Stewarding the Land, Self, and Community

When the fire came, Theo Maehr ’76 was ready. At least, as ready as one can be when staring down a massive wildfire advancing through the parched landscape near Big Sur, California.

 

Maehr has lived on a 41-acre property in the Santa Lucia Mountains for the past 16 years.

 

He built his home with his own hands, using fire-resistant materials and creating a rain-catch system with 60,000 gallons of water storage — enough for himself and a tenant, horses, and the gardens and orchards where he grows most of his own food.

 

“I feel like I operate in a way that’s different from most people, in that I take time to listen to and connect with the land,” Maehr says. “From the beginning, it was clear the biggest threat living up here was going to be fire. So, I began preparing for that and working with the landscape in a way that nourished rather than took away from it.”

 

Sparked by an illegal campfire on July 22, 2016, the Soberanes Fire arrived on Maehr’s property 48 hours after it started. While his neighbors and tenant evacuated, Maehr stayed on. Thanks to an underground cold room that doubled as a fire shelter, he knew he could survive; now he had to protect his home.

 

“When the fire came onto my property, it was almost like meeting someone — like I was going to be working with the fire rather than against it,” Maehr recalls.

 

Drawing on his experience as a volunteer firefighter, he created a 150-yard fire line using only a shovel. All through that night, he cleared brush and put out smaller blazes to halt the fire’s advance. When morning came, at least 80% of Maehr’s property had burned to some degree, but his house, orchard, gardens, and horses were safe. The fire burned 132,000 acres of land and destroyed nearly 60 homes, but not his.

 

Maehr’s connection with the natural world began during his childhood in Cincinnati, Ohio, when he first yearned to communicate with animals. He came to St. Paul’s School as a Second Former in 1971, joining the Outing Club and discovering a favorite loop trail up Mount Lafayette. Years later, he would return to that trail for a hike that inspired him to write a children’s book, Wild Whispers.

 

After matriculating at Stanford, Maehr left college early — but he kept learning. Over the next 20 years, he worked as a commercial diver, boat builder, organic farmer, home builder, and rafting guide. Underlying all these pursuits was a desire to live as sustainably as possible. After returning to Stanford, he earned a B.S. in geologic and environmental studies and an M.A. in education and taught for years at the Waldorf-inspired Monterey Bay Charter School. 

 

While working to revive the burned forest on his property, Maehr is also writing a book about his experience in the Soberanes Fire, his philosophy of stewardship, and the need for humans to align with nature rather than work against it.

 

“Stewardship starts with taking care of ourselves and discovering the unique dream or contribution we hold inside,” Maehr says. “Then we need to understand our connectedness, not just to the human community but the community of life that we find ourselves immersed in.”