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6.7
million Alaskan acres burned in 2004, defining the year
as the largest fire season in recorded history; records
began in the 1950. Fire has always been a reoccurring,
natural process in the boreal ecosystem of interior
Alaska. However, the boreal forest surrounds interior
Alaskan communities, rendering them islands, and susceptible
to wildland fire. Recently, the fire community came
together in order to work towards effectively educating
Alaskans about wildland fire.
Alaska Project Learning Tree (PLT),
Department of Natural Resources/Division of Forestry
developed a fire education program called Fire! In Alaska. This program blends USFWS Role of
Fire and USFS Fireworks curriculums together
to produce a classroom "Teach the Teacher/Educator"
workshop that blazes through fire ecology, fire behavior,
management, and prevention. Educators learn about fires'
effects on Alaskan ecosystems. In one activity, they
create a forest made of matchsticks on a floor of masonite,
light a match and ignite a fire in the quasi-forest
(See Photo). Educators begin to understand how they
can reduce the risk of fire to their homes and communities
and furthermore how to live safely in or adjacent to
the boreal forest. Each “graduate” of the
workshop can check out a fire trunk that overflows with
the curriculums, books, videos and laboratory apparatus.
In 2001, the Alaska National Park
Service Western Area Fire Management Officer and AK
NPS Regional Fire Communication, Education and Prevention
Specialist attended the first Fire! In Alaska workshop.
Since that time, workshops have been conducted throughout
the state. The Regional Fire Communication, Education
and Prevention Specialist assists with the presentation
of various workshops and Alaska National Park Service
Fire Management encourages and supports Alaska National
Park Service employees to attend them; three employees
have attended thus far. In the near future, a workshop
will be held at Denali National Park and Preserve for
NPS employees and educators in the surrounding area.
Alaska NPS Fire Management also purchased three fire
trunks which are placed in Fairbanks, Denali National
Park and Preserve and Yukon-Charley Rivers National
Preserve. NPS employees and educators throughout the
areas utilize the trunks. Although the workshops have
been a great success, 100 educators trained in 2003,
who in turn reach an estimated 2,000 students and households,
they are not easily accessible to teachers working in
rural Alaskan communities. One answer to this problem
was online training.
In 2003, Alaska PLT enlisted support
from a professional facilitator to turn the traditional
Fire! In Alaska workshop into an online 8-week course
delivered through distance education. AK NPS Fire Management
program was involved with the project in several areas.
The program supported the multimedia development of
the online course. During the fire ecology section of
the course, an interview between the lead instructor
and the Regional Fire Communication, Education and Prevention
Specialist conveys to students fires' effects
on vegetation and wildlife in the boreal forest. In
October of 2003, fire experts from several agencies
including the Regional Fire Communication, Education
and Prevention Specialist joined educators in piloting
the course and fine-tuning its content. The 8 week course
will be delivered twice a year, in the fall and spring
of the school year.
The workshops and online courses are
readily available to many educators, the workshops present
new material in an excitingly interactive manner and
tell a well-rounded story of wildland fire. The continued
implementation of Fire! In Alaska workshops, courses,
and availability of trunks was and is a fire community
effort. As fire remains ever present on the Alaskan
landscape, we hope that because of the efforts put forth
by the Alaskan fire community, fire education will remain
ever present as well.
For more information about Fire! In Alaska workshops, online courses and trunks, please
contact Morgan Miller, Alaska NPS Regional Fire Communication,
Education and Prevention Specialist at 907-683-6423
or Morgan_Miller@nps.gov
or visit http://165.83.62.205/epr/fire/fire.htm
(NPS users only) and click on
Fire Communication. For information on Fire! In Alaska online courses
visit, http://www.creative-conservation.com/trainingopps.htm
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