Dr. Winslow Briggs of Stanford University will speak on fire ecology 

In this time of increasing severity of sweeping burns over large parts of the West in particular, the threat of fire is an especially important topic for all Californians, but particularly for those of us living adjacent to chaparral and coastal sage, as here in Pacifica.

While Dr. Briggs will concentrate on the devastating fire in September of 2007 that blackened about half of the 87,000 acres of Henry Coe State Park, just east of Gilroy, many do not realize that at the time of the Gay’s Trout Farm, there was a fire that blackened manzanita at the base of Montara Mt. here in Pacifica. We too are vulnerable.

We could also be forgiven if we didn’t think that a dedication to fire ecology was an unlikely path for Dr. Briggs, who has long been an international leader in molecular biological research on the response of plants to light, he and his post docs discovering and characterizing the molecule that perceives light direction and transmits a signal to the plant to grow toward the light, allowing them to respond to environmental changes; A painstaking dedication to this basic research earned him the prestigious International prize for Biology from the Japanese Society for the Promotion of Science, only one of many awards this inspired scientist has received.

Yes, the man has long been a scholar: he is a Director Emeritus at the Carnegie Institution of Washington’s Department of Plant Biology, and yet he chose to volunteer at Henry Coe State Park, southeast of San Jose, about 30 years ago now.

As a uniformed volunteer he led ecological hikes; he gave evening programs for the public; he helped with the development of the trail systems and its maps and in fact wrote a book with useful details about all the trails in the park, which includes some vivid natural history essays taken from his intimate knowledge of Henry Coe Park. But it was the Lick Fire 10 years ago that spurred his most scientific work as of late.

Dr. Briggs put a proposal to follow the comeback of the flora of Henry Coe to the Monterey District of California State Parks and “we received permission to train a cadre of volunteers in the sorts of observations we needed and the project was approved — the origin of the talk.” He and others observed that myriad flowers sprouted from the burned wreckage and ashes, which lump of “charcoal” were really the regenerating bush, chamise that oak trees could and did sprout from their burnt stumps.

But Dr. Briggs measured and documented the changes, taking the research to his Stanford lab. He will bring vivid photos of this transformation, explaining to you just how the reemergence and growth of the wildlife-sustaining plants occurred. His explanation is bound to be clear, fascinating and informative.

But how did Dr. Briggs first get so involved in his life of science? He spent many summers accompanying his father in his assiduous effort to photograph every wildflower in Minnesota. And a young Winslow also attended camp as a sailing instructor in this virgin northern environment.

He took family canoe trips in the Superior National Forest, and collected plants for a botanist at the University of Minnesota, mountaineering and backpacking as time would allow. Winslow Briggs received his Bachelor’s, Master’s and PhD from Harvard University, where he was also a professor.

The SPVP Visitor Center is located at 600 Oddstad Blvd, at its junction with Linda Mar. The Friends of SPVP are the sponsors of this free program, which is part of its Saturday evening lecture series. A donation of five dollars is suggested.