Nicolás Cruz

Nicolás Cruz is a fire ecologist pursuing his PhD in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at the University of California Santa Cruz. He studies and actively engages in the reintroduction of Indigenous cultural burning in California’s ecosystems that have been tended with fire for millennia. He works with Pomo and Miwok tribes in Lake County, CA and the Tribal EcoRestoration Alliance (TERA) to study the response to renewed burning in tule (Schoenoplectus spp.) wetlands and oak (Quercus spp.) woodlands. His doctoral work seeks to co-create scientific research that advances tribal sovereignty and cultural revitalization goals while addressing the ecological impacts and historical development of settler colonialism. He is part of the Lake County EcoCultural Fire Crew led by TERA and is on the Lake TREX (Prescribed Fire Training Exchange) steering committee where he has helped serve as an instructor in National Wildfire Coordinating Group (NWCG) certification courses that teach prescribed and cultural fire, wildland firefighting, and ecocultural restoration to local Lake County residents, UC students, farmworker-organizers, and more.

Before studying fire, Nicolás majored in both Biology and Sociology at Seattle University, focusing on the social and ecological impacts of settler colonialism and writing two senior theses: one on the scientific discourse on invasive species and their relationship to settler colonialism, and one on the relationship between universities, prisons, and abolition. 

Throughout his PhD Nicolás has worked as a mentor in the Doris Duke Conservation Scholars Program and the Climate Leadership Immersion Experience, two summer field courses for undergraduate students interested in conservation justice and ecological field research.