Post-Fire Wildlife Habitat Restoration
Classroom Curriculum Unit for Grades 5-8
An integrated study of the ecology connected to a wild fire, wildlife, habitat, and people
(or just a good excuse to go outdoors with the kids and have fun learning relevant stuff!)
PDF file of
Watershed-Fire Kids in the Creek Lessons (links and resources won't all be
available though)- PDF 500kb+
The mission of this unit is to provide activities and lessons that can help
students better understand variables involved in a habitat, specifically
post-fire wildlife habitat restoration. Integrating standards, achieving higher
levels of problem solving, and working cooperatively will empower students to
better understand their role in understanding and influencing habitat in a
post-fire situation, as future landowners and community members.
Check out the curriculum, pictures and student input at the waterblogged site which is linked off of the project website- KidsInTheCreek.org. I propose that we use these activities in an interactive, up-to-date approach that integrates technology skills and real world examples.
Kids in the Creek was the name we used for our project and it seemed that part of the kids recovery after a 14,000 acre fire was to be a part of the solution and better understand what changes are taking place in our own backyards. The Clear Creek Student Restoration and Monitoring Project was a collaborative service-learning project that taught and provided educational experiences about the Upper Clear Creek watershed in Shasta County, California. This project was located on French Gulch Creek near the town of French Gulch and assisted students from three local schools with studying, restoring, and monitoring riparian habitat severely burned during the August 2004 French Fire.
Tips for success: Get partnerships with local agencies that can support your effort and offer expertise; plan on as many field trips to watershed sites, or the site, as possible; Role playing is powerful; Have fun; Get money through grants; Integrate subject areas; Get a URL and build a web site and blog; Learn the local invasive and native plants...
Timeline: As much or as little time as you have in the classroom- Easily adaptable to a few lessons, a quarter, semester, or all year. Make this relevant to the fire or local ecology so that kids can relate and be involved.
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ENVIRONMENTAL CURRICULUM RESOURCE TABLE
http://www.waterlessons.org/pdf/curricula.pdf (includes links and info on the following: A Child’s Place in the Environment – Caring for Aquatic Systems; Project WILD Aquatic; Project WET Curriculum & Activity Guide; Adopt-A-Watershed: Wade Into Watersheds; and, Water Wisdom; Dipping Into Creeks)
Watershed Information Model- Current River Conditions
- Investigating Fire Ecology Curriculum developed for 6th Graders by NPS
- POW- The Hydrological Cycle.pdf
- POW2 - Build A Working Stream Model.pdf
- Pow2- Scoring Rubric.pdf ; Pow2- Scoring Rubric.doc
- Native Species on our Site.pdf
- Stream Ecology- Reading and Illustration Activity.pdf
- Hydrology Cycle.pdf
- Stream Ecology Vocabulary.pdf
- Stream Ecology -Macro-invertebrates drawing.pdf
- Brochure on Non-Native Plants or Blackberries
- Willows of French Creek project.pdf
- Native Species on our Site.pdf
- Native Species that were planted at the site (PDF)
- Hobo Temp data from French Creek & Cline Gulch- Data: FG1,
FG4, FG6,
FGCrk WQ,
HoboZipfile
- FG1 was placed furthest downstream below the tributary
- FG4 was placed furthest upstream
- FG6 was placed in Cline Gulch
- FG2 was lost and never recovered; FG3 had three records and then failed, but still seems to work; FG5 was placed in Clear Creek and seems to be dead & unable to be read.
- Zip file of all 4 readouts including the bombed FG3
Resource links
for Grades K-12 (http://www.nbii.gov/education/curriculum.html)
- (watershededucation.org
California Water Boards
Water Quality Service Learning Program Web site (waterlessons.org)
Resources for the Greater Redding Area
(westernshastarcd.org)