Gertschen Interview: Talking about conservation and education with Lance Craighead

Gertschen Interview: Talking about conservation and education with Lance Craighead

lancebookInterview by Chris Gertschen

Lance Craighead is the Executive Director of the Craighead Institute, an applied science and research organization that builds conservation solutions for people and wildlife in changing landscapes. Its mission is to maintain healthy populations of native plants, wildlife, and people as part of sustainable, functioning ecosystems.

Since its founding by renowned grizzly bear researcher Dr. Frank C. Craighead in 1964, the Craighead Institute has pioneered the fields of conservation and wildlife research. Over the past four decades the Institute has conducted ecological research on grizzly bears in Yellowstone Park, genetic research on grizzly bears in Alaska, conventional and satellite radio-telemetry of wildlife, and the use of remote sensing to map vegetation and wildlife habitat. (more…)

Chris Gertschen talks with conservationists

Chris Gertschen talks with conservationists

Gertschenpicby Chris Gertschen

For the past three decades, I have been an activist, a volunteer, a student and a teacher of conservation.  My activist years gave me an advocacy perspective but I quickly saw a great need to expand my own natural science education – to give some foundation and balance to my life and love of the earth.  My studies of biology as an undergrad were focused singularly on human biology and physiology.  The word “ecology” was not then part of the curriculum.  As a graduate student, I was introduced to a whole new world.  In the natural history interdisciplinary program that I designed for myself at Boise State University, I studied geology, zoology, ecology and public affairs.  And, I began to learn about conservation biology. (more…)

The Forests of Lewis & Clark:  Lessons from Dynamic Nature

The Forests of Lewis & Clark: Lessons from Dynamic Nature

L&C View Oceanalt

by Jeremy Solin

Standing next to a monstrous 300-year old Sitka spruce near Clark’s Point of View on the Oregon coast, I try to imagine what the forests in this area were like when Captain Clark and crew passed through here in 1806.  Many of us have romantic notions of the halcyon days of the “sea of old growth forests” that existed before European settlement in the Pacific Northwest.  I image hemlocks so tall and straight that I can’t see the tops. Sitka spruce so large you could drive a car through them if you could possibly navigate the maze of large downed logs, rotting and returning their nutrients to the soil and providing seedbeds for other spruce and hemlock.

This picture is, in many places, as errant as Clark’s exultation, “Ocian in View! O! the Joy” at seeing the Columbia’s estuary — not the Pacific.  A little math will demonstrate why.  If this tree, among the largest in the area, is 300 years old, that means that it was only 100 years old during the time of Clark’s hike over Tillamook Head.  A 100-year old spruce can be a large tree, but it is far from indicative of old growth.  Sure, there were extensive areas of old growth forests that Lewis & Clark saw and passed through, but the “sea of old growth” is as much a romantic fairy tale as “Goldie Locks and the Three Bears.”

Ecola State Park Forest History
These forests and other forests throughout the Pacific Northwest, North America and the world, have always changed, have always been dynamic.  The coastal forest of Ecola State Park near Cannon Beach, Oregon provides a good example of the forces that shape forests and the extent of old-growth forests at the time of Lewis & Clark.

Forests of one type or another have existed here for millennia.  In a recent study at Ecola State Park, Dr. James Agee found evidence of forests that grew here 45,000 years ago (and possibly between 73,000 and 123,000 years ago) in which the trees were destroyed by inundation or massive debris flows.  Between 17,000 and 10,500 years ago forests of varying species existed as the climate warmed and the glaciers retreated.  The Sitka spruce and western hemlock forests have existed in the part of the Oregon coast (and much of the Oregon and Washington coast) since the end of the last ice age, about 10,500 years ago.

Since then, the composition of the forest has remained relatively constant, but numerous events have changed the species and age of trees present at a local and regional level.  Periods of warm, dry weather between 10,500 and 7,000 years ago encouraged low severity fires that kept the forest more open and favored trees that prefer full sunlight.  From 7,000 to 4,000 years ago, a cooler, moister climate (similar to today’s) decreased fire frequency.  However, when fires burned, they were very intense and consumed large areas of forest.

The most recent major disturbance in this area occurred approximately 100 years before Capt. Clark stood on the current day Tillamook Head.  Through a variety of evidence (including Japanese oral history), it is believed that a very large earthquake struck the Oregon and Washington coast in 1700.  The quake likely leveled large areas of forest, possibly including those at Ecola, setting the stage for a massive wildfire the following summer.  This story is contained in beach deposits at Indian beach and charcoaled remains in the forest.  Results of ongoing disturbance are still visible in the park.  From the upturned roots and snapped off trunks of windblown trees to the stumps of a trees cleared from trails, we know that “change is the constant companion of the forest of Ecola State Park.  They are forests of change now; they were forests of change during the time of Lewis & Clark; and they were forests of change millennia before Lewis & Clark.” (Agee 2000).

Forests Today
When Lewis & Clark visited the Pacific Northwest, approximately 40 — 70% of the total forest area was old-growth.  On going disturbances from wind, lightning ignited fire, extensive human (Native American) burning, volcanoes and earthquakes ensured that there was always some young forest.  Today these same disturbances continue with the addition of more human caused events such as clearing land for residential, urban and agriculture and logging.  These account for the manor differences that Lewis & Clark would notice in our forests.  Some of the areas once “thickly timbered with Pine Spruce Cotton and a kind of maple” have been converted to houses, streets, malls and fields while the amount of old-growth forests now makes up about 10% of the forestland.

Lessons from the forests Lewis & Clark encountered
We now know that forests develop in a particular manner and that disturbance is an important, if unpredictable, part of this process.  Forests are dynamic.  Understanding past forest conditions and the processes that shaped those forests will help us make decisions about the forests of the future.

We can’t go back — nature is too dynamic (Where would we go back to anyway?  The forests of 1900 were different from those of 1806, which were different from those of 1492, …).  However, we are moving ahead and the choices we make today will influence the forests for the next 200 years or longer.  This quote from Wells and Anzinger (p. 194, 2001) summarizes this idea nicely:

An understanding of the dynamic nature suggests that forests are neither completely malleable nor completely beyond our beneficial influence.  Understanding dynamic nature encourages us to take our stewardship seriously, managing actively, but in the fullest possible awareness of the land’s history and likely consequences of our action.

As such, I hope you begin your own “voyage of discovery” whether it is in an old-growth coastal forest, a second-growth Ponderosa pine forest or the urban forest of your school or backyard.  The more we understand about the processes that shaped the forests encountered by Lewis & Clark and influence our forests today the better prepared we will be to make the decisions about tomorrow’s forests.

References

Agee, J.  2000.  “Historic Forest Disturbance at Ecola State Park, Oregon: Opportunities for Interpreting Forest Ecology and Conditions at the Time of Lewis and Clark.”  Oregon Forest Resources Institute, Portland, OR.

Wells, G. and D. Anzinger.  2001.  Lewis and Clark Meet Oregon’s Forests:  Lessons from Dynamic Nature.  Oregon Forest Resources Institute, Portland, OR.

Burning  Issues: Integrating the Curriculum With a Fire Ecology Unit

Burning Issues: Integrating the Curriculum With a Fire Ecology Unit

wildfire_elkbath

Burning Issues: Integrating the Curriculum With a Fire Ecology Unit

Two Idaho classroom teachers share their strategies for integrating fire into the curriculum and meeting state mandated learning goals.

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Fire is Elementary

by Kathy Comstock

The new school year is off to a blazing start in the fourth grade here at Andrus Elementary in Meridian, Idaho.

Thanks to my participation this summer in Project Learning Tree’s Burning Issues: Fire Ecology workshop, my students are fully immersed in our Earth Patrol reading unit.  While I have always enjoyed teaching this particular unit in the past, never before has my class been so actively involved with the story.  The FireWorks curriculum presented at the workshop has provided me with wonderful new hands-on, minds-on experiments and investigations that are enriching each and every one of my students as I integrate the content areas of Science, Math, and Reading.

YellowcvrOur opening story, The Great Yellowstone Fire, by Carole G. Vogel and Kathryn A. Goldner, is of particular interest to us, as we share the distinction and privilege of holding a small portion of Yellowstone National Park within our state’s border.  Combine this with the fact that Idaho plays host to a fair share of the West’s summer wildfires, and one can easily see the relevance of fire ecology awareness for my students.

We began our explorations with some pre-reading activities to build background and activate prior knowledge.  The Mystery Tree investigation allowed my students to become acquainted with many of the tree species that inhabit both Yellowstone and forests throughout Idaho that ultimately are affected by wildfires.  Students were involved in science and math skills such as measurement, making observations, recording facts, interpreting data, and drawing conclusions based on the gathered data.

As an introduction to the fire triangle, students participated in a little gumdrop geometry where they discovered the three-legged triangle is the strongest shape.  The knowledge gained from this exploration led us into a discussion of how fire requires three basic elements: fuel, oxygen, and heat to sustain itself.  Like a triangle, if one of the “legs” is removed, the fire will collapse and go out.  In order to prove this fact; we ventured into our first live fire experiment by testing the strength of the fire triangle.  Matches were set up in two different positions, one pointing up and one down.  After observing each one burn out, students were challenged to identify which basic element was missing from the fire triangle, causing the fire to go out.  During the experiment, students timed the length of each burn, measured the length of the flame, and determined which direction the heat went.  In addition, students recorded their findings as any good scientist would.  Proving that oxygen is a necessary element required a candle, plate, and jar.  Watching the candle burn uninhibited for awhile helped students see that with an abundant supply of oxygen, the fire will burn on and on.  After placing a jar over the candle, students observed the flame slowly go out, clearly illustrating that without oxygen; a fire will quickly die. It would be easy enough to feed these facts to my students with the expectation they will be memorized.  However, by engaging my students in experiments that allow them to observe and interact with real materials increases the likelihood they will remember and understand these important concepts.

Now as we begin our reading of the non-fiction piece, The Great Yellowstone Fire, which describes in vivid detail the events leading up to, during, and after the famous fires of 1988, my students are completely drawn into the story.  Our pre-reading activities have helped to make the story come alive and deepen each studentís understanding of how fire behavior affected one of our country’s most beloved national parks.  The reading material is helping us to see that while fire can have devastating effects, it can also be beneficial in ways we may not have known before.   Students are learning that the charred remains are adding minerals back to the soil.  With the canopy now more open, sunlight can get through to the forest floor, nurturing new plant growth.  Animals, large and small, find it easier to forage for food.

Our post reading activities will include the creation of several matchstick forests.  These live fire demonstrations will help students see first hand how the forest’s density, terrain’s slope, and weather conditions can influence fire behavior.  Each of the previous experiences leading up to this grand finale, should enhance my students’ ability to analyze the outcome of each demonstration.

To further tie all these activities and experiences together, our Meridian School District fourth grade curriculum encourages us to explore the global concepts of change, perspective, properties, and interactions throughout the year.   This highly interactive, integrated unit certainly gives us a wonderful opportunity to jump start our explorations and blaze our way into fourth grade.

Kathy Comstock is a 4th Grade Teacher at Cecil D. Andrus Elementary, Meridian Joint School District #2 in Idaho.

Fire in the Junior High Classroom

by Kris Stone

Junior high students are intrigued by fire and easily engage in learning about wildfires.  I taught a fire ecology unit in eighth grade Earth Science.  Students learned to apply concepts they had learned earlier such as weather, climate, maps, and topography to predicting the behavior of wildfires and prescribed burns.  The unit took about two weeks and included modifications of activities from Project Learning Tree (PLT) and “Wildfires:  Feel the Heat” (produced by Discovery Communications).

Students were introduced to wildfires using the Project Learning Tree Activity titled “I’d Like to Visit a Place Where…”    Students described their favorite recreation place and how they would feel if it was burned by wildfire which was followed by a three-minute National Geographic video clip describing what it is like to fight wildfires.

Next, students completed two activities involving the fire triangle.  The first activity “Living with Fire”  (PLT) was modified to include two demonstrations showing how oxygen affects fire.  The first demonstration involved placing a burning splint placed in a test tube filled with carbon dioxide produced by using baking soda and vinegar.  The splint went out due to the lack of oxygen.  The second demonstration involved placing a glowing splint placed into a test tube filled with oxygen produced by using manganese dioxide and hydrogen peroxide.  The splint burst into flames due to the increase in oxygen.  In another demonstration, students were asked to observed how long it took for three different types of matches to burn and determine how fuels affect burning.  Finally, students observed a candle being put out by water to show how heat affects burning.
After the demonstrations, students were divided into five groups and each group was given the same number of matches but different types of materials to burn.  Each group’s task was to burn as much of the material they could with the matches they had.  Some groups had only large fuels to burn while others had damp or wet materials.  Only one group had materials that burned easily.  At the end of the activity, we discussed how oxygen, heat, and/or fuels affected whether or not the materials they were given burned.

Next, students learned about wildfire behavior by building models of forests using stick matches, clay and cake pans (Wildfire:  Feel the Heat).  Students were divided into teams.  The teams built forests that varied in match density, match size, slope, topography, litter, and moisture.  Each group recorded how long it took for their match forest to burn and noted the percent of matches that burned before the fire when out.  Students then tried to determine the affect of density, slope, topography, and moisture by comparing the burn times of each forest.

In the final activity, students used the interactive “Burning Issues” CD produced by the BLM and Florida State University.  They learned to identify the proper environmental conditions for conducting a prescribed burn; measure and control environmental variables such as time of year, moisture and wind speed in test plots; compare a successful and unsuccessful burns; and describe problems and benefits of prescribed burning.

Students enjoyed learning about fire because they find it fascinating plus they were able to participate in a variety of activities.  I liked this unit because it allowed students to apply some of the concepts they learned previously in Earth Science by participating in activities that grabbed and held their attention!

Kris Stone teaches at Riverglen Junior High in Boise, Idaho. In 2002 she was named Idaho Environmental Education Teacher of the Year by the Idaho Environmental Education Association.

Fire’s Role in the Lives of People and the Forests of the Pacific Northwest

Fire’s Role in the Lives of People and the Forests of the Pacific Northwest

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Activities for grade K-12

(Adapted from Fire in Pacific Northwest Ecosystems, Environmental Education Association of Oregon and Pacific Northwest Coordinating Group, 1997.)

Compiled by Susan Duncan, Assistant Director of Environmental Education
Washington Forest Protection Association

Kindergarten

Celebrating Fire
Gather students into a sharing circle. Suggest that fire can be a useful tool. People of many different traditions use fire for celebrations. Describe one example such as birthdays by burning candles on a cake. Invite the students to imagine and describe how burning candles smell, look, taste, sound and feel. Ask students to explain how they keep the fire safe.

Give the students drawing materials to create a picture of another kind of special day where fire is used to celebrate e.g. Olympic Torch, wedding, holidays, etc. Invite them to describe the sights, smells, sounds, tastes and textures in their picture. Also, ask them to explain how the fire is kept safe.

First Grade

Fire Bugs
Have students select and draw an insect they might find in a forest with its food source and shelter. Ask them to think about what the insect might do if a fire passed through the forest as they share their drawing with a partner.

Explain that fire tends to favor insects with wings. They can fly away when the flames begin and return afterwards to take advantage of the decaying wood for their new nests and shelter. Flying insects are often attracted to heat and light. Because the sweet tree sap, leaves and bark that attract many crawling insects are burned in a fire, many insects such as caterpillars cannot find enough food in a burned area to survive and will need to wait for new plants to grow. Once the rain moistens the burned layers, and the soil begins to be broken up by burrowing mammals, insects at every stage of life begin to find food and shelter. Then, the woodpeckers and other wildlife, which depend on them for food, return as well.

(People have used fire to protect themselves from unwanted flying insects. Smoke from fire can be used to “smoke” meat so it is protected from insects that lay their eggs in rotting meat. This kind of meat is often called, “jerky,” and can be eaten by people later. Some people still use smoke to keep bees away from them so they can collect their honey. A smoky campfire can also keep bugs away.)

Add the following sentence to their picture, and ask students to finish writing it:

“When a fire comes, this insect would________________________________________, and then,________________________________.”

Second Grade

A Tool for Growing New Plants
Fire can be a useful tool if it is under control. Explain that people have used “controlled” fires to burn trees in areas where they hunt for food or graze horses. People have carefully used fire to burn the shape of the inside of a canoe into a log from a cedar tree. Controlled fires help prairie grasses and huckleberry bushes grow. They also burn dead and diseased trees or tall brush that can move fires up to the tops of large trees whose bark might otherwise have protected them from the fire.

Fire helps put nutrients back in the soil for new plants to grow and opens the forest so more sunlight reaches the forest floor.

Fire helps new plants in the forest three ways:
• Opens the area around the seed to sunlight
• Removes the “coat” on some seeds so they become moist and begin growing
• Improves the quality of the soil for the seed to grow by providing fresh nutrients and eliminating diseases.

Hold up a seed cone from a pine tree for the students. Explain that the cone has more than one seed and could grow many trees. Act out a controlled fire passing through a forest of tall healthy trees interspersed with dead trees. The dead trees burn to create soil and open up the forest to the light of a student that represents the sun. Other students acting as seeds from the cone remove their ìcoatsî and begin to grow with their toes absorbing nutrients like roots.

Third Grade

Fire’s Effects on Streams
Ask students to compare and contrast the habitat of two crayfish: one that lives in a mountain stream with natural seasonal changes and another crayfish whose forested stream has recently been changed by fire. Make a class list that shows the comparisons discussed.

Discuss the effects of losing trees to fire in more detail: water temperature (increases), sedimentation (increases), amount of water flow (increases) and amount of nutrients (increase).

Effects of increased sedimentation:
Reduction in size of territory
Difficulty seeing food in water clouded with sediment
Fewer resting and hiding places as sediment fills bottom of stream

Effects of temperature increase:
Less oxygen in the water
More prone to disease

Effects of increase water flow:
Washes away logs to hide under
Difficult to find safe place to rest

Effects of more nutrients:
More algae, which can reduce oxygen even more
More insects on which to feed

To summarize, invite students to write a news flash and give a brief report about something that is happening to the crayfish because of changes in its habitat due to the fire.

Fourth Grade

Fire and Water
Cooling fire with water is one essential step for putting out forest fires so when it rains firefighters, especially those scooping water from nearby lakes with helicopters are grateful. The other two essential steps for extinguishing forest fires include: building a fire line, which removes any fuel the fire could use, and smothering the fire so it can not get any oxygen.

To learn these essential forest firefighting skills, play a math game called, “Water, Dirt, Fire Line” with the following rules:

• Play in groups of two.

• Count, “1,2,3” and then, say one way to help extinguish the fire (Water, Dirt, Fire Line.)
• Keep track of how many times each word is picked by keeping a record in a table.
After 5 rounds, write right down the probability for each word being picked. (Make a fraction with the number of times the word is selected over the total number of words said. In this case, 2 people times 5 rounds equals 10 total words. Fore example, read it out loud as “Water was said 3 times out of 10. “)

As a class, compare the probability that each word would be selected and determine which word was selected most often.

Discuss the probability that using only one method would put out the forest fire. Then, discuss what could be done to increase the chances of putting out a forest fire.

Fifth Grade

Succession after a Forest Fire
After a forest fire, the environment will pass thorough a series of stages as it recovers. The amount of time for recovery depends on the duration and temperature of the fire. The stages vary from place to place, but generally the environmental conditions favor the following types of plants and animals:

0-5 years    -Grasses, wildflowers and ferns thrive on the nutrients provided to the soil from the ash. Shrub seedlings begin to grow from root systems. Tree seedlings begin to grow. Snags provide habitat.

6-25 years-Shrubs and tree seedling grow larger and provide shade to grasses and other plants. Plenty of berries leaves and seeds for birds and mammals.

26-50 years-Deciduous trees such as alder and maple shade most of the forest and conifers reach the canopy.

51-150 years-Deciduous trees begin to mature and die allowing confers to grow in the sunlight and become the dominant species.

Conifers make up the canopy layer,

Use these brief descriptions to infer what kinds of wildlife and plants might be present in a recovering forest as it passes through these stages, draw a series of forest pictures like a comic book that shows these changes over time.

Sixth Grade

Fire and Weather
Invite students to create a diagram a healthy forest and describe its influence on the weather. Invite them to create a second diagram to help them answer the question, “What direct relationships exist between forest fires and weather?” Here’s a list of variables to consider:

Humidity    Soil Temperature
Wind Speed     Rainfall
Air temperature    Snowmelt
Sunlight    Lightning
Flooding

Seventh Grade

Fire: A Prescription for Diversity
The natural forces of earth, wind, fire and water combine to create diverse habitats for many species. Plants and animals adapted to the forests of the Pacific Northwest have experienced the effects of naturally occurring fires for thousands of years. How much a forest burns varies based on its topography, amount of fuel and weather. Fire creates a “mosaic” of forests in many different stages: grass, wildflowers and ferns; shrubs and small saplings; mature deciduous trees; and mature conifers. This mosaic creates edges and variations in habitat so diverse species can survive.

Prescribed fires are used by foresters to recreate a variety of habitats or “mosaics”, which were historically created by fire. Prescribed fires are planned by professionals and occur in the right place at the right time. Three kinds of prescribed fires are often used:

Slash Burning – removes fuels after trees have been harvested and prepares the ground for planting new seedlings.

Underburning – a fire that burns below the tree canopy to reduce the competition for sunlight between the brush and tree seedlings, reduces insect populations, opens cones (in the pine forest) and reduces fuels that might otherwise cause the canopy to burn.

Range Burning – a low intensity fire that burns unwanted grass, shrubs, noxious weeds and trees to improve the quality of food for range animals and wildlife.

Select a forest or range area familiar to the students, and discuss how the diversity of species in the habitat might be improved using prescribed fire. Work in small groups to draw a before and after map of the area noting the location and kind of prescribed burn recommended. As each group to describe the mosaic of habitats that will be created by their plan with the class while making a class list of the advantages and disadvantages of prescribed burns in the area.

Eighth Grade

Wildfires and Urban Populations
Protecting a home from wildfire can be as simple as 1,2,3, but steep slopes and windswept exposures add extra challenge. Fires grow with fuel, oxygen and heat. Brainstorm how a home could be landscaped to reduce a fire’s access to fuel, oxygen and heat.

By setting up a zone of defense, a home can be protected from wildfire. Invite students to create a model with the landscaping for a home in a fire prone area. The model would clearly shows these three zones:

Zone 1- Moist and Trim
This is the last line of defense before the house needs to begin at the house and go 50 feet out. Trees, shrubs and plants need to be low growing and at least 10 feet away from the house. Plants that hold a lot of water can be used to make a greenbelt and fire resistant plants that do not have resin in them are best.

Zone 2 – Low and Sparse
This is the second line of defense and extends 100 feet away from the house. Native plants and low growing shrubs that are drought tolerant. It is also important to remove any dry leaves and other flammable material.

Zone 3 – High and Clean
This is the first line of defense. Native trees that have been thinned and dry debris on the ground removed. Ten feet spaces between trees and branched trimmed to ten feet can prevent fire from spreading.

Ninth Grade

Economies Battle the Bugs
A 450 year old Douglas fir that is 10 feet in diameter can be killed by a fire, but the wood beneath its charred surface is marketable, at least until the bugs begin to drill holes through it. Many board feet of lumber were salvaged from the burned timber of the 1933 Tillamook Burn. The amount of timber killed from the fire was equal to all the lumber used in the 48 states in 1932.

Invite students to write a position paper by researching current issues regarding salvaging timber that has been damaged by fires and the existing demand for lumber. Ask them to note the tradeoffs and costs.

Tenth Grade

History of Fire Suppression
Use drama to tell the story of fire suppression. Assign a group of three students to create a “tableau” or still life representation of how people have decide to manage the actual and potential risk of wildfire using the following timeline:

1873 American Association for the Advancement of Science lobbied for laws to preserve timber. Congress passed the Timber Culture Act, which promotes tree planting.

1898 Theodore Roosevelt created the Division of Forestry headed by Gifford Pinchot. Pinchot advocated multiple use of the forests and the US Forest Service began the policy of fire prevention and total fire suppression.

1916 US Department of the Interior- National Park Service was established. Policy was to maintain a strict fire suppression policy while USFS allowed fires to burn in remote areas.

1919 USFS adopted policy of intensive fire suppression.

1924 Clark-McNary Act expanded the Weeks Act by providing a solid basis for federal and state cooperation in wildfire protection, production of trees for reforestation and expanded fire protection to private lands.

1925 Cooperative agreement between USFS and War Department of 1921 expanded for airplane surveillance in Washington, Oregon, Idaho and Montana.

1935 USFS adopts ì10 a.m. policyî after three bad fires. The policy stated that foresters would strive to contain all fires by 10 a.m. the day after they started.

1940 First parachute jump on a forest fire.

1948 Smokey Bear came into being.

1959 A forest fire laboratory was established in Macon, Georgia to work on fire problems nationally, but was to specifically look at fire in hardwoods.

1963 Leopold Report acknowledged the historical role of fire and advised starting planned ignition burns to maintain flora and fauna.

1973 The new National Fire Danger Rating System is put into widespread use.

1978 USFS begins the ìlet burnî program for naturally occurring fires in wilderness areas.

1990 Yellowstone National Park begins re-evaluation of ìnatural fireî policy.

1994 Fourteen fire fighters killed on Storm King Mountain Fire in Colorado. Fires in Wenatchee, Washington burned 135,000 acres and destroyed 22 homes.

2000 President Clinton requested a report whose finding led to the adoption of the National Fire Plan. The plan recommended active management in the form of mechanical thinning and prescribed fires to return forests on federal lands to historic levels of density and species diversity.

11th Grade

Air Quality Debate
Depending on topography and weather, air quality can be significantly impacted by fire. Foresters planning prescribed fires must consider a variety of factors including both locations of urban centers as well as protecting visibility in wilderness areas and national parks.

Invite student to prepare for a debate regarding the prescribed burn of a forested area to reduce fuel below the canopy in an area near a national park. After multiple options are proposed and considered, work as a class to reach consensus on the best practice for the area at this particular time.

12th Grade

What Next?
Fire ecologists estimate that Oregon and Washington combined have about 10 million acres of Condition Class 3 forestland that has the highest risk for crown fires. Planning for fire can prevent tragic loss as well as sustain the natural benefits fire has provided to the unique ecosystems of the Pacific Northwest. Invite one half of the class to work with in small groups to make a flow chart that shows the risks to the environment from a wildfire in a wilderness area. Invite the other half of the class to work in pairs to create a flow chart showing the risks to people from a wildfire in an urban area. Have groups compare their flowcharts and determine what risks are could be controlled and how. Work with students to identify people and organizations in the community and describe the active roles that can be taken to control the risks associated with fire.