May is known in California as Wildfire Community Preparedness Month, and in preparation for wildfire season, the Yolo County Fire Safe Council is set to host a forum with Sarah Keiser, a community organizer and grazing advocate to share her insights and experience about prescribed grazing cooperatives.

The council announced the event on its Facebook page, inviting members of the public to hear what advice Keiser has for those wishing to prep for the potential blazes this summer.

“Join us on May 14 to learn about the benefits of prescribed grazing and how to implement grazing cooperatives for wildfire fuels management,” the post reads. “This presentation will have a focus on West Winters, but all are welcome!”

According to Keiser’s website,she is facilitating the development of community grazing cooperatives and collaborative land stewardship projects through her own consulting service, The Holistic Herder.

These community-based land stewarding concepts, Keiser claims, empower private landowners and public entities with the skills and support to use grazing ruminants, planned burns and community education to steward their land and commons to a healthy fire ecosystem.

“Sarah brings neighbors, fire marshals, indigenous fire ecologists, arborists, and media together to develop strong community alliances for fire safety and to practice regenerative land stewardship,” her website states. “She created the Penngrove Grazing Project, a community-based, sustainable, land-stewardship concept working to improve the health and aesthetics of the land while increasing atmospheric carbon sequestration into the soil.”

Now, there are 12 grazing cooperatives in neighborhoods around Sonoma County thanks to Keiser’s work. These grazing cooperatives create and enhance community connection in a very personal manner and facilitate the stewarding of these neighborhoods back to healthy fire ecosystems.

The West Winters event with the Yolo County Fire Safe Council is set to start at 6 p.m. and go to 7:30 p.m. on May 14 at the Winters Fire Department, located at 700 W Main St. in Winters. For more information about Keiser and her work, visit her website at https://www.wildoathollow.com/.