Reflection by CR

In regards to fire in forested areas – the overall theme is “ … not a matter of if but rather when”.  That particular theme was played over and over again and as the week progressed – this sentiment applied not only to fire but flooding in fire-scarred areas, as well.

Sunday

We rolled in to the Nature Place and were able to get settled in to our rooms and met with Shawna Crocker, PLT Coordinator and Steve Jennings – Geography Prof. at UCCS.  Steve Jennings lead us in a GPS Activity, punching in latitude and longitude coordinates in our GPS and then going out and locating those points – we ran in to a slight problem, as one of the coordinates took us in to the youth camp – but not a big deal.  Meals at the Nature Place were outstanding.  We ended the evening with introductions to staff at the Nature Place and CSFS.  Materials and schedule for the week was passed out and discussed.

Monday

Met with guest speaker, Amy Sylvester from the Colorado Springs Fire Department.  Amy presented work being done to rate the fire risk of neighborhoods in the Colorado Springs area.  It appears that it will be a valuable tool with more people building in wooded areas – this will assess the risk and educate neighborhoods on things they can do to minimize the risk.

Dr. Peter Brown introduced us to dendrochronology and forest ecology – looking at tree rings and developing a forest timeline.  I was fairly familiar with dendrochronology but enjoyed the new experience of coring a tree and then mounting that core sample.  Demonstrated the adaptations and resilience of forest trees when it comes to drought and fire.

After dinner we watched the movie, Fire Wars – a brilliant film demonstrating the evolution of fire ecology and fire thinking here in the United States.  For a number of years our thinking was we would spot a fire and put it out immediately.  We are now paying the consequences for years of fire suppression and prevention, with little or no management, with extremely devastating fires.  We are now experiencing fires that are burning so hot that they are destroying forests and everything associated with a forest for several years to follow.

Tuesday – Field Day

Traveled to Lake George area – met with Theresa Springer with the Coalition for the Upper South Platte (CUSP).  Theresa shared one major consequences of a fire scar – flooding.  Looked at the Waldo Canyon burn area - Theresa took us up a canyon above Hwy 24 and Manitou Springs and showed the sand bagging and work that they have done to save homes in that canyon and spread out the energy of the water coming down the burn scar.  They have scenarios for varying levels of rain – there will be flooding – depending on the amount of rain and the intensity of that rain will determine the level of destruction.

Met with Eric Billmeyer – instructor in the Department of Geography at UCCS.  Eric led us on a hike into the Blodgett Open Space burn area.  We were looking specifically at the effects of fire on soil.  NEW Learning - Soil, after a wild fire, becomes somewhat water resistant also called Hydrophobic – one thought is that the organic matter in the soil burns leaving a hydrocarbon layer that fills in the pore spaces and repels water, leading to massive runoff in burn areas.  We did some soil tests on the soil in this burn area – tested hydrophobicity of the soil, soil consistency and texture.

-Traveled to Glen Eyrie – looked at the flood mitigation above the castle – two massive catch nets designed to trap debris carried by water flooding out of the canyon.  These catch nets are massive in structure but still are not enough for what they are expecting from the floods in the Colorado Springs area.  Staff at Glen Eyrie was also quick to point out the reinforcement to the lower foundation of the castle – there is an interlocking brick lining along the castle – staff expect the grass and soil to be torn up but hope to hold the foundation of the castle in tact – as one staffer said – “we can do grass” – just thought that was a funny statement – implying that they can easily replace the torn up grass – not quite as easy to replace a castle’s foundation.

Rich Homann with the CSFS met with us that evening – introduced us to COWRAP – a risk management system put out by CSFS – a huge resource for people across the state - coloradowildfirerisk.com/ - New Learning - Rich also mentioned the ICS – Instant Command System – I am still wrapping my brains around this but certainly makes sense that there is a system in place to bring in needed help as fires intensify and threaten life – jurisdiction chief remains in charge but force is brought in to help manage.  It is a national system that enforces the chain of command and command will consist of Federal, State, and Local.  I still need some clarification of this but it sounds like a system that works quite well.

Wednesday

Tree Ring Paper Plate activity – could be used in class setting to introduce tree rings, adaptations and survival.

Rob Jolly – director of the Nature Place – led us on a nature hike and discussion.  Lead to a barrel cactus patch – discussed the fragility of nature but it’s resilience, as well.  Rob mentioned that change happens from the fringes – Barrel cactus in the inner cluster are comfortable and in status quo but mutation and change most likely will happen or occur within the out-lying cactus – challenged us to think about where new thinking and change happens - often happens outside the accepted norm.  Shared an activity – took butcher paper and shook junipers and collected bugs – demonstrating that microenvironments occur all around us.  Pointed out Lichen and talked about Symbiotic relationships – where do we see these w/i us as humans?

Started looking at the FireWorks and FireBoxes that are available – worked on a match-stick activity – excellent demonstration for fire mitigation.

After dinner we watched the movie – The Green Fire – a biographical sketch of Aldo Leopold – an environmental force and author.  I need to read more about this pioneer and environmentalist.

Thursday – Field Day

Drove to Lake George and met with Mike Hessler – District Fire Management Officer – seems to have a different jurisdiction, more on a regional level.  Took us to a prescribed Burn area in the Pike National Forest not far from Eleven Mile Reservoir.  Initial reactions were – opened up area, cleaned up ladder fuels, particularly lower hanging branches, burned off built up debris under trees.  In preparation for the prescribed burn, workers cleared dead needles away from tree base.   Fire happens in forested area, removing extra fuels can prevent a fire from burning so hot that it destroys the forest is one theory of forest management.  A tree infected with “mistletoe” – a parasitic plant that infects trees – tree branches and clusters around the parasite and eventually the tree will die.  We traveled into the Springer Fire area and worked on a wildfire scavenger hunt – fascinating challenge when one slows down and looks for forest damage, adaptations, and recovery.

Met with Fire Chief and Captain “Cricket”

I am still fascinated with ICS and still question who is in charge but it appears that Jurisdiction Chief is in command – I asked about neighboring fire crews helping on fire lines – who direction do they follow?  The chief assured me it is his and made the statement– “it is good to be the King”.

Fire Line – talked about the use of proper equipment – starting with natural fiber clothing.  Looked at Pulaski axe, McLoed tool, fire rakes and shovels.  I got to run a type of fire rake with large agriculture teeth.  This experience allowed me a small peak at what it is like to scrape the earth … the exhaustion of monotonous work – the hope that it will slow down the destruction, constantly looking over your shoulder waiting for the wind to shift and redirect the all-consuming force, full-well knowing you could lose your life trying to save someone’s house or tool shed or life.

Ate lunch at Hayman burn area – massive destruction – 11 years later and the recovery is very slow – the aspens – a pioneer species in the forest – are few are far between and only around 5-6 feet tall.  We met with Tonya Sharp – with the Colorado Parks and Wildlife.  She talked about the effects that wildfire has on wildlife. 

Friday

Started looking at ways to use all the information.  Began collaboration with another science teacher in my district – we are planning to build a series of lesson around adaptions and how some local species are better suited to survive “typical” forest fires. 

We received several resources and activity guides to begin putting together a rigorous unit on Adaptations and Survival.

Put together a presentation on how we are planning to use this information and presented it to the whole group.

Reflection by JM

The week long Fire Ecology Institute taught me an immense amount about not only wildfire, but wildfire in Colorado.  I gleaned concepts about WUI, fire preparedness, my homes fire danger, mitigation, recovery, succession in action, and much more.  I especially liked learning about these concepts out in the field with the professionals.  Being able to venture out into Waldo Canyon, Haymen, Stringer, and the other fires of the Colorado Springs/Manitu Springs area with our hard hats on and ready allowed me to see the concepts in action while learning what I can apply with my students learning.  I especially liked being able to conduct the water permeability lab in the field...what a great way to see the difference between the two types of soil and to then relate that to the flooding issues the many areas are experiences with rain storms.

Another thing I took away from the Institute was the many lesson plan ideas.  Especially the one my partner, Lynne Moser and I created.  I am excited to take it back to my school and my department to teach it a) to other staff members, but b) to my students. 

I am hoping to take my real life experiences from this institute to gain the interest of my staff and students, then turn around and hope to take them out into the field as well.  Great learning!

The only suggestion I can reflect upon for this institute is the overall organization of it.  Although I know there were many aspects of coordinating the field trips, speakers, and so on...it would have been wiser to do the lectures then field trips (it is hard to focus in the afternoon on a lecture after a 6-7 hour hiking morning).  I would have also grouped liked topics together on the days of their connected field trips...this would have broken the lectures up.

Thank you for a great trip!

Reflection by LM

What a great week in a wonderful place. It was nice to meet with other educators and get to know them and find out about their schools.  The food was wonderful as well as the facilities. Even more important though was the amount of knowledge and information I think we all learned during  week.

     For me the most powerful experience was probably driving and walking through the Hayman and the Waldo fires. I think this was most poignant due to the fact that before we came up there, the Black Forest fire was still going on as well as other fires throughout the state. Seeing how MUCH acerage was burned was almost unbelievable. Jessica and I drove back home through Deckers and we were able to see again how  much land was burned.  Our trip home was somewhat silent as I think we both were processing everything we had seen and learned.

     Of course we have all been keeping watch on the flooding up in Teller County. It makes it seem so much more real since we visited sites that more than likely will be washed away with the monsoon rains.  The sandbagging effort seemed overwhelming and hopefully some of those homes will be saved.

     I got some great pictures of a variety of areas and Jessica and I are planning to put together a 2 week Unit using the materials we got which will hopefully incorporate some power points using our pictures as well as some demonstrations and  labs. We hope to put together a couple of kits we can share within our science department for those teaching Earth and Environmental Science. We also hope to work with our counterparts at Rocky Heights Middle School so that we can use more of the information without it being a repeat for when the students get to Rock Canyon.

    I came away from this workshop with a better understanding of how fire can be both good and bad and it’s not just trees burning, but what happens afterwards and the devastation it can cause for years to come. I also came away with great respect for those who work on making the forests healthier through mitigation as well as those who spend their time fighting the fires when they do happen.

    

                  

Reflection by ML

            The first morning of the 2013 Fire Ecology Institute opened with a discussion led by the Assistant District Forester for the Woodland Park District, Dave Root.  “Ecosystems are no longer ‘natural’ because we have impacted them so drastically, so we MUST manage them because they can no longer manage themselves . . . WUI (Wildland Urban Interface) is expected to increase by 300% to ~2.2 million acres by 2030 . . .”  These words set the stage for the entire Institute. 

            Throughout the week, I was continuously floored by logical connections and cause-effect relationships that I had never considered.  For example, benefits of forest thinning include decreased mating success and breeding grounds for pine beetles, elimination of ladder fuels to prevent huge hot fires that plasticize the soil, and attractive foraging grounds and habitat for animals such as elk.  Furthermore, lack of moisture in Colorado means that fire is required to clear out dead trees and enhance soil nutrient cycling.  

            As a witness of the Waldo Canyon and Black Forest fires, I was anxious to hear about fire and flood mitigation suggested for homeowners and communities.  I was pleased to hear about the Fuels Management program enacted by the Colorado Springs Fire Department.  Amy Sylvester (CSFD) provided several useful suggestions regarding structural components of a property and its landscape. Theresa Springer (Coalition for the Upper South Platte) revealed several threats to a watershed in the aftermath of a fire.  Seeing sandbag walls around homes and “flying V” tree trunk arrangements in water drainages made me respect Mother’s Nature’s constant test of mankind’s engineering capabilities.  

            I greatly appreciated the field investigations/ activities and hikes involving dendrochronology, hydrophobic soil, local flora and fauna, and cutting a fire line.   Walking on burn scars is a very humbling experience . . . quite eerie at first until you find live beetles in burned tree bark!  Then you start to notice the islands of aspen growth springing back to life, and you realize that the hydrophobic soils you have been analyzing will eventually break apart.  Field trips brought our classroom discussions to life and emphasized the relevance & urgency of issues involving fire. 

            Every PLT activity we executed had several meaningful applications for every grade level.  The strong appeal of these activities is due to their highly visual and kinesthetic components that enable students to EXPERIENCE the concepts addressed.  Evening videos helped flesh out the history and evolution of fires and firefighting in the United States to explain how our current forests have come to be. 

            I left the Institute with a solid understanding of our roles as citizens and educators living in fire-ADAPTED communities.  I am very grateful for the expertise and inspiration that emanated from every professional that presented at the Institute.  The Institute is essential in preparing educators to reform the public’s perception of fire.  This reform starts with our most impressionable citizens . . . youth in public schools.     

Reflection by SM

I really appreciated the opportunity to attend the Fire Ecology Institute this year.  I am an eighth grade social studies teacher who also serves as a language arts teacher.  The social studies curriculum includes civics and the project based learning activity that is a highlight of civics is the mock trial.  For the last ten years this trial has focused on a DUI situation.  Over the past few years I have been interested in changing the focus to wild fires as it has become more and more applicable to the day-to-day lives of those of us living in Colorado.  I saw this Institute as an opportunity to give me both background information as well as hand-on experience that would help me make the Wild Fire Mock Trial a real learning experience for my students.  I’ll be working with both the science and social studies teachers on this project in the upcoming year and will share what I learned at the Institute with them both.

  A number of learning activities during the Institute were amazingly helpful.  Amy Sylvester gave a great description of what fire professionals do in wildfire situations; I took notes that I will share as writing prompts in my language arts class.  The movie, Fire Wars, was a very powerful learning tool for me that I will turn into a teaching and learning tool in my classroom.  The students this year will be getting applicable fire ecology lessons in both science and language arts. 

The field day experience was eye opening for me.  Actually seeing the burn areas up close, as well as examining the areas gave me the opportunity to add a real-world learning experience to what I will be covering in class.  The information on fire mitigation will be included in research work that I will have the students do.  The aspects of flooding because of wild fires are going to be a project-based activity that the science teacher and I will be developing.  The question for the students will be around ways to help these areas prior to flooding.

     Our students also are required to do a community-based service project each year and my teaching team is discussing how we can add fire mitigation to the options.  The Fire Adapted Communities and wildfire protection plans discussions will be a powerful way to introduce this community service option. 

  The take-away materials were really impressive.  I’ve got materials for my classroom, information for helping me build my mock trial, items to share with my science teacher and numerous on line and real-life resources to help me teach this topic.

Finally, I made a number of connections with other teachers that I know I will utilize in the future.  The Institute allowed me to meet and work with people from different curricular areas, different districts and individuals who are in the classroom per se, but will be great contacts in the future.  If I could attend this institute again, I would.  I plan to watch for future Project Learning Tree opportunities in the coming school years.

Reflection by ML

During the week of June 23^rd – 28^th, I had the privilege to attend this fantastic workshop at the beautiful Nature Place in Florissant, Colorado.  During the week long work shop we learned everything from GPS mapping to Fire wise communities.

Sunday, June 23, 2013

Our first night, we met Steve Jennings who is with UCCS in Colorado Springs.  He instructed us on how to use the ETREX by Garmin.  After a brief period of instruction we were on our way to find our waypoints.    After a 20 minute hike across the Boy Scout camp and back we made it safely by to Bristlecone.  I knew this was going to be an interesting week with a great bunch of people.

Monday, June 24, 2013

Dave Root of the Colorado State Forest Service out of Woodland Park office gave a very informative talk about our forests and the health of them.  Fire has been around us for many, many years and will continue to be around to help the health of our wooded areas.  I really enjoyed learning about the difference between the Spruce Beetles and the Pine Beetles and the different ranges that live in and how they have impacted our state.  Amy Slyvester of the Colorado Springs Fire Department presented a power point of the Waldo Canyon Fire and the impact it had on sub-divisions.  It shows what can happen on any given fire that is close to a metropolitan area and the risks that home owners have by choosing to live where they live.  Wildfire Mitigation is a must by all who love living where they live.  Dr. Peter M. Brown of the Rocky Mountain Tree-Ring Research presented us with a very informative lecture on Dendrochronology.  The best part of the class was the ability to go out and core a tree and be able to read the core like a book through history. 

Tuesday, June 25, 2013

Theresa Springer who is the Waldo Fire Rehabilitation Coordinator talked with us about the projects that are ongoing after the Waldo Canyon Fire.  She was able to talk about the importance of a timely fire recovery plan, also the implantation of emergency plans that are in place along HWY 24 from Woodland Park to Manitou Springs.  A great amount of sand bagging is going on through contract work to help save structures, but more importantly to save lives.  After the morning session we traveled to the Blodgett burn area to see the great work that they are doing on the hillsides and gulleys of canyons to try and slow down water flow (from Hydrophobic soils that developed) to prevent any type of flash flooding that may happen, this all being done with timber that was burned.  The afternoon ended with at trip to the Glen Eyre property to see what they have done to be proactive to prevent damage from the predicted floods.  It was amazing to see how they developed two gigantic catch fences for debris that may come along with the floods.  A great design of flood control was put in place to help control and prevent major damage to the castle.  The night ended with a power point by Richard Homann of the Colorado State Forest.  He has designed a very useful tool called the “Colorado Wildfire Risk Assessment Portal.”  This portal will help the homeowners know what kind of risk that they live in by measuring current data that will provide a baseline data for fire risk.

Wednesday, June 26^th, 2013

Rob Jolly, director of the Nature Place, started the morning off with a nice nature walk along the property.  Along this walk, he talked about the diverse plants and trees that are continuing to grow after the fire mitigation that they have done on the property.  The fire mitigation that the Nature Place has done and will continue to do, represent what a healthy forest should look like.  The afternoon session was spent in the conference room learning about the Project learning tree and having a great time with the fire work trunks.  The fire work trunks have a wealth of projects that can help the students learn about fire, heat, and most importantly the forest and what lives in it.  Richard Holmann was able to step in and do a great job of talking about the Incident Command System.  He and the other Colorado State project students did a situational example of what it is like at a fire command system prior to sending out fire fighters for the day.

Thursday, June 27^th, 2013

Started the morning off with a trip to the Florissant fire department, where we met a gentleman (whose name I cannot remember) is with the State Forest Service.  He was able to take us to a prescribed burn area and see how the area has developed back after the fire.  We traveled a little farther into the mountains to look at the Springer fire.  While at the Springer area we were able to do our scavenger hunt.  We continued on to the Hayman Burn area and met up with one of the Colorado State game wardens to talk about the positives that have happened with wildlife and the surrounding vegetation.  The rest of the day we traveled to different burn areas.  It is amazing to me that through this corridor of mountains, the acres and separate fires that have happened in this region.

Friday, June 28^th, 2013

Rob Jolly was able to take us to another part of the property to see how mitigation that was done in the past and how it has responded over the years.  We then travelled up the road to a small fire that had happened only a few weeks and ago and meet up with the Chief of the Four Mile Volunteer fire department and Crickett.  We were exposed to the hand tools that the wild land fire fighter’s use.  Working together, we were able to build a fire line in no time.  The fire fighters were more than happy to discuss their Type 6 fire truck and the capabilities that it has.  We ended up the week in the conference room working on how we can develop lesson plans for future use. 

It was a great learning and working workshop that I would recommend to anyone who has interest in fire ecology.  Thanks to Shawna Crocker and her staff for all their hard work in preparing for this conference and the professional people that she invited to talk to share their knowledge and experience.  

Reflection by LL

While I felt fairly conversant with Wildland Urban Interface issues (as I live in a WUI), I feel my week at the institute expanded my education and understanding of wildfires exponentially.  I wish that everyone on my staff could have come because the firsthand experiences were powerful.  There were so many facets to each day that it makes it difficult to give the full impact second hand.  Steve Jennings and his dry humour were a great balance to Shawna and her passion for everything trees.  The Project Learning Tree units brought home to me how often one needs exposure to an idea for it to truly sink in.  This was my fourth PLT experience.  Each was great, and this time, I finally grasped how easily these themes fit into curriculum and how important it is to our school's magnet mission that we dedicate entire years to PLT .

One thing I thought about in reviewing our week, (and maybe this was influenced by some of the blogging after our "Independent" article came out online) is that our forests and watersheds are not political.  They are finite and they are a part of our lives.  Dendrochronology does not give us an opinion; it gives us facts.  Serotinous cones don't choose to open or not depending on a wildfire policy.  They know exactly which conditions engender a response.  I am hoping that teaching the facts of the forest will help my students be seekers of information, writers of information, speakers of information. 

On a more practical level, the following are brainstormed ideas that I had for our school and then, quick lesson plan ideas I thought would work for different subject areas.

-I think we should do 3 rotations for teachers to incorporate in their daily lessons: PLT, Project Wild, Project Wet

-I think we should develop service learning projects with our local Fire District to do Defensible Space Assessments of Beulah homes: the Valley, the Mobile Home Park, Siloam Rd, North Creek Rd., Squirrel Creek, Middle Creek, Watterbarrel.  NJHS could create a plan for assisting homeowners.  Using the mapping program, we could chart coordinates and label needs with layers based on greatest level of urgency.

-Tailor professional development with PLT to provide Elementary teachers with support for PLT lessons targeting their year's focus. (e.g. 3^rd, micro and macro invertebrates).

-Do Parent/Staff book study on Aldo Leopold

-GT kids use books like those we've read and discussed and have them create a webography with a particular focus/perspective/theme

-In the same way that 7^th/8^th works with the Riverwatch program to create and collect data, use tree plots for the 6^th/7^th graders and incorporate GIS for both.