Monday, July 25, 2011

Reflections from Participants

As an educator currently writing curriculum for a semester of fire ecology, as well as having been a former wildland firefighter, the Colorado Wildland Fire Ecology Institute was an opportunity I couldn’t pass up.  The experience was well worth its time.  The organizers of this event did a superb job at integrating wildland fire science and fire ecology with hands-on learning opportunities, guest speakers, field trips, educational resources, and activities for the classroom.  The live fire activities will, no doubt, bring even the most uninterested students to full attention.  The classroom educational resources I find to be extremely useful additions to the curriculum I am currently writing and I think they are going to be a lot of fun for the students.  The field activities, although predominantly focused on the Missionary Ridge Fire, I feel will be very easy to tailor to any region or ecosystem.

I appreciated that all of the guest speakers were experts in their fields yet were still able to convey relevant messages to individuals both versed and unversed in wildland fire terminology and science.  The firefighter guest speakers did a very good job of making sense of the tactical components of wildland fire suppression and mitigation, which was nicely paired with scientific aspects discussed by professors and scientists alike.  The historical fire examination provided by dendrochronology was a nice touch and an aspect of the Institute that I hope is maintained in coming years.  With my undergraduate degree in geography, I also especially enjoyed the Sim-Table demonstration and cartographic components as well.

The accommodations in the dorm rooms were as expected.  I was grateful for the free room and meals, which was a significant draw for me to attend, considering that I work for a non-profit organization and may not have been able to attend if these were additional costs that would have been needed otherwise. 

The days were long and full of good material.  I fully understand the need for the long days with the amount of excellent material covered, although I must admit that the hours were reminiscent of days spent on the fire line.  Speaking of which, I think that it was a good idea to have the students of the Fire Ecology Institute spend some time chopping fire line, as I think it gave the participants a small taste of the work wildland firefighters do on a daily basis. 

I would highly recommend this program for traditional and non-traditional educators who are hoping to teach about the often misunderstood science of wildland fire ecology.

Thursday, July 21, 2011

Participant Reflections

An amazingly inspirational and education week was spent in Durango at the 2011 Fire Ecology Institute. During the week, I acquired a much more thorough understanding of the mechanics of fire and its importance in the natural order of our environment. Equally important is the increased appreciation that I gained through this experience for the efforts of the individuals and agencies responsible for dealing with the management of wildfire (those involved in mitigation, control, and recuperative efforts after fire.) As was shared many times by all of us who attended the FEI, I will never look at a forest through the same eyes as before.

As I am not currently teaching in a classroom, my efforts to spread what I learned in Durango will center on outreach efforts, which I have already initiated. I have been able to share with several of my friends, family and acquaintance across the country this summer much of what I have learned, particularly in relation to mitigation of private residences. I am an enviromental educator during the school year and work daily with student groups, teachers, and parents on various aspects of the environment, including forestry. In this capacity, I will also be able to draw upon the information I have learned through the FEI to outreach to this community as well.

Thank you, Shawna, Craig, Kent, Lu, Mary Ann, and Gabi for all of your efforts in organizing and delivering this amazing program! I can safely say that this experience has significantly impacted both my outlook and behavior regarding wildfire, and will insure that others with whom I interact are exposed to the concepts I have gained as well.

Thursday, July 14, 2011

Reflections from Participants

We had a great time attending the Fire Ecology Institute.  Shawna was an amazing instructor and all of the presentations were educationally enjoyable.  We had a great time meeting everyone in our community and plan on doing alot of work with them through out our wilderness education program.  We have already partnered with the San Juan Mountain Association and assisted them on a Nature Hike at the Durango Mountain Resort and plan to continue that friendship.

It was nice to have such a diverse group in our classroom and we also plan to work with several of our classmates in the near future.

We had a certain preconception of what we thought we might get out of attending the FEI, but left with so more than we expected.  We have gained a well rounded view and education about fire and it's role in our community. The institute has inspired us to teach friends, neighbors and family as well as our students about the importance of fire education. 

I am thankful for the inspiration the FEI gave me.  We are starting a wilderness education program as mentioned above and prior to attending the institute I was somewhat worried about having fun activities to hold the children's interest throughout a daylong workshop.  The activities in PLT are great and really got me thinking in different directions.  The variety of presenters and their love for what they do added fuel to the fire that was burning in my brain.  Each day we were lead on a different adventure with a different personality and the multitude of views that weaved together a beautiful pattern of diverse ways of looking at things really connected the dots for me.  By the end of the program I had a solid idea of how I could pass on what we had learned and give the children in our program a unique and fun way to learn about the role of fire in their lives without having to fear fire itself.

Tom was having a bit of trouble adjusting to the ruff and seemingly uninviting forest of the Rockies  as opposed to the soft and gentle forest of the Sierra Nevada's that he had grown up with and loved so much. A scared and lonely squirrel in a kids swimming pool in one of the films we watched drastically changed his views.  At that moment he realized the vulnerability of the forest and it's extreme need for man's help to correct what mistakes had been made over the past century.  The Rocky Mountains have now lost that sharp, ominous feeling and have become mysteriously friendly and inviting.  There is now a strong sense of responsibility to protect the forests' heath and well-being that Tom happily accepts and plans to encourage the children that take our workshops to open their eyes and hearts to.  Tom feels that this forest is now his family and his home.  He greatly appreciates the sincerity of all the instructors and presenters as this change would not have been possible without their passion.  

Thanks to everyone for their hard work and dedication!

Friday, July 8, 2011

Reflections from Participants

Where oh where to begin? Upon arrival on Sunday for this workshop Shawna and her support staff were very welcoming. I must say the amount of support materials for this class that was laid out before us was like "Christmas" for an educator. Wow, and thank you for bringing all that to us. I'm still not through it all. They will be of great resource for years to come I'm sure.

When signing up for this workshop I was not sure what to expect. As it turned out, this has to be one of the most informative, busy and fun classes I have ever experienced. It covered many related topics blending them together in a very understandable format. They included forest ecology, fire and fuel management, fire education for the public- including much needed land use policies, history of fire suppression, fire mitigation, PLT activities, plus many more. This workshop had many presenters showing how so many agencies play an important role and just how much good can be done working together. I was impressed.
My favorite parts were the field trips and of those Lemon Reservoir stands out. John Ey went all out for us and for that it made his erosion presentation even better. His ingenuity and good old know how was heroic in proportion. His work saved the drinking water of Durango, Colorado as the Simms Table (my next favorite thing from this class) will undoubtedly save many lives and homes as it is already being put to test in many areas.

I hope to incorporate knowledge from this class into my curriculum, sparking a fire in them on these important topics.The PLT activity of burning a match stick forest kept all us adults engaged, I can't wait to do it with my students. This inquiry-based activity combined  with many of the other PLT activities and games will make for a great enrichment.

A great thank you goes out to all of the presenters with special thanks to each and everyone of them for their countless hours of dedication for making this such a successful work shop. My plan to even begin to incorporate some of this information is as follows. I will also be using the wonderful posters and pulling up different web-sites to enrich my students knowledge base on this subject, as well as get them excited and and curious.

Education Enrichment Plan: To intergrate PLT activities into our newly adapted Treasures Units as follows. I'm sure I'll change and interchange theses some as I get used to them, but here is how I see it at first glance. I would also send home the corresponding Family/Caregivers connecting letter home to encourage home participation even if I use activities from the Pre K-8 Environmental Education Activity Guide. Most of theses activities make excellent connection to the five senses of which are great ways for my age of students to begin making connection to their outdoors.

Unit 1 Families: Section One, Exploring Nature with the Five Senses; Early Childhood Environmental Experiences, Activity #3 Get in Touch with the Trees. We would examine tree cookies and do the Tree Ring/Life Ring activities making them into mobiles to hang in our classroom, all as an introduction. Books: Burns, Diane L.-Trees, Leaves, and Bark, ISBN: 1559716282 and Hoban, Tana - Ist it Rough? Is it Smooth? Is is Shiny?, ISBN: 0688038239.

Unit 2 Friends: Section One, Exploring Nature with the Five Senses; Early Childhood Environmental Experiences, Activity #4 We all Need Trees. Books: Huges, Mereidith Sayles - Tall and Tasty: Fruit Trees, ISBN: 0822528371, Ryder, Joanne - Hello Tree!, ISBN: 0525673105, and Ehlert, Lois - Pie in the Sky, ISBN: 01522165843.

Unit 3 Transportation: Pre K-8 Environmental Education Activity Guide,  Activity #85 Modified Version of Travel Log, Disscusion of different modes of transportation needed to approach putting out wildfires. Books: Bingham, Caroline - Fire Truck, ISBN: 0789492210 and Dig Dig Digging, ISBN: 0805068406.

Unit 4 Food: Section Two, Experiencing Trees Through the Seasons; Early Childhood Environmental Experiences, Activity #5 Signs of Fall. Books: Sherrow, Victoria - Chipmunk at Hollow Tree Lane, ISBN: 1568990286 and Senisi, Ellen B. - Fall Changes, ISBN: 0439240948.

Unit 5 Animals: Section Three, Meeting Neighborhood Trees; Early Childhood Environmental Experiences, Activity #10 Trees as Habitats. Books: Bishop, Nic. Forest Explorer: A Life-Sized Field Guide, ISBN: 0439174805 and Word, Jennifer - Forest Bright, Forest Night, ISBN: 1584690674.

Unit 6 Neighborhood: Section Three, Meeting Neighborhood Trees; Early Childhood Environmental Experiences, Activity# 9 To Be a Tree. Book: Miller, DebbieS. - Are Trees Alive?, ISBN: 0802788017. 

Unit 7 Weather, Unit 8 Plants: A visit to website weatherwizkids.com. then Section Two, Experiencing Trees Through the Seasons; Early Childhood Environmental Experiences, Activity #7 Bursting Buds. Talk about basic fire triangle, Matchstick Forest activity combined with Acticity #81 from Pre K-8 Environmental Education Activity Guide. Books: Evans, Lezlie - Rain Song, ISBN: 0395850770, Fire Education Team Big Book Illustrated by Hergie and Peluso, Beth A. - The Charcoal Forest: How Fire Helps Animals and Plants. ISBN 9780878425327.  I would also like to have them experience how it feels to use emergency fire shelter. 

Unit 9 Amazing Creatures:Section One, Exploring Nature with Five senses; Activity #2 Sounds Around. Books: Owen, Roy - My Night Forest, ISBN: 0027690059 and Merriam, Eva - Quiet Please, ISBN: 0671798162.


Unit 10 I Know A Lot: Section Two, Experiencing Trees Through the Seasons: Early Childhood Environmental Experiences, Activity #8 Adopt a Tree. Books: Iverson, Diane - My Favorite Tree: Terrific Trees of North America, ISBN: 1883220939 and Jones, Andrea Koehle - The Wish Trees, ISBN: 1434392058. 

 Cannot wait to begin!
This Fire Ecology Class has been such a great asset in my teaching.  I don’t know where to even begin in discussing what I took away from this experience.  As I returned home from this adventure I have already begun to think of ways to implement the materials and knowledge that I have gained.  I do have to say that as I drove home and went through some neighborhoods I saw things with new insight.  Even when my family went up to the Mesa and went fishing I saw many homes that needed mitigation and in some cases my heart sank a little as I was thinking how horrible it would be for them to lose their home when all they had to do was take a few precautions to make their living area a little safer.
I do have to thank Craig for teaching us how to build a fire line.  He’s going to have to come to the Western Slope and visit.  My kids and I now have a trail that runs all around our 5 acre property line.  Learning what the fire fighters have to endure was incredible.  I definitely have a new found respect for their agility because; let me tell ya, it is hard work.  I don’t know how they do it.  I would like one of their sharpened shovels though.  It would have made the work here a little easier.
I can definitely see that educating the public is going to have to start with the younger generations.  It seems to be common sense that fire is a naturally occurring phenomenon and we don’t have to stop all of them, especially if they aren’t endangering anyone.  For people to live in the backwoods, with no access, no mitigation and trees and brush all around seems like an accident waiting to happen.  If they would just take a little time to clean things out a little their stay on their property could be much more harmonious.
The vast majority of stuff that I received in the class will be entering my classroom this year.  I am a middle school science teacher that is now implementing a fire ecology as well as water ecology unit in my Earth Science classes, thanks to Lu.  We are going to partner up and share results from our River Watch project to determine the effects of a variety of things on the river as it flows from Durango to Grand Junction.  Lu has also inspired me to check into the Chub project, in which we raise Chubs to release at the end of the school year.  It should be fun and very educational.  We are also going to try and get our classes together through webcasting and share ideas and info.  I am going to create my own fireworks box to have in the classroom.  I cannot wait to try some of these activities in the classroom.  Working together with PLT and FEI I have some many ideas to try so that I can instill the love I have for the topics into my students.
I highly recommend taking this class.  It is an incredible experience and you will walk away with new ideas and ways to implement them into the classroom.  I also should say that I have a new classroom want list.  I now want a SIMS table to play with.  We’re talking hours of entertainment. I could implement this in both my earth science and physics class. I know I am a kid at heart but I guess that is why I love teaching science.  I get to “play” right along with the students as they learn.
Boy, what a week!  It was extremely interesting with tons of new knowledge to learn and we were busy, busy, and busy.  Even though the week included long days and always went into the evenings, it was great.  The various speakers, classroom activities, and all the fieldtrips made it more than worth-while.  All of the new information makes me want to integrate it into my classroom as soon as possible.                                                                                                                                                                                  
The week really started when we arrived Sunday evening.  After checking in, I was immediately amazed at all the supporting materials available.  One of the most important pieces we each received was our journal, which we would fire-decorate and use throughout the week.   After introductions, we started Monday morning with Colorado State District Forester, Ken Grant.  Ken gave an interesting overview of Colorado’s forests.  An interesting  part of Ken’s presentation, and one we take for granted, is the variety of trees we have here in Colorado and how different species have adapted to the different elevations we have here.  I want to use that in my classroom to not only learn about Colorado’s vegetation, but why does it differ by elevation.  What does elevation do for the trees?  Are there other factors present?  After Ken’s talk we had the pleasure learning about what many of us would consider one of the most interesting parts of the week: dendrochronology.  Laurie Huckaby, from the U.S. Forest Service, led us on an exploration of this science and brought lots of tree cookies and cores for us to examine. This is one topic I will definitely use in my classroom.  Besides using tree rings to understand the parts of trees and its’ age, I would like to use it in Language Arts to have the kids write about their lives when the tree was at a certain age. I’m also going to coordinate with our Social Studies teacher to talk about events that happened during the tree’s life. The PLT Activity Guide has many good activities and worksheets for this.  Later in the afternoon we met with Craig Goodell, the BLM’s fire mitigation and education specialist.  Craig, who would be with us most of the week, took us to Dalla Mountain Park to show us some ongoing fuel mitigation efforts. It was good to get out and hike, and we also got to watch Laurie and Craig core some trees.  After that we had dinner at Durango’s Science Museum and watched the movie “Fire Wars” which was very good.  I had seen it previously on PBS and will watch it again if it comes back on.  After a long first day it was good to get back to my room and get some rest.

On Tuesday we had our first look at the Missionary Ridge fire when we drove to Vallecito Reservoir and took a hike hosted by Larry Eads. It was our first real look at the fire’s effects.  We viewed the down and dead trees, but also the myriad of new growth as a result of the fire. We also met with Rodney Rogers and looked for invasive weeds.  I would like to have a copy of his weed identification book, but even with the book it was hard to identify every weed.  After lunch we took a quick drive with Craig Goodell to view a mitigated area treated with a prescribed burn.  Another of the week’s highlights occurred when we donned our firefighters gear and built a fireline.  We only worked for a few minutes and most of us needed a break.  How do real firefighters do it all day?    After we put our equipment away,  we took another short drive to a subdivision in the Ponderosa Pines called “Forest Lakes”.  Here we met with district fire chief, Rich Graber.  Rich explained his ongoing mitigation efforts with the subdivision’s landowners.  I want to use what homeowners can do to reduce the chance their house will burn,  in the classroom.  Activity #81 has some great ideas for the kids to do.  I always have several kids who have cabins and we can work in groups to figure out what we can do to increase the chance that the structure will survive a fire.  We may even do something on this in Computer Science as I remember seeing several interactive mitigation sites.  In the evening we met with Durango’s fire chief, Dan Noonan.  We watched his DVD of the Missionary Ridge Fire.  One thing that stuck with me was the impact the fire had on the lives of the people living in Durango.  If you could look at Chief Noonan’s life as a tree cookie, there would surely be a fire scar the year of the Missionary Ridge fire.

Wednesday started with a presentation from Butch Knowlton, the Directory of Emergency Preparedness.  We then took a tour of the Interagency Fire Management buildings with Craig.  We checked out an Initial Response Fire Truck, the warehouse which supplies firefighters, and the fire dispatch office.  There we were shown a computer monitor which had the location and type of all the fire air units in the Country.  Before we left, Craig Goodell let us actually get in a firefighters emergency fire tent.  You would have to know it’s life or death if you had to deploy one.  We then went to a new development west of Durango called “Twin Buttes”.  Marie Irwin showed us how the developer is being very ecology proactive as it is being built.  After lunch we headed to another area hit by the Missionary Ridge Fire, Lemon Lake.  We met John Ey, who is in charge of the dam and surrounding area for the Florida Water District.  John explained how the intenseness of the fire on the hillside next to the dam’s outlet caused the soil to become extremely susceptible to erosion, which could have covered the dam’s outlet with soil and debris.  John explained his emergency response actions after the fire, which kept most of the soil and debris in place.  The hillsides are now lush with vegetation.  Here’s where I would like to do an experiment with the intensity of fire with my kids.  I would like to build three fires with different intensities.  We could then watch and journal about what and when any vegetation returns.  I’m going to have to think about this experiment some more because fire and schools don’t normally go together.  After dinner we learned how we could use GPS units and Google Earth in the classroom from Steve Jennings.  The one site, ERSI, I had not seen before and I want to revisit it.

On Thursday we were tired but looking forward to visiting Mesa Verde.  We first toured the Cliff Palace, which is always enlightening, and then drove to the Park’s Fire Headquarters.  Mesa Verde’s new fire chief, Steve Underwood, talked to us about fire ecology and then took us to an unburned area to show us what continued fire suppression has done to the Park’s fuel load.  I’m beginning to understand why we need fires and why it’s such a struggle to put one out.  We then met at Lou Boren’s ranch for dinner.  It was nice to have a relaxing dinner with classmates.  It was there I met J.B. (didn’t catch his last name) who gave us a demonstration on his company’s software which projects Google Earth images onto a sandbox which can be used for various applications including wildfire training.  It can be used to show the spread of a fire over time and with the different fuels that are on the land.  It was pretty cool to watch but I was wondering how valuable a tool Craig Goodell thought it was.

Our last day was a day of activities and Gabrielle Mora’s talk and activity on “What Animals Do” was excellent.  This needs to be in any classroom discussion on wildfire to counteract the perception that wildfire kills most animals.  We ended with prize drawings and I felt pretty good considering I picked out a book on the fires in the early part of the 19th century, a tree ring with a fire scar, and a fire emergency tent.  All in all it was a very interesting week.  I came away with an enormous amount of new wildfire knowledge and resources, and a desire and commitment to impart this learning with my students.  Thanks to all.
First of all, I want to thank you for putting together such an amazing class for us in Durango.  I learned so much about the science of fire; forest ecology; noxious weeds (some of these I actually thought were flowers, not weeds); the WUI, (I used to live there, and still have many friends that are still living there, I guess I’m glad I’m not there now.  Too many factors now are making it more prone to fires); the effects of fire on wildlife (not as devastating as I thought it would be); vegetation recovery (I was amazed how quickly vegetation recovers); and the effects of soils and watersheds after a major fire, to name just a few of the covered topics.
Secondly, the teaching materials created by PLT will be a major component of any Fire Ecology classes that I might teach in the future.  It is obvious that the curriculum has been well thought out and tested.  I look forward to having the opportunity to use these materials.

Thirdly, thank you for the photos.  It was a great reminder of what we did, and helped me share my experience with my husband, Dan.  Dan is a former director of the Keystone Science School, so he was very interested in what we learned.

Fourthly, it was so interesting to meet with all of the “behind the scenes” people.  When you have the opportunity to meet with people who have dealt with an event, you learn so much more.  I appreciated how open they were with us about the many events that were complicated and difficult to deal with.

The speaker that had the biggest impact on me was John Ey.  I was so impressed at what he accomplished with so little.  He was not afraid to take the “bull by the horns”, and get the job done.

What will I do with all of this newly learned knowledge?  Since I have returned from Durango, I have had many opportunities to share fire ecology information with friends and colleagues.  I have begun discussions with my colleagues at C.U about the possibility of offering a “fire ecology” class for students next summer as part of the Science Discovery Summer Classes Program.  Hopefully during the winter we will be able to develop a class that will be exciting for our targeted age group. (Still to be determined).  I hope it is OK with you all; I’ll probably be seeking assistance in lesson plans etc.

In my mind it is obvious that this topic of Wild land Forest Fires is something we will be dealing with always. It is my hope that sometime in the future we will be able to learn to better manage our forests and how people live in relation to the forest.  Education will be a key component in this mission. Hopefully through all of our efforts, in our many different life experiences, we will be an important part of this educational process.

Wishing you all a healthy and fun summer. 
Irish poet, William Butler Yeats, once said, “Education is not the filling of a pail, but the lighting of a fire” (Education Quotes and Proverbs, para.2).  How appropriate is this quote for the effect that the Fire Ecology Institute (FEI) had on its participants?  My mind is still racing through all the material that I learned during this course, thinking of more and better ways to present those concepts to my family, my students, and my community.  The FEI facilitators, Shawna Crocker, Gabi Morey, and Lu Boren, did an excellent job at coordinating a wide variety of speakers, field trips, and activities to help the participants understand how many components of the ecosystem are affected by fire, in both positive and negative scenarios.  Although every part lent itself to the overall education experience, the components that had the greatest effect on me as a student would have to be Craig Goodell/Dalla Mountain Hike, Rich Graeber/Forest Lakes Subdivision, John Ey/Lemon Reservoir, and the teaching materials received through the PLT Environmental Education Activity Guide.
On the first day, Craig Goodell, Fire Mitigation & Education Specialist from the Bureau of Land Management, led us on a hike into Dalla Mountain Park to view a treated area, old-growth versus second-growth trees, and evidence of previous fires. Prior to this educational outing, Kent Grant, District Forester from the Colorado State Forest Service and Laurie Huckaby of the United States Forest Service well prepared us with lectures on major forest types in southwestern Colorado and dendrochronology/studying fire history from tree rings. We were then able to identify different types of trees and understand why certain trees must be removed.  We saw fire-scarred trees and tree stumps, and we actually cored a tree to determine its age by counting the tree rings. This trip served as a huge eye opener, not only to the complexity of the forested environments we are so seemingly familiar with in this area but also the possible complexity of the learning experiences we expose to our students. To begin with, even though I live in the area locally, I did not know about Dalla Mountain Park and its proximity to my workplace, which makes it absolutely ideal for student field trips. Lectures in a classroom can only go so far toward impacting the students’ understanding of a subject, but following up with a hands-on activity such as our hike has a much greater effect on the learning experience.

Rich Graeber, Chief Upper Pine River Fire Protection District, along with Craig Goodell, provided the opportunity to see fire mitigation in action during our field trip to the Forest Lakes subdivision.  I live in the same area as this neighborhood and know many of the residents, so this excursion had a tremendous effect on how I view Wildland/Urban Interface (WUI). The Missionary Ridge Fire of 2002 was a big wake-up call for the Durango area in terms of the necessity of fire mitigation, not only in our overgrown forests, but within neighborhoods that border the forests or are nestled within, which is fairly prominent in this area of the country.  Many residents moved to Forest Lakes to have that “dream home in the woods,” especially with a view of the valley.  Unfortunately, having a house upslope in a heavily wooded area with southern exposure can also spell a formula for disaster if the homeowner and the neighborhood homeowners’ association do not take a proactive stance on fire mitigation and creating defensible space around the homes.  I was happy to see areas in the subdivision that were being treated or thinned and then subjected to prescribed burns.  What many people do not realize is that fire is a natural part of the life cycle of a forest, and this is knowledge I certainly hope to pass on with my teaching. The ashes of these smaller fires act as fertilizer to plants, whose new growth provides a better food supply for the animal population.  Furthermore, Ponderosa pines, which are the most prevalent trees in this area, are naturally designed to survive low intensity fires or ground fires, but if overgrown trees and shrubs such as Junipers and Gamble Oak allow the fire to “climb a ladder” up into the canopy, then a stand-clearing (and perhaps subdivision clearing) fire could occur.  Residents in a WUI area need to be educated on the importance of fire mitigation around their homes so they can successfully live within a healthy forest.

Before our class headed out on our field trip to Lemon Reservoir, Dan Noonan, Chief Durango Fire & Rescue Authority, and Butch Knowlton, Director of Housing and Safety Emergency Preparedness for La Plata County, presented us with very vivid pictures of the devastation of the Missionary Ridge Fire, as well as the after-effects including erosion and debris flows.  Again, classroom presentations followed by hands-on, interactive activities lent itself to a more powerful impact on the education of the class.  After we arrived at the reservoir, a site that once suffered from the wrath of the Missionary Ridge Fire, we were able to see how John Ey of the Florida Water District, almost single-handedly saved Durango’s drinking water supply at Lemon Reservoir with common sense thinking and quick action, such aspects other organizations lacked during the madness the fire left behind. The fires on the steep slopes leading into the reservoir were extremely intense and completely destroyed all vegetation. John realized the huge potential for disaster if rain fell before the slopes were stabilized.  In a very short amount of time, he was able to coordinate the installment of log erosion barriers (LEBs) on the hillsides, heavy steel debris flow barriers in the deep ravines, “beaver dams” or small detaining ponds closer to the top of the slopes, as well as replanting grass seeds and mulching with weed-free straw to recreate a semblance of thatch that would normally occur on the forest floor.  When the rains did finally arrive within a couple of weeks, only a normal trickle of water came down the hillsides into the lake instead of major mud/rockslides that were being seen in nearby areas.  For several years after the original fire, the build-up of earth behind each LEB had to be removed in order to further the success of the overall erosion project, which we witnessed firsthand during our hike up into the previously burned area.  Not only did John present us with knowledge of fire recovery strategies but also with the importance of thinking outside of the box and simply taking necessary actions, skills that would prove very useful to our students in their quest to conquer life’s challenges.

Outside of our travels, the Fire Ecology Institute provided a plethora of educational resources to use in the classroom and community to include lesson plan ideas, science journals, manipulatives (Match Stick Forest), activity booklets, DVDs, CDs, and reading materials such as magazines, newspapers, pamphlets and picture books.  Most importantly though, in my opinion, is the Project Learning Tree PreK-8 Environmental Education Activity Guide.  This is the “Holy Grail” for hands-on interactive lesson plans that integrate across several core subjects in environmental education.  Each lesson offers a quick synopsis of the appropriate grade level, subjects covered, concepts for each PLT theme, identified skills set, as well as differentiated instruction, technology connections, materials, time considerations and related PLT activities.  Background information is given on the topic to help the teacher prepare for presenting to the students, and the PLT Guide provides lesson objectives and various assessment opportunities. However, as a brand new middle school English teacher, what really caught my eye were the reading connection listings at the end of each activity.  I am in the process of evaluating the current reading selections for all three grade levels, and the information provided will be invaluable to this project.
The art of teaching, or creative approaches that go beyond basic technique, is the key to successfully involving the students in the learning process.  As quoted in a Native-American saying, “Tell me and I'll forget. Show me, and I may not remember. Involve me, and I'll understand” (Education Quotes & Proverbs, para.3).  When I accepted my position in the middle school, the principal presented me with the idea of creating a course of study for our students which integrates across all subjects. So when Lu Boren, who is the Science teacher at St. Columba Middle School, approached me about participating in the Fire Ecology Institute, I realized what a great opportunity it would be to receive first-hand knowledge of what she is teaching in her classroom so I can better integrate the science curriculum into mine. Since I have now acquired this knowledge, our plan is to incorporate the novel, “The Big Burn” by Jeanette Ingold as a literature piece about the great fires of 1910 to be used in conjunction with Lu’s 8th grade fire ecology unit.  After completing the story, the students can then write a research paper based on their choice of another major fire occurrence somewhere throughout the world to compare/contrast what was learned in the 1910 fires which lead to a century of fire suppression in our country. (Also, I am currently reading “Year of the Fires – The Story of the Great Fires of 1910” by Stephen J. Pyne to give me the background information needed to better understand this event.  I received this book as part of the FEI materials.)  Other activities may include daily journal writing with topics concerning fire ecology or a “Drop Everything And Read” (DEAR) silent sustained reading session in a nearby wooded park (another way they can fully appreciate our beautiful forested environments). I am incredibly excited to start sharing everything I took away from my experience in this class. So thank you, Fire Ecology Institute facilitators, for lighting a fire in my mind and giving me the knowledge and materials needed to spread this fire into the minds of others.

References
Education Quotes and Proverbs. (n.d.).  Retrieved July 22, 2008, from http://www.inspirational-quotes.info/quotes-about-education.html
Project Learning Tree: Pre K-8 Environmental Education Activity Guide. (2011). Washington D.C.: American Forest Foundation.
The Fire Ecology class in Durango was fantastic!!  I will never look at another stand of trees or forested area with the same mind set.  I was someone who wondered why fires were left to just burn.  Fires should be put out.  As I sat listening and learning about our forests and what has happened since the fires of 1910 I began to understand.  As the week progressed, not only did things begin to make more sense but I began to feel a sense of responsibility to pass on this information to those generations coming up.  There is much more to forest management than I ever imagined!

The presentation by John Ey about his erosion prevention at the Lemon Dam was incredible.  I lived in Durango during the Missionary Ridge fire and I remember the rain and horrible mud slides that happened both in the valley and at Vallecito Lake.  I had no idea what was being done at Lemon.  What a great demonstration of knowledge of and dedication to his job. 

I really enjoyed the dendrochronology presentation.  That is something I have always been interested in and will definitely be a subject I will fit into my curriculum!!  It will go along with our plants unit as well as social studies.  It would also have been fun to do some of the activities in the PLT activity guide each day rather than only on the last day.  Each one of the field trips presented a new insight into fire ecology.  It was amazing see what the burned areas looked like several years after the fires.  I did not know how important fire was to many plants in their reproductive cycles.

I will be using the PLT activity guide a lot.  As I started through it, looking at the focus of the lessons, I suddenly realized that they would go with most of the curriculum I teach.  I’ve made a list of the units and areas of study that I teach in science, social studies, literature and math.  Under each heading, as I go through the guide, I am listing the lesson number of the activity that can be used with it.  I can even use parts of some of the lessons for K-3 even though I teach 5th grade.  I absolutely love the literature connections.  I already read to my class some of the suggested books.

Another activity that I “sort of” did in my classroom, but didn’t have good guide lines for, was the science notebook.  They can definitely be a great learning tool for the students, when done right.  With the additional information on how to organize the notebook, hopefully, this next years work will be better.

My own notebook is also growing daily.  With all the information from the class and things I am adding to it, it will also be a great resource. I really enjoyed the Fire Ecology class and learned more than I ever anticipated.  I am really excited to add this to my classroom teaching.     
         
Monday, June 13, 2011

Upon arriving to Fort Lewis College, and entering the dorm lounge, I was surprised at
All of the information that was available before the class even started.  It was tempting to
Get it all out and start going through it, but after a long drive from the northern part of the state to the southern part, I decided to wait until after the class.
Monday was a day that I realized how much I didn’t know about fire education.  First just learning about dendrochronology was an eye opener.  Laurie Huckaby was very knowledgeable and it was a new area that I didn’t have much experience in.  I have had students read tree rings, but did not realize all the information that can be gathered from tree rings.

In the afternoon we went on the Dalla Mt. Park hike.  This was a longer, more difficult hike than expected, however I figured to get out and see all there is and learn, then girl get with it!!  Craig led the hike and pointed out various fire scars and scars from falling trees.  He actually told us so much that again I was in awe thinking it is so interesting how much a person can learn from a fire.  The way the slash was piled was of great interest to me because I intend to bring this information back to Crystal Lakes subdivision, to see if we can improve on our management of slash.  This hike was challanging, and I kept on thinking I wished I had brought my small notebook to take notes as we went along.

The evening ended with a wonderful Italian dinner at the Durango Museum.  It was so good
To sit down, relax and talk with others about the day during this time.  The movie we saw was excellent and kept my attention until later evening.  Did you ever want to listen and know what was going on, but were too tired to keep your eyes open?  Well, it was a fantastic day, but I just wish I could have made it through the last 45 minutes.  Now, the good news is we have a copy of that DVD “Fire Wars” and so I will view it at home.

Tuesday, June 14th

After breakfast we drove to the Vallecito Marina.  Now this was totally off the chart for exciting!!  To actually see a burned area and what had been done to restore growth.  It was an eye opener to actually see all of the various trees and plants that were growing back after a relativity short time.
In the mountains, where I am presently, there are areas where home owners have thinned the forest.  The area now receives more sunlight and there are a variety of plant species and Aspen trees growing.  To me this is a good comparison of an after fire vegetation, but not quite as rich in nutrients. You can quickly get the idea of the ever changing forest and actually why fire is a process of renewal.  What was evident in the area we visited was the increase in the number of birds and also that mammals has returned.  I did not realize the number of animals killed in a fire are low, they know when to exit.
I think this tour was so interesting because it showed us the unpredictability of fire. The winds do change increasing, decreasing or changing in direction.  Also, the weather conditions were just right for fire.  The low humidity, high temps, fuel all were the conditions that fires can easily start. 
I think about the education of the residents.  Were people aware of doing fire mitigation, and focusing the area around them?  It is very obvious that homeowners who make a concerted effort to mitigate are less in danger.  I learned what firefighters will do to save all structures, however will concentrate on those structures where homeowners have taken an interest and an active role in protecting their home.


The other fieldtrip in the afternoon was to go to a forest in a subdivision and make a fire break.  It was very interesting to learn the names of the tools and the purpose that each tool has.  To put on the equipment, yellow shirt, helmet, and carry your tool while hiking to an area made me think of those who are actually on the line but to get there they are carrying a huge pack weighing many more times than the Pulaski that I was carrying.
I have a new appreciation for the men and women who fight fires.  For them to leave their family and love ones, sleep on the ground, and eat dried food while trying to daily carry on the work before them was a new learning experience for me.  Never did I ever really give it much thought about those who sacrifice to be there to protect people and their belongings that they have never met.  What dedication and giving from a firefighter!

As we finished our fire break and looked back up the mountain, I felt accomplished and part of a team even though it was not a real fire.   Perhaps that is the drive that keeps these men and women returning and to carrying on when environmental areas are so difficult to work in. 

Wednesday, June 15th, 2011

I was looking forward to another new day.  I had learned so much already and felt I was on mental overload trying to absorb all of this new material.  It is so meaningful in my particular situation, and that made it all the more interesting.  So on this new day we focused on debris and erosion.  Living in a mountain community, and being on the board of direction for Crystal Lakes in Red Feather, Colorado reinforced my feeling of how pertinent this information was going to be.  We were able to see debris flows from rains after a fire and the huge amount of force that is present as slopes have nothing there now to hold back water flow and anything that is carried with it. 
The presentation that was most inspiring for me was listening to John Ey at Lemon Dam on the erosion control.  He worked in that area by the reservoir for years and was so knowledgeable.  After seeing and listening to him, I believe that what he proactively did should be a model for all mountain communities in saving the water quality after a fire.  His foresight, knowledge and commitment to his job and the people in the community were very touching to me.  We were able to see firsthand what actions were taken.  In my mind’s eye I can still see the huge metal racks that were made to fit in the main flow of debris, to catch and stop it from getting in the reservoir.  Also, the “tubes” that were placed on the mountain side that stopped erosion, but allowed the water to flow through.
Now that I am back and looking around the mountain sides in my area, I can visualize a fire and that the same applications would work.  Having someone like John, who is there and working at the dam is so helpful.  Most communities do not have people, I believe that are so versed in that particular area of erosion control.  Outside agencies can be called in, but then to “sell” a community on the actions that have been decide upon can be very difficult and actually met with opposition.  As we are using Char burners in our community to rid of slash it is evident that you’ll always meet with some opposition in anything you do, even if it has been proven in the past to be successful. John had people questioning his actions, but the end result was a great model to be used to protect the water that people rely on for drinking.  This presentation was animating and so informational.  I left really feeling now that I really had a better understanding of what it means when they say that after the fire is when the real work begins.

Thursday, June 16, 2011

We left in the morning after breakfast to go to Mesa Verde.  I had not been there for 12 years, and was looking forward to looking at the land a bit differently perhaps than the regular visitor going there just to see the cliff dwellings.
We hiked to the cliff dwelling and learning about how the people used the different rooms, and how they used the warmth of the day to retreat to the cool cliffs.  Also, their use of water, gravity and conservation made this particular site very interesting.   Climbing up stairs through small rock divisions gave you a true feel of how the people climbed and used hand crafted ladders that were still as sturdy today.
The most interesting was the visit to the fire station in Mesa Verde.  The fire mitigation plan and how they have dealt with past fires was intriguing.  Managing the land is an ongoing, seemingly never ending project.
We toured an area off the road where vegetation was diverse, and a lot of fuel on the ground from years ago.  We had a great discussion about the soil.  Some of the soil was a type that takes a very long time to replace.  I learned that even though this environment looked anything but not fragile, it was VERY fragile. 
My thinking has totally different after I finished this class about firefighters and the fire chief.  Steve Underwood explained to us that he believes a control burn is necessary for a ridge near Mesa Verde to protect the park from a future possible fire.  He believes he will have a very difficult task of educating the residents, and selling his point.  The area of shrubs is close to homes and also in the park.  The fire chief has an important role in politics and dealing with public issues, and I really never gave it that much thought before. 

As this week is close to an end we did some PLT activities, however there are so many to
look over and see which ones are best for what the teacher wants to accomplish.  I sure wish I had this training while I was still teaching as I have heard so many good things about PLT and the week….now I know why!

My plans on use of the materials are to share my knowledge at Red Feather School.  There are one week sessions on forest ecology.  I was teaching last week, and was able to use the information on fire scars and dendrochronology with the elementary students already   I also made copies of some of the papers for them to take home to their parents.
Also, I plan to work with my coworker, Jean Carpenter and discuss how together we can add to what she has already done in Red Feather School. 
Being on the board is tiring but fulfilling in that information can be shared, and hopefully we can have an action plan in place for erosion control, and saving our rivers from the aftermath of a possible future fire.  I believe it is not “if”, but “when” in a possible fire.
The most exciting thing for me that I’d like to do with this information, and the materials received is to start a summer kids education program while families are staying here.
It is a unique situation in that kids come here from a weekend to several weeks at a time.
I’d like to have PLT activities for them to do with educational hikes for them to learn about fire and forest ecology. 
My vision is also to do an adult program, although I am new at it, I’d still like to try to educate about mitigation, erosion and being proactive with their property.


I would like to thank all of the people for the endless hours of preparation, especially Shawna Crocker.  This class was inspirational and informative; it was a class that I would take again given the opportunity because I learned so much.  It is valuable information, and the materials are varied and useful to get education in place.  I’d like to thank the speakers who gave their time and expertise to help us.  Also, I’d like to thank the other students in the class as we shared experiences and ideas to implement PLT.

What a rewarding experience, thank you.