This week’s guest Amanda Rau has worked for nearly every fire-adjacent agency or organization that exists in the state of Oregon. From the Forest Service to a contract crew to the Nature Conservancy and a current role with the Oregon Department of Lands, Amanda has had a hand in just about every side of the Oregon fire world that you can get.

Naturally, that means she has a lot of fantastic perspective on what she has gleaned from each job, as well as the lessons she’s brought from the suppression world to her work as a prescribed fire advocate and current chair of the Oregon Prescribed Fire Council. This conversation was recorded back in September in Eugene, Oregon, as fire crews prepped to burn a unit nearby. This conversation is also broken up into two parts—part two will be released next week.