Classroom Ideas

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Kindergarten Through Fourth Grade

    1. Yellowstone Introduction

    Have students locate the United States’ Yellowstone National Park on a map. Then have them look at the close-up map of the park at http://www.nps.gov/yell/pphtml/maps.html and draw the shape of the park on their own paper.

    Ask students to visit Fantastic Journeys: Yellowstone at http://www.nationalgeographic.com/yellowstone/. At this site, they should explore Plumb the Depths, Catch a Geyser, and Scout About. Ask students to draw pictures of some of Yellowstone’s geological features on their maps of the park, leaving room for pictures they will draw later. (They can also click the photograph links on the map at http://www.nationalgeographic.com/books/yellowstone/whatwhere/ to see some Yellowstone scenery.)

    Explain to the class that the park is famous not only for its geysers and other geological features but also for its wildlife. Have them go to the Yellowstone Resources page at http://www.nps.gov/yell/nature/index.htm and link to pictures of animals that live in the park. Ask them to draw pictures of these animals on their maps. They will now have thematic maps of the park and a general overview of the attractions of Yellowstone.

    Explain to students that Yellowstone is the United States’ first national park and is, as they can probably guess, considered a very special place. Discuss what they think would happen if a major wildfire burned in the park. What do they think would be done about the fire? What would the people of the United States think about the fire? What would happen to the park?

    2. Forest Fires

    Ask the class what would happen if a fire started in their home. What would they do, who would they call, and what would happen? Then ask students what they think would happen if a fire started in a forest. Would the response be similar to the response for a fire in a home?

    Explain that forest fires are not always treated in the same way as house fires because forests actually benefit from fire. Some trees need fire to spread their seeds. Furthermore, a fire today can prevent a bigger fire a few years from now. How can this be? Demonstrate this concept by asking students to imagine a new home that has just been built and doesn’t have any furniture in it yet. If someone lighted a match on the floor of the house, would there be many things to burn? Would the house be likely to burn down?

    Now have students imagine a house that’s full of furniture, papers, and toys. If someone lights a match on the floor of this house, is it more likely to burn? Explain that a forest that’s full of dead wood and debris is more likely to burn than a forest that’s been cleared of debris. That’s why small forest fires can help prevent larger fires from occurring.

    Part of the reason Yellowstone burned so quickly in 1988 is that, from the 1880s to the 1970s, firefighters had been ordered to put out all fires. There was, therefore, a lot of dead wood and forest debris left to burn in 1988. Tell students that now firefighters generally try to put out only fires that are started by people or that come close to homes or other buildings. Make sure they understand that it’s important for people to do their part to avoid starting forest fires.

    Have students tell you and list on the board the ways forest fires can be started by people and the ways fires can start naturally (e.g., lightning). Then ask them to browse the Smokey Bear Web site at http://www.smokeybear.com to find out how to prevent forest fires. As an extra activity, they can create pamphlets informing the public (or fellow students) about fire-prevention strategies and illustrating why some naturally caused forest fires are allowed to burn.

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Grades Five Through Eight

    1. Fire Danger and Precipitation

    Have students look at the precipitation map for April through September 1988 at http://www.atmos.ucla.edu/~fovell/AS3/88drought.html. They don’t have to understand the scientific jargon there; all they need to know is that colors represented by negative numbers show areas of lower than average precipitation and colors represented by positive numbers show areas of greater than average precipitation. Was it a particularly dry or wet summer around the country? Was it drier or wetter than normal in the Yellowstone area?

    Inform the class that a fire chief compared some of the wood in the forests of Yellowstone in 1988 to jet fuel (see page 262 of the February 1989 issue of National Geographic). In other words, the wood was very flammable because it was so dry. How would this have affected the fires of that summer? Would the fires have started if it had been a wet summer? Would they have continued and spread as they did?

    Have students examine current fire danger maps at the United States Forest Service’s Wildland Fire Assessment System page at http://www.fs.fed.us/land/wfas/. Ask them to analyze fire danger in Yellowstone today. Then have them assess the fire danger in their home region and answer these questions: Is Yellowstone still susceptible to wildfires? Is it more or less susceptible to wildfires than your area? Why?

    2. Species Recovery in Yellowstone

    Play the Radio Expeditions clip that discusses species recovery since the Yellowstone fires of 1988. Have students list all the species that are mentioned and look each one up at the United States Forest Service’s Fire Effects Information Web site at http://www.fs.fed.us/database/feis/welcome.htm. For each species ask them to write whether the species tends to benefit from fire. Has the species done better or worse than would have been expected since the 1988 fires?

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Grades Nine Through Twelve

    1. Species Recovery in Yellowstone

    If possible, have students read “Yellowstone: The Great Fires of 1988” in the February 1989 issue of National Geographic. Also have them look the “Yellowstone Fires” area of the Radio Expeditions Web site.

    Now ask students to go to the United States Forest Service’s Fire Effects Information Web site at http://www.fs.fed.us/database/feis/ to research how the following species tend to fare in the event of a fire: lodgepole pine, grizzly bear, moose, elk, bison, trumpeter swan. Based on their knowledge of the severity of the 1988 fires and of the fire adaptations of each species, ask them to write a paragraph explaining how they think the species have probably fared since 1988.

    Now have the class listen to the Radio Expeditions “Yellowstone Fires” episode or read the transcript, paying particular attention to any mention of species recovery. Did the species fare as predicted? Are they surprised at how these species have recovered? Which species have had the easiest time, and which have had the hardest? Ask them to answer these questions in another paragraph.

    2. Fire-management Policy

    Have students research the United States National Park Service’s current fire-management policy. They can find information on this topic at the following sites:

    Hold a class discussion on the pros and cons of current fire-management practices. Ask students to think about how different groups of people, such as the general public, wildlife biologists, and residents of the Yellowstone area might feel about the practices.

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