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.