Fire Ecology Institute for Educators
June 8 – 12, 2009
Ft. Lewis College
Durango, Colorado

DRAFT AGENDA
Sunday June 7 Check into rooms, pick up materials
Monday, June 8

8:00 – 8:30 am Welcome, Overview, Daily Briefing, Introductions

8:30 – 9:30 am Icebreakers

9:30 – 10:00 am State of the Forests (CO, Western, Nation, World) – guest speaker, Kent Grant

10:00 – 10:10 am Break

10:10 – 10:40 am Two Sides of Fire movie, The Smokey Bear Story (comic books)

10:40 - 11:30 am Tree Identification (Classroom & Field studies (@ Ft. Lewis) Amanda Bucknam

11:30 – 12:15 pm LUNCH

12:15 – 1:45 pm Dendrochronology presentation by Ros Wu, USFS)

1:45 – 2:30 pm Fire regimes (handout and activities), Posters of CO Ecosystems
Fire types (mosaic poster of Missionary Ridge)

2:30 –3:45
3:45- 5:00 pm Fireworks Stations & Labs (Fuels, Matchstick Forest, Defensible Space) Karen Carver, Lu’s students

5:00 – 6:00 pm Free Time

6:00 – 7:00 pm Dinner

7:00 – 9:00 pm Fire Wars movie


Tuesday, June 9
Morning briefing, safety discussion

8:00 - 8:30 am Drive to Bayfield Ranger Station

8:30 – 9:45 am Fire equipment/fire truck presentation by firefighters, see fire cache

9:45-10:15 am Drive to Vallecito - east side of lake – mitigation area

10:15 – 12:00 pm Presentation by Forester on mitigation, fire tools, firelines & digging fireline (somewhere in Vallecito area) (2 groups)
(presentation by Craig Goodell, Fire education w/BLM)
John Arnold?

12:00 – 12:30 pm Lunch

12:30 – 2:00 pm Walk through burn area (scavenger hunt), discuss current ecology
(presentation by Larry Eads, SJMA volunteer)

2:00 – 2:30 pm Drive to Lemon Reservoir

2:30 – 4:00 pm Presentation on Erosion by John Eye (other?-Lu)

4:00 – 4:30 pm Drive back to Ft. Lewis

4:30 – 5:00 Discussions about the day

5:00 – 6:00 pm Free time

6:00 – 7:00 pm Dinner

7:00 – 9:00 pm Computer lab, Burning Issues DVD including web questing


Wednesday, June 10
Morning briefing, safety discussion

8:00 – 9:30 am Presentation on insects, forests, fire – guest speaker

9:30 – 9:50 am Drive to hydroax and bug-affected area

9:50 – 11:30 am Bug exploration, collection; PLT activities
Discussion on hydroaxing, soils, wildlife impacts, PLT activities
(Kent Grant, CO State FS)
Legislator?

11:30 – 12:00 pm Lunch

12:30 – 2:00 pm Prescribed burn (Kent Grant) & weeds presentation (Mark Tucker, USFS) (walk & talk), PLT activities

1:30 – 2:00 pm Drive back to Ft. Lewis

2:00 – 3:00 pm Watershed presentation (Shauna Jensen, USFS Hydrologist, National BAER team)

3:00 – 3:45 PLT activities & Hike the Guide

3:45 – 5:00 pm Reflection, journaling, and participants prepare an activity to present to other participants on Friday morning)

5:00 – 6:00 pm FireWise presentation (defensible space – Pam Wilson) and Two Sides of Fire movie

Dinner in town


Thursday, June 11 10hrs
Morning briefing, safety discussion

8:00– 9:00 am Drive to Cortez; defensible space and forest health scavenger hunt on vans (Durango West subdivision); meet Dolores Fire person

9:00 – 9:15am Drive to site of Cache Canyon fire

9:15 – 10:00am Presentation/talk on Cache Canyon fire, mitigation, Ips beetle

10:00 – 11:00am Drive to Mesa Verde

11:00am – 1:30pm Tour of Mesa Verde –
Meet at viewing tower, talk about fire regime of gambel oak
Drive to fire station, view trucks
Discussion of fuel moisture
Working Lunch

1:45 – 2:45 pm Tour of Cliff dwelling (include info on prehistoric fires)

3:00 – 4:00pm Return to Fort Lewis; observations on Ips beetle on the way

4:00 – 5:00 pm PLT Activities

5:00 – 5:30 pm Free time

5:30 – 6:00 pm Drive to dinner

6:00 – 7:00 pm dinner

8:00 – 9:00 pm Mapping/GPS/geocaching activity with Beth Lashell (Ft. Lewis professor)


Friday, June 12 7 hrs
Morning briefing, safety discussion

8:00 – 10:00 am Presentation and activities: Defensive Space, Community Mitigation

10:00 – 11:30 am More PLT, Fire Works, Fire Box activities, presentation preparation

11:30-12:00 am PLT wrap-up (istorage.iomega.com, GreenWorks, Earth & Sky, etc)

12:00-1:00 am Working Lunch (prepare presentations)

1:00 -3:00 am Participant presentations of units, activities (“speed dating”)

3:00 Wrap up, depart

Still room in this class-Deadline is May 5.

Plans are being finalized for this amazing class! The agenda is looking good. Spend a week in the beautiful mountains, valleys and mesas of the San Juans with other adventurous educators and passionate natural resources professionals. Don't wait! Register now!