May 15, 2026 – 6 pm – 8 pm – in the Sherwood House
$10 p/person drinks and desserts provided – Ages 18+
Jen will discuss the history of humans and fire in the eastern United States and the importance of fire in maintaining healthy ecosystem function and to complete plant life cycles. She will explain the process of conducting a controlled burn from the planning phase to implementation as well as the importance of controlled fire burns in the Southern Blue Ridge region which has many of the same forest types found in Maryland and how forests like those in the Cromwell Valley Park could benefit from having fire reintroduced to them
Background – Jenifer Mallinoff works for The Nature Conservancy as a southern Blue Ridge Burn Crew Leader in Asheville, North Carolina. Jen has a Masters of Science in Biology from Appalachian State University. Jen has been a member of the Southern Blue Ridge Burn crew since 2021 and she now leads a crew in planning, preparing and executing controlled fire burns. Jen is also responsible for monitoring protocol for wildlife activity in restored forest sites.
