A Big Sur Podcast
A Big Sur Podcast
An ongoing conversation with people from near and far about Big Sur's past, present, and future. A Big Sur Podcast interprets “community” to mean ALL people from around the world who are curious about, and who care about, the preservation and restoration of the wild and rural character of Big Sur. Stories are told by visitors and residents, plumbers and linesmen, musicians and authors, dancers and jugglers and others. Sometimes we drift (way) off-topic into the arts, sciences, personal stories, gossip, politics, philosophy, ornithology, Henry Miller, and our zeitgeist in general. We like that!
The opinions expressed here belong to the people who express them. They may or may not line up with yours, mine, or your neighbor’s — and that’s exactly the point. Different perspectives, lived experiences, and even wildly clashing views are what make conversations worth listening to: enriching, infuriating, life-affirming, and sometimes all three at once.
If you are planning a visit to Big Sur and you listen to some of the folks on this Podcast talk about their love of the place your visit will probably be a lot more rewarding. Please email magnus@henrymiller.org with any comments, critique & suggestions.
Music intro clip courtesy John Holm: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/37i9dQZF1DZ06evO0Rh2QU
Sound editing software by Hindenburg: https://hindenburg.com/
Please support the podcast by making a donation to the Henry Miller Library, a 501(c)3 nonprofit arts organization. Thank you!
A Big Sur Podcast
Living With Fire: Marcus Foster on the Timber Fire, Local Knowledge, and What Comes Next
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What happens in the hours after a wildfire starts in Big Sur—before the full machinery of a major incident has arrived?
Over the coming weeks, A Big Sur Podcast will be talking with a number of people about the Timber and Plaskett Fires, and more broadly about Big Sur’s long and complicated relationship with wildfire.
This first conversation is with Marcus Foster of Keep Big Sur Wild, who was on the ground during the early hours of the Timber Fire and has been involved with wildfire response in Big Sur for many years.
Marcus has lived in Big Sur for nearly 35 years and served for roughly twelve years with Big Sur Fire. During the recent Timber Fire, his eighteen-year-old son responded with the department and was injured early in the incident. As the fire moved toward homes on a ridge above the coast, Marcus joined a small group of experienced locals preparing water systems, laying hose and protecting structures as the fire reached them.
In this conversation, Marcus describes those first difficult hours and the uneasy boundary between local knowledge and professional incident command: why outside crews may quite reasonably hesitate to enter unfamiliar narrow roads at night, why residents sometimes believe they can help, and how the two systems might work together better.
But the conversation reaches beyond the Timber Fire.
Marcus discusses his experiences with earlier Big Sur fires, the role of Big Sur Fire, changing visitation and dispersed camping, illegal campfires, social media’s ability to suddenly overwhelm formerly little-known places, and his belief that substantially more attention and resources should go toward prevention and enforcement.
As a member of Keep Big Sur Wild, he also raises a more complicated question: How much should we alter a wild landscape in the name of protecting homes from wildfire? Marcus argues for home hardening and defensible space while questioning large-scale vegetation clearing that can affect habitat and the scenic character Big Sur’s Land Use Plan was designed to protect.
This episode is one part of a continuing A Big Sur Podcast examination of the Timber and Plaskett Fires. I’ll be speaking with other residents, firefighters, public officials and people involved in the response—not in search of one simple verdict, but to understand what worked, what didn’t, and what Big Sur should learn before the next fire begins.
Because in Big Sur, the question is not whether there will be another fire. It is how ready we will be when it comes.
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Keep Big Sur Wild
Previous Big Sur Podcast episode with Marcus
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This podcast is a production of the Henry Miller Memorial Library with support from The Arts Council for Monterey County!
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