205. Are We Fighting Wildfires Wrong? with Connor Nelson

Happy New Year, and welcome back to the Outdoor Minimalist podcast. After a much-needed hiatus, I’ve had time to reflect on where this show is headed—and how I can better manage the energy and care that go into producing it.

With that in mind, I want to share a few updates you can expect as we move through 2026.

First, our Monday episodes aren’t changing. We’ll continue releasing weekly expert interviews on a wide range of topics, many of which come directly from listener requests. If there’s a topic or guest you’d love to hear on the show, I’d genuinely love to know. You can reach out to me on social media or through theoutdoorminimalist.com.

Our Friday episodes are where you’ll see a small shift. We’ll continue covering public lands policy, but in a more focused way. There are incredible organizations—like Western Priorities and the newly founded Re:Public—doing dedicated, in-depth public lands reporting, and we want to help support and uplift that work. Producing two episodes every week, with one being a news-focused show, isn’t sustainable long-term, so moving forward, Friday episodes will be released every other week.

The good news is that public lands coverage isn’t going away—it’ll just be less frequent on the podcast. For more regular updates, you can follow us on Instagram and TikTok, or subscribe to our weekly newsletter. And when those Friday episodes do drop, I hope you’ll continue tuning in.

So, to recap: Monday episodes will continue weekly, just as they have for the past three years, and Friday episodes will now be released every other Friday.

Now, onto the show.

In episode 205 of the Outdoor Minimalist podcast, we are talking about wildfire—but not in the way it’s usually framed.

So much of the public conversation around fire focuses on catastrophe: dramatic footage, scorched landscapes, and endless debates about forest thinning or suppression. But what often gets lost is the science—and more importantly, the solutions that actually determine whether homes and communities survive when fire inevitably arrives.

My guest today has spent years working at the intersection of wildfire science, film, and public understanding, pushing back against misinformation and tragedy-only narratives in favor of something more constructive: community resilience.

Connor Nelson is a Los Angeles–based cinematographer and documentary filmmaker whose work centers on wildfire, mental health, and addiction. Connor recently shot Inside the L.A. Firestorm, a PBS documentary examining the Palisades and Eaton fires, and he’s currently working on an eight-part documentary series focused on wildfire, solutions-based storytelling, and what actually protects communities.

Across his work, he challenges the media’s tendency to chase tragedy and misinformation, asking a harder—but far more useful—question: What would it look like if we told stories that changed outcomes instead of just documenting loss?

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Connor Nelson

Website: https://www.connornelsondp.com

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/connornelson.dop/

Inside the LA Firestorm: https://www.pbs.org/video/weathered-inside-the-la-firestorm-l31r0b/