Fire in Pacific Northwest Ecosystems
How To Use This Curriculum:
Each section has a theme and contains several lessons. The authors hope that teachers will have time to fully develop and teach each section. The authors also understand the reality of classroom time, therefore the lessons are written so they can be used independently. Please feel free to pull these lessons and use them as supplemental activities to enhance your teaching.
Section A: The first three lessons of Fire Ecology are basic, fundamental science, to be used as building blocks for understanding fire ecology. The next five lessons are advanced concepts on impacts of fire, fire behavior, and the natural role of fire in Pacific Northwest ecosystems. The authors decided to use an unmanaged forest ecosystem as the basic type of forest for the section. Thus humans were left out of the ecosystem process materials until Section B.
Section B: Human Influences examines human use of fire over time, and how attitudes toward fire have changed over time.
Section C: Urban Interface focuses on a contemporary issue with growing concerns as urban population growth expands into forest ecosystems. The wildland/urban interface causes the most loss in wildfires, not only in property, but also in terms of lives. This section can also be used to supplement the general fire safety and prevention units taught in classrooms throughout Oregon and Washington.
Section D: Fire Issues deals with two of the many issues regarding the role of fire in ecosystems. This section also includes an educational process called Structured Controversy which can be applied to any fire issue -- it's a technique for teaching conflict resolution in critical issues. It is not the intent of this curriculum to duplicate how to teach, but to provide teachers with the materials to do so.
Appendix A: Fact Sheets were developed for this curriculum to provide technical background information for students and teachers. The fact sheets may be used to enhance all the lessons, but several lessons are based specifically on the fact sheets. The fact sheets can be divided into two sections:
- Fact sheets 1-5 are supplemental to any lesson, but specifically work with lessons “Fire Effects” and “To Burn Or Not To Burn.”
- Fact sheets 6-12 are formatted to work together and were developed specifically for the lesson “Fire Effects.” Fact sheet #6, “Fire Effects in Forested Ecosystems,” is a cover fact sheet for #7-12, and should be read first. Fact sheets #7-12 follow the same format but focus on a specific type of forest or woodland ecosystem.
Appendix B: Case Studies were developed for this curriculum for two reasons. First, to give an example of how to put a study unit together based on a big wildfire event, and second, to study historical wildfire events that have had significant impact on the ecosystem and changes in human attitudes about wildfire. These case studies provide an excellent example of how you could put together a unit based on a wildfire in or near your community or nearby ecosystem.
Appendix C: Glossary is for clarification. As you work through the lessons in this curriculum you will come across many technical terms. The authors decided not to include vocabulary lists in each lesson, but rather include those terms in the glossary. When teaching these lessons please have a copy of the glossary available to the students so they can look up the terms as needed.
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