“For most of the past 100 years, Save the Redwoods League bought land, transferred ownership to an agency, and considered it protected,” he explains. “But with climate change, the accumulation of fire fuels in forests, and the need to incorporate Indigenous people’s historic land management practices, we’ve realized these lands can’t just be left alone once purchased.”
The scope and intensity of wildfires in recent years is the driving motivation for his land stewardship work. The biggest focus is on fuels reduction—crews in the forest doing the time-consuming but necessary work of thinning small trees and removing “ladder fuels” that carry fire up trees to the canopy. The thinning work is followed up by prescribed burning to consume the remaining fuel load on the forest floor.
The most challenging part of Castaños’ work is finding the right conditions for prescribed burns. “While fire always has inherent risks, conducting prescribed burns as safely as possible means working under optimal conditions, such as the right weather and winds,” says Castaños. The right partners are also essential; during a successful burn in 2024 at the Harold Richardson Redwoods Reserve, Castaños collaborated with the local tribe and community members. “It really helps to work with local crews so we can remain flexible and respond quickly when the conditions align.”
Castaños earned a B.A. in Urban Studies from the University of California, Berkeley.
