Uploaded September 2025 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
We’ve been reporting on how the Garnet Fire, burning on the Sierra National Forest east of Fresno, has been spreading into a large area of old-growth forest in the Teakettle Experimental Forest. The Climate & Wildfire Institute, a think tank with connections to UCLA, got about $5.4 million from the California Climate Investments (CCI) fund to plan and implement a 3,000+ acre prescribed burning project here.The project was still in planning, and nothing had been burned before the wildfire arrived.
CCI money comes from taxing industrial polluters like major oil refineries or dairy operations for their CO2 emissions. The Teakettle grant project promised it would lock up carbon safely in large trees in the old forest, keeping it out of the atmosphere.
As of midday on 9/2/2025, the entirety of the Teakettle project area has burned. Lots of that carbon is now roaming the global jet streams.
We talk with CWI's Scott Scherbinski and Bethany Hannah about their project, what might come next, and their thoughts on whether or not we can burn our way out of our forest health crisis.
Thanks to our sponsors:
MYSTERY RANCH - mysteryranch.com
QTAC--qtacfire.com
FYREBX--fyrebx.com
Thanks for supporting The Lookout! We are viewer-supported. Become a PayPal subscriber at the-lookout.org/donate
We’ve been reporting on how the Garnet Fire, burning on the Sierra National Forest east of Fresno, has been spreading into a large area of old-growth forest in the Teakettle Experimental Forest. The Climate & Wildfire Institute, a think tank with connections to UCLA, got about $5.4 million from the California Climate Investments (CCI) fund to plan and implement a 3,000+ acre prescribed burning project here.The project was still in planning, and nothing had been burned before the wildfire arrived.
CCI money comes from taxing industrial polluters like major oil refineries or dairy operations for their CO2 emissions. The Teakettle grant project promised it would lock up carbon safely in large trees in the old forest, keeping it out of the atmosphere.
As of midday on 9/2/2025, the entirety of the Teakettle project area has burned. Lots of that carbon is now roaming the global jet streams.
We talk with CWI's Scott Scherbinski and Bethany Hannah about their project, what might come next, and their thoughts on whether or not we can burn our way out of our forest health crisis.
Thanks to our sponsors:
MYSTERY RANCH - mysteryranch.com
QTAC--qtacfire.com
FYREBX--fyrebx.com
Thanks for supporting The Lookout! We are viewer-supported. Become a PayPal subscriber at the-lookout.org/donate
