Reflection from MA

REFLECTION ON FIRE ECOLOGY INSTITUTE

Why take a class on fire ecology? I certainly didn’t need the credits and I am teaching Language Arts and Social studies next year. At this point in my career or life for that matter, it is because I wanted to explore new knowledge, to experience a different content area, perhaps, most of all for personal reasons.

 I live in a WUI, a funny name that I had not heard before, a homeowner who loves the lifestyle of being nestled in the foothills among the stately Ponderosa pine forest. I also live in a Firewise Community. Sure, I know that Keith Worley lives down the street and holds yearly meetings with homeowners about mitigation. Sure, we mitigate our property by spending untold hours raking and hauling underbrush off the property, cutting the scrub oak that propagates with no encouragement, mowing the natural grasses, and doing all we can to create a defensible space. But truth be told, we do all that because we feel we are the caretakers, the stewards of our land. I really hadn’t thought of the larger picture.

This class made me focus on fire!  Last summer when the Waldo Canyon fire blew up smoke drifted north into our community for days, friends were evacuated and we too got the sheriff’s call reminding us to be ready for summer wildfires. Evacuation route signs were posted in our neighborhood and along the one and only highway in our area. Scary stuff, but still I had no clear picture of this fascinating phenomenon called fire.

Throughout the week we concentrated on ALL aspects of fire. I left with a clearer picture of the ways communities like mine need to be even better stewards, and perhaps educators, to each other and those who live in the suburbs and cities. On the community level, I was reminded of the importance of landscaping with the proper plants, using more fire resistant building materials, and creating disaster plans with family and neighbors. Upon seeing the sites firsthand you cannot argue with the devastating effects of massive wildfires such as Waldo or Haymen!

The week in class focused on the importance of healthy forests. I grew up in the era of Bambi and Smoky the Bear, of Edward Abbey and treehuggers. Treehuggers do not cut trees! Amazing how knowledge changes one’s perspective. I now see fire as both destructive and part of the renewal process of nature. Pictures tell a thousand words and those showing our forests at the turn of the last century compared to this century certainly show the need to revisit current laws on thinning, creating forest industries focused on healthy forests over economics, and preserving our watersheds. Only through education can environments be created to find balanced ways to live responsibly with respect for the beautiful forests in Colorado and those who live in and visit them.

I retire from my formal job of teaching next year but I am hearing the whisper of the trees to be a new voice in the ever evolving world of fire ecology.