Social Science of Prescribed Fire

Andy McCrady

Fuels Program Coordinator, Mitigation and Prevention, Texas A&M Forest Service

As a Program Coordinator for the Texas A&M Forest Service’s Fuels Program, Andy works within the agency’s Mitigation and Prevention Department to coordinate wildfire fuel reduction activities statewide in Texas. After completing bachelor’s and master’s degrees in Forestry and Wildlife Management at SFA’s Arthur Temple College of Forestry, he worked as a private wildlife management consultant focusing on deer ranches, habitat management, and prescribed burning.

In 2013 Andy left the private sector for a position with the Texas A&M Forest Service. Currently as Statewide Fuels Program Coordinator he oversees 6 grant programs for private landowners, and numerous public land projects annually. He is a TDA licensed Lead Burn Instructor, NWCG Type 2 Burn Boss, SAF Certified Forester, ISA Certified Arborist, and Certified Wildland Fire Practitioner by the Association of Fire Ecology. In 2024 he received the Lead Ignitor Award for Texas at the Great Plains Fire Summit. Andy and wife Jennifer are raising 3 children on a few acres near Nacogdoches, TX.

Ludie Bond, Ph.D.

Wildfire Mitigation Specialist / Public Information Officer, Waccasassa Forestry Center, Florida Forest Service , Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services

As a Wildfire Mitigation Specialist/Public Information Officer with the Florida Forest Service for over 20 years, Dr. Bond covers one of their 15 designated districts in Florida. The Waccasassa Forestry Center/District 8 is comprised of five counties: Alachua, Gilchrist, Levy, Marion, and Putnam. In her capacity as a Public Information Officer, she provides local, state, national and international media with information about wildfire incidents, wildfire causes, wildfire prevention, prescribed burning, and fuel mitigation programs in the area. She also develops Firewise projects and Countywide Community Wildfire Protection Plans to lower the risks and potential damaging effects of wildfires in communities determined to be at risk. Dr. Bond also promotes forest use such as recreation and hunting as well as special programs such as longleaf pine restoration and the enhancement of the endangered and threatened Red-cockaded Woodpecker habitat on the seven state forests within the five-county district.

Dr. Bond holds a Bachelor of Science in Public Relations (’85), a Master of Forest Resources and Conservation (’04), and a Doctorate of Forest Resources and Conservation (’24) from the University of Florida. She serves as a Type 1/Complex Public Information Officer Section Lead on one of the Florida Forest Service’s Complex Incident Management Teams. She has responded as a Public Information Officer to multiple wildfire incidents throughout Florida, the southeast, and as far west as Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Idaho, Louisiana, Montana, Oregon, Texas, and Utah. Dr. Bond has also responded to multiple hurricane recovery deployments throughout Florida, including in the panhandle of Florida for Hurricane Michael and in southwest Florida for Hurricane Ian.

Michael Tiller, Ph.D.

Assistant Professor of Forest and Fire Management, College of Natural Resources, University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point

Michael grew up in Northern California where he enjoyed an active outdoor lifestyle hunting, fishing, camping, and skiing in the beautiful Sierra Nevada Mountains and coastal redwoods. He enjoyed a 10-year career with Cal Fire serving as a Firefighter and Fire Apparatus Engineer. In 2006, he moved to College Station, Texas where he attended Texas A&M University and earned a B.S. in Wildlife and Fisheries Science. After completing his B.S. degree, he attended Stephen F. Austin State University where he earned an M.S. degree in Environmental Science and Ph. D. in Forestry, both with a research focus on understory fuel flammability in forest and rangeland ecosystems. Michael also served as a Wildland Urban Interface Specialist for the Texas A&M Forest Service for 2-years where he was actively engaged with fuels management and prescribed burning. He recently accepted an Assistant Professor of Forest Ecology position at UW-Stevens Point where he leads the fire science program and serves as an adviser for the UWSP Fire Crew.