Playing with Fire

For even the most astute land managers and brilliant fire ecologists, playing with fire is still dangerous. Accidents happen when winds don't blow as we expect or the sun creeps out for a bit too long from behind the clouds, which makes forest fuels unexpectedly drier.

Teachers, discuss with your students fire-related aspects of forest ecology and the pros and cons of managing fire-dependent forests with prescribed burns.

Hold a town meeting with your classroom. Place four chairs in front of the class. Choose four students who are able to rotate leadership roles.

The panel will consist of these roles:

1. A land owner with a home near a heavily-forested national park
2. An NPS land manager who will be conducting a nearby prescribed burn
3. A local birding society member who enjoys birding in open-canopy ponderosa pine landscapes that depend on fire
4. A forester who has a love/hate relationship with fire—he desires healthy trees, yet doesn't want them all burned down

After five minutes of questions, answers and discussion, rotate the members of the panel so they will each be considering the issues from a different point of view.

Your role, of course, will be to keep order.

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