Webinar: The Cultural Resource Response to the Dragon Bravo Fire

The 2025 Dragon Bravo Fire was a devastating event for the cultural resources of the North Rim of Grand Canyon National Park. The fire destroyed more than 100 historic buildings within the Grand Canyon Lodge National Historic Landmark District and two smaller historic districts on the North Rim.

For historic preservation professionals, the aftermath presents a complicated question: How do you respond when a catastrophic wildfire has fundamentally altered a nationally significant historic landscape?

The Arizona Preservation Foundation and Arizona State Historic Preservation Office invites you to join “The Cultural Resource Response to the Dragon Bravo Fire,” a free educational webinar featuring two professionals who have been directly involved in the preservation response, on Thursday, September 10, 2026

Ellen Brennan, Cultural Resources Program Manager at Grand Canyon National Park, and Susan Lawson, Architect with the Arizona SHPO, will discuss the ongoing response to the fire and the challenges involved in documenting, evaluating, protecting, and ultimately making decisions about damaged historic resources.

The presentation will focus on the Grand Canyon Lodge National Historic Landmark District and the multifaceted preservation response, including:

• Documentation of historic resources and damage

• Assessment and evaluation of affected buildings and sites

• Selective demolition where necessary

• Stabilization of surviving resources

• Debris removal and site management

• Historic preservation law and compliance requirements

• The challenges of future redevelopment within a nationally significant historic landscape

The Dragon Bravo Fire offers an important case study in disaster response and historic preservation. Wildfires, floods, hurricanes and other disasters increasingly threaten historic buildings and cultural landscapes. The experience at Grand Canyon provides an opportunity to better understand what happens after the flames are gone – and the difficult preservation decisions that follow.

Meet the Presenters

Ellen Brennan has served as the Cultural Resources Program Manager at Grand Canyon National Park for 16 years. During her 35-year National Park Service career, she has worked in a wide range of positions, including law enforcement and fire management. Before joining Grand Canyon National Park in her current role, she managed cultural resources for the Southern Four Corners Group, including Navajo National Monument, Canyon de Chelly National Monument and Hubbell Trading Post National Historic Site. She also served as the Vanishing Treasures archaeologist for the Grand Canyon.

Susan Lawson knew by age eight that she wanted to become an architect. After studying architecture at the University of Virginia and Cornell University, she built a career focused on historic preservation. Following two decades of preservation work in New York, she now serves as an architect with the Arizona SHPO.

Together, Brennan and Lawson bring complementary perspectives from the National Park Service and Arizona’s SHPO, offering a firsthand look at the preservation response to one of the most significant wildfire-related losses of historic resources in Arizona.

Join Us

The Cultural Resource Response to the Dragon Bravo Fire

Thursday, September 10, 2026

Noon–1:00 p.m. PDT / Arizona time

Registration is required. Please complete the registration form to reserve your place.

Whether you work in historic preservation, cultural resources, emergency management, planning, architecture, archaeology – or simply care about the future of Grand Canyon’s remarkable historic resources – this webinar offers an important opportunity to learn from the people responding to the Dragon Bravo Fire.

We hope you’ll join us.

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