Subjects:

U.S. History, Civics/Government, or Geography that examines human-environment interactions. It can also be used for Biology/Environmental Science.

• This lesson may work well in a Civics/Government course to examine the role of government agencies in regulating environmental policy and the influence of media coverage of disasters in the development of new policy.
• In a Biology or Environmental Science course, this lesson can be used as an introduction to the role of the Yellowstone fires of 1988 in changing fire management strategies. The lesson can be used as a springboard to the historical use of fire as a management technique and an examination of how species have adapted to fire and why fire can be a needed factor in some ecosystems.

Lesson Duration:

• One to two class periods, depending on the skill level of students.

Essential Questions:

• How did the 1988 Yellowstone wildfires affect public attitudes toward fire and forestry?
• How did the federal government’s policy toward the role of fires in forestry management change since 1910?
• What lessons have been learned from indigenous cultures about fire management?
• How will climate change affect the frequency and severity of forest fires?

Lesson Objectives:

Students will:

• Explain how the news media can affect public policy changes in environmental policy.
• Examine how the federal government’s policy toward the role of fires in forestry management has changed since 1910.
• Explain how fires affect forest ecosystems.
• Compare the strategies of Native Americans who used fire with modern forest management.

Materials:

• Retro Report video “Blazes That Damaged Yellowstone Changed Wildfire Strategy” (Transcript)
• Student Activity handout
• Indigenous Fire Practices Shape Our Land | National Parks Service
• Wildfires and Climate Change | Center for Climate and Energy Solutions
• Optional: Middle School Science Fighting Fire with Fire: Can Fire Positively Impact an Ecosystem?
• Optional: Tree Rings and Forest Fire Ecology | University of Arizona
  • Middle School Science – Series of six lessons on fire ecology.
  • High School Science – Lesson models a forest to identify how lightning-caused ground fires affect traditional and present day ponderosa pine forests.
• Optional: High School Science: Bark Beetles, Chemistry and Wildfires | U.S. Department of Agriculture

Procedure:

1. Students will begin by viewing the film “Blazes That Damaged Yellowstone Changed Wildfire Strategy” (Transcript) and answering the questions provided on the student activity document.
2. Students will read an excerpt from Indigenous Fire Practices Shape Our Land about the use of cultural burning, then answer the questions that follow.
3. In an Environmental Science class, consider spending time introducing students to fire ecology from the Middle and High school resources listed in the Materials list.
   1. Essential questions include:
   2. How does fire affect the surrounding community?
   3. What role does fire play in maintaining healthy ecosystems?
   4. Is there a need to prescribe fire?
   5. How have plants and animals adapted to fire?
   6. What factors must fire managers consider when planning and conducting controlled burns?
   7. How does fire management differ in forests and on prairies?
4. Students will read an excerpt from Wildlife and Climate Change about how climate change will affect the number of forest fires in the future. The link to the site will provide access to a graph of large fire incidents in the Western United States.
   1. The visual includes multiple graphs for regions and the fire incidents of each. Students may need help reading the graphs and noting the slopes of the results, which indicate an increase, steady state or decrease in fire frequency. Typically, regions with smaller tracts of forests like the Plains, basins and deserts will see fewer fires. Mediterranean California saw a decrease in the timeframe here but has had devastating fires in recent years, especially due to drought conditions.
   2. Additional background information you might share with students: “The 2018 wildfire season broke records as the deadliest and most destructive season on record in California. In 2020, five of the six largest fires on record burned in California, and Oregon saw historic levels of wildfire spread and damage. Wildfires across the West led to weekslong periods of unhealthy air quality for millions of people.” The mountain areas of the United States are experiencing an increase in size and numbers of fires due to the dense forests, underbrush, damage from pine bark beetles and weather conditions.
5. In pairs or small groups, students will complete the Options Diamond from Project Zero: Cultures of Thinking. This strategy focuses on resolving opposites.
   1. It helps to explore decision-making situations where a tradeoff makes it hard to find a good option. The options diamond may also help with personal or classroom decision making when different factors pull strongly in opposite directions.
   2. In this case, the opposites are “stop all fires” and “let them burn,” two sides of historical forest management.
   3. Brainstorm three solutions for each side (a-c and d-f) and ask students to write them below the policy.
   4. Find two possible solutions that combine the two opposites and record them at the top of the diagram.
   5. Create a final compromise solution and record on the bottom of the diagram.
6. Discuss with students, their solutions and ask these followup questions:
   1. Could lessons have been learned about historical fire management? Consider strategies of native people, Smokey Bear of 1950 and the increase of fires more recently.
   2. If you are a homeowner near a forest, what would you prefer as a fire management policy? Why?
7. Wrapup: Have students complete the exit ticket at the end of the activity.
   1. What did you learn today about forest fires that you didn’t know before?
   2. Even if you do not live in an area where ecosystem fires are common, how might you be affected by an increase in forest fire incidence?

About the Author:

Peg Steffen is an award-winning former middle and high school science teacher, curriculum writer, education program manager for NASA and NOAA’s National Ocean Service, and managing editor of The Earth Scientist, a peer-reviewed journal of the National Earth Science Teachers Association.

Standards

 College, Career, and Civic Life (C3) Framework for Social Studies

• D2.Civ.1.9-12. Distinguish the powers and responsibilities of local, state, tribal, national, and international civic and political institutions.
• D2.Civ.5.9-12. Evaluate citizens’ and institutions’ effectiveness in addressing social and political problems at the local, state, tribal, national, and/or international level.
• D2.Civ.13.9-12. Evaluate public policies in terms of intended and unintended outcomes, and related consequences.
• D2.His.1.9-12. Evaluate how historical events and developments were shaped by unique circumstances of time and place as well as broader historical contexts.
• D2.His.5.9-12. Analyze how historical contexts shaped and continue to shape people’s perspectives.

Standards (AP Environmental Science)

• Big Ideas:
  • Interactions between different species and the environment.
  • Sustainability
• Science Practices:
  • Data Analysis 5.C Explain patterns and trends in data to draw conclusions.
  • Environmental Solutions 7.C Describe disadvantages, advantages, or unintended consequences for potential solutions.
  • Environmental Solutions 7.F Justify a proposed solution, by explaining potential advantages.
• Topic 5.17: Sustainable Forestry
• Topic 9.5: Global Climate Change

Next Generation Science Standards

Performance Expectations

• HS-LS2-7.  Design, evaluate and refine a solution for reducing the impacts of human activities on the environment and biodiversity.
• HS-LS2-6. Evaluate claims, evidence, and reasoning that the complex interactions in ecosystems maintain relatively consistent numbers and types of organisms in stable conditions, but changing conditions may result in a new ecosystem.
• HS-ESS3-1.  Construct an explanation based on evidence for how the availability of natural resources, occurrence of natural hazards and changes in climate have influenced human activity.

Disciplinary Core Concepts

• LS2.C: Ecosystem Dynamics, Functioning, and Resilience
  • A complex set of interactions within an ecosystem can keep its numbers and types of organisms relatively constant over long periods of time under stable conditions. If a modest biological or physical disturbance to an ecosystem occurs, it may return to its more or less original status (i.e., the ecosystem is resilient), as opposed to becoming a very different ecosystem. Extreme fluctuations in conditions or the size of any population, however, can challenge the functioning of ecosystems in terms of resources and habitat availability.
• ESS3.A: Natural Resources
  • Resource availability has guided the development of human society.
• ESS3.C: Human Impacts on Earth Systems
  • The sustainability of human societies and the biodiversity that supports them requires responsible management of natural resources

Performance Expectations

• MS-ESS3. Earth and Human Activity 
• MS-LSS2-2. Construct an explanation that predicts patterns of interactions among organisms across multiple ecosystems.
• MS-ESS3-2. Analyze and interpret data on natural hazards to forecast future catastrophic events and inform the development of technologies to mitigate their effects.
• MS-ESS3-4. Construct an argument supported by evidence for how increases in human population and per-capita consumption of natural resources impact Earth’s systems.

Disciplinary Core Concepts

• ESS3.C: Human Impacts on Earth Systems 

• • Human activities have significantly altered the biosphere, sometimes damaging or destroying natural habitats and causing the extinction of other species. But changes to Earth’s environments can have different impacts (negative and positive) for different living things. Typically, as human populations and per-capita consumption of natural resources increase, so do the negative impacts on Earth unless the activities and technologies involved are engineered otherwise.
• ESS3.D: Global Climate Change
  • Human activities, such as the release of greenhouse gasses from burning fossil fuels, are    major factors in the current rise in Earth’s mean surface temperature (global warming).