Ben began his fire career in 1978 on the Los Padres National Forest. After 34 years working in fire management, Ben retired in 2014 from the National Park Service as the Sequoia and Kings Canyon Fuels Management Specialist. Ben received his BS in Forest Resource Management from Cal Poly State University at San Luis Obispo in 1981.
Prior to Sequoia and Kings Canyon, Ben’s work background includes 10 years as a Hotshot firefighter and squad boss (USFS, BLM, and NPS), three years as the NPS Wildland Fire Module Program Coordinator at National Interagency Fire Center in Boise, and four years at Point Reyes National Seashore as the Prescribed Fire Specialist and acting Fire Management Officer
For the past 20 years prescribed fire and fuels management has been the primary focus of his work. His primary specialty includes planning landscape fuels management programs and conducting prescribed burns. He has also been involved in wildfire training development and instruction for over 25 years. This includes serving on the northern California cadres for RX-301, RX-341, and RX-410. He is currently rostered as an alternate Division Supervisor on the South Central Sierra Type II Incident Management Team.
Qualifications include:
- Prescribed Fire Burn Boss Type 2 (RXB2) since 1995
- Prescribed Fire Burn Boss Type 1 (RXB1) since 2003
- Prescribed Fire Manager Type 2 (RXM2) since 2005
- Fire Use Manager/Strategic Operational Planner (SOPL) since 2006
- Incident Commander Type 3 (ICT3) since 2002
- Division Supervisor (DIVS) since 1998