The Wildland-Urban Interface Climate Action Network (WUICAN, pronounced “we can”) is a consortium of community-based organizations, California Native American Tribes, land managers and universities in Southern California working together to address the climate crisis. We aim to:
- Create a new model for co-governance and co-design of climate solutions that center the needs of impacted communities
- Build capacity for collaboration, communication and decision-making across community-based organizations, universities and land stewards
- Develop community-driven policies and practices for land and water stewardship in the face of climate change
By leveraging innovative climate research, land stewardship and educational projects, WUICAN is generating science-based and community-driven best practices for responding to climate risks.
Recent and Upcoming Events
Thursday, June 5, 2025
EARTH: An Interfaith Exchange
Pacifica Institute, Lake Forest
6:30 – 8:00 PM
Join WUICAN’s Interfaith Climate Action Working Group for a conversation about earth with a focus on soil stewardship and environmental justice. Learn about native plants and urban farming. Participate in a tree-planting ceremony at the Pacifica Institute, which promotes interfaith dialogue from a Turkish Muslim perspective. Learn more and RSVP
Thursday, May 22, 2025
Cultivating Consciousness on Acjachemen and Tongva Homelands
Social and Behavioral Sciences Gateway, UC Irvine
6:00 – 8:00 PM
Sacred Places Institute for Indigenous Peoples and UC Irvine’s Research Justice Shop warmly invite you to join a conversation about community-university collaborations aimed at reclaiming and reconnecting with Indigenous and place-based histories in Orange County, including on lands currently owned by UC Irvine.
News and Stories
An event at UC Irvine explored the importance of building meaningful relationships in community-university collaborations to foster trust and challenge conventional boundaries of research and engagement. Learn more from Cultivating Consciousness program participants
Image: Members of the San Joaquin Marsh Archive Team at Cultivating Consciousness. Photo Credit: Juanita Belardes
Rev. Sadie Cullumber: Connecting poeple through ecological spirituality
“Our hearts can beat together for ecological justice,” says Reverend Sadie Cullumber, Lead Pastor for Harbor Christian Church, a community partner with WUICAN. Learn about Harbor Christian’s climate impact through building interfaith networks
Image: Reverend Sadie Cullumber, Lead Pastor at Harbor Christian Church in Newport Beach, CA. Photo credit: Harbor Christian Church
Watering the soil of interfaith climate action
Religious leaders, UC scientists and community organizers gathered at the Turkish-Muslim Pacifica Institute in Lake Forest for Earth: An Interfaith Exchange for an evening focused on soil stewardship and environmental justice. Read about the final event in the Elemental Climate Conversations series, organized by WUICAN’s Interfaith Climate Action Working Group
Image: Rabbi Cantor Marcia Tilchin participates in an interfaith tree-watering ceremony as part of Earth: An Interfaith Exchange. Photo credit: Matthew Hartman
Darrel Jenerette: Valuing biodiversity at the wildland-urban interface
Darrel Jenerette is Professor in the Department of Botany and Plant Sciences at UC Riverside and Principal Investigator for WUICAN partner the Jenerette Lab, where he researches the intersection of heat vulnerability, vegetation availability and demographic distribution. Read about how the Jenerette Lab works with community partners to affect climate policy and action.
Image: G. Darrel Jenerette, Professor in the Department of Botany and Plant Sciences at the University of California, Riverside. Photo credit: UC Riverside
OCEJ hosts community meeting expanding soil lead testing to Anaheim
UC Irvine undergraduate and WUICAN Climate Communications Fellow Jake Szabo attended a community meeting about OCEJ’s efforts to expand soil lead testing into Anaheim modeled on their ¡PloNo! campaign in Santa Ana. Read about the meeting and the important work OCEJ is doing throughout Orange County
Image: OCEJ staff, Erica Gonzalez and Maya Cheav, at a residential site in Santa Ana performing bioremediation. Photo credit: Maya Cheav
WUICAN acknowledges our presence on the ancestral and unceded territory of the Acjachemen and Tongva Peoples, who still hold strong cultural, spiritual and physical ties to this region.
Contact:
Research Justice Shop
researchjustice@uci.edu
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