefighting team in 2009 made of students, called the FireDawgs. When class isn’t in session, the FireDawgs are dispatched to wildfires or burn operations around the country.
The development programs that have come out of the Alabama-Forest Service collaboration are responsible for training two-thirds of Black foresters in the federal agency, said Love, who was in the first FireDawgs squad.
Diversity among the Forest Service’s wildland firefighters has increased by 20 percent in the last decade, according to data collected by the agency. It has approximately 13,000 employees including firefighters and other staff who respond to wildfires. Between July 2010 and July 2022, white staffers fell from 86 percent to 66 percent.
Black fire personnel have remained mostly around 1.3 percent. Black women make up around 0.5 percent. Hispanics make up 12 percent, and Native Americans/Alaska Natives and Asians linger around 3 percent and 1 percent, respectively. Native Hawaiians and Pacific Islanders make up less than 1 percent.
The dearth of applicants of color may partly be due to a lack of awareness. They are not often encouraged to consider firefighting by guidance counselors or recruiters, said Terry Baker, CEO of the Society of American Foresters and its first Black leader.
Once students decide to study forestry or related fields, retaining them becomes the next challenge. Love said the Forest Service and HBCUs ensure there are mentorships, scholarships, and internships.
Baker, of the foresters society, said the need for more firefighters will increase as wildfires intensify with worsening climate change and droughts.
“If we’re going to meet these challenges, we’re going to have to have everyone,” Baker said.
The current crop of students says it has been reassuring to meet HBCU alumni who have gone on to become fire or forestry professionals, noting there is something special about being in the field surrounded by classmates turned crew who look like them.