Idaho Teachers Find Fire and Weeds Recently, nineteen Idaho middle- and high-school teachers explored the world of fire ecology and exotic species in a 15-hour workshop entitled "Wildfire and Weeds in the West." The workshop was funded through a cooperative agreement between the National Project Learning Tree (PLT) Office and the Bureau of Land Management's (BLM) Washington Office Environmental Education and Volunteers Group. The workshop was presented to Idaho teachers by Michelle Youngquist, Idaho PLT Coordinator; Shelley Davis-Brunner, BLM Idaho State Office; and Alexis Collins, USDA Forest Service, Boise National Forest. Roger Rosentreter, BLM-Idaho's State Botanist, also made a presentation in which he tracked the spread of noxious weeds in comparison to the migration of wildfire. Teachers earned one graduate credit for participating in the workshop and completing an additional outside assignment. Workshop Highlights Weeds: Participants began the workshop by receiving either a description or a picture of a noxious weed. Their challenge was to find the person holding the corresponding description or picture and learn as much as they could about the invasive plant. After a bit of trial and error, everyone was able to describe a noxious weed that had been new to him or her at the beginning of the session. Teachers experimented to learn what variables may make a match burn hotter and faster. For example, a match burns differently when it is lit with the head pointing up than it does when lit with the head pointing down. Teachers were asked to guess the reason, and to think about how this difference in burn rates and temperatures might apply to natural fuels burning on a hillside.
Click on photos for enlarged view. After learning a bit about the fire triangle, teachers moved outdoors to try their hand at building fires. Five groups of teachers were each given a bag of fuels, a fire pan, and seven matches. The fuel types were:
1. All green materials: an assortment of different-sized branches and needles The teachers had two minutes in which to plan how to build their fire and 15 minutes in which to burn as much fuel as they could. A good time was had by all!
Invasive species: Teachers were asked to lend some assistance in devising an ad campaign to raise public awareness of noxious weeds. Here are a few of the ideas they offered.
Click on photos for enlarged view. The teachers were asked to consider the following questions: What is the difference between a healthy forest and an unhealthy one?, and What is fire's role in forest health? Teachers illustrated their ideas on paper. Workshop participants also received a surprise visit from Etienne Leopold Trouvelot, the French scientist who introduced the gypsy moth to the U.S. in 1869 in hopes of developing a silk industry to rival Europe's. Distraught by the failure of his experiment, our visitor dictated a letter to his friend and colleague, Pierre, telling him about the escape of some of his moths into the nearby Massachusetts woodlands.
Finally, teachers were given many curriculum materials to allow them to take fire and weeds education back into their classrooms with them. They also completed an exponential growth activity from BLM's "What's Wrong with This Picture?" poster (for an online version, please select this link ), and previewed BLM's new "Burning Issues" CD-ROM (see preview here). There were many positive comments about the BLM tools available to teachers on these topics.
Click on photos for enlarged view. The sponsors of this workshop plan to integrate its components into a week-long Fire Ecology workshop for teachers in June 2001. If you are interested in receiving workshop information, please contact: OR Michelle Youngquist, Idaho PLT Coordinator, 350 N. 9th St., Suite 304, Boise, ID 83702, Tel.: For more information on Project Learning Tree, please visit the PLT website.
Last Updated: July 15, 2003 For questions about our programs contact Bibi Booth
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