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Citation:
Smith, Jane Kapler; Abrahamson, Ilana; Berkowitz, Caitlyn; and McMurray, Nancy. 2018. FireWorks curriculum featuring ponderosa, lodgepole, and whitebark pine forests. Missoula, MT: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research Station, Missoula Fire Sciences Laboratory (Producer).

Contact:
Ilana Abrahamson

This version of FireWorks focuses on selected ecological communities in the Northern Rocky Mountains and North Cascades - forests dominated by ponderosa, lodgepole, and whitebark pine. To learn about some of the plants, animals, and fungi that live in these communities, see the essays in the FireWorks Encyclopedia (5-8 grade) or FireWorks Encyclopedia for younger students.

Like all FireWorks programs, the Northern Rocky Mountains and North Cascades curricula provide students with interactive, hands-on activities to study wildland fire. It consists of three curricula and trunks of materials for educators. The three curricula are targeted at the elementary, middle, and high school levels (and are great for adult learning too).

The Introduction contains information about program goals, curricula, featured ecological communities, and educational standards.

Activity Overviews

Find a Trunk Near You

List of Materials in Trunks

FireWorks Encyclopedia: Grades 3-5

FireWorks Encyclopedia: Grades 5-8

This table summarizes the content for each activity at each level. Read across the table to find similar activities for students at other levels. To access the entire curricula or individual activities, select the links in the table. For a brief overview of each activity select the Elementary Overview, Middle Overview, or High Overview.

Unit & ThemeELEMENTARYMIDDLEHIGH
 Entire Elementary CurriculumEntire Middle CurriculumEntire High Curriculum
Unit I. Introduction to Wildland FireE01. Visiting Wildland Fire in the Northern Rocky Mountains and North CascadesM01. Visiting Wildland Fire in the Northern Rocky Mountains and North CascadesH01. Introduction to Wildland Fire in the Northern Rocky Mountains and North Cascades
Unit II. Physical Science of Wildland FireE02. Making Fires Burn or Go Out 1: Introduction to the Fire TriangleM02. Where Does Heat Go? The Heat Plume from a FireH02. The Fire Triangle: Fuel, Heat, and Oxygen
E03. Making Fires Burn or Go Out 2: Demonstrating the Fire Triangle and Heat PlumeM03. What Makes Fires Burn? The Fire Triangle 1—Heat and FuelH03. The Fire Triangle, Combustion, and the Carbon Cycle
 M04. What Makes Fires Burn? The Fire Triangle 2—OxygenH04. Heat Transfer
Unit III. The Wildland Fire Environment  H05. Fuel Properties
  H06. Pyrolysis
  H07. Fire Spread Processes: Putting it all together: Heat transfer, fuel properties, and pyrolysis
E04. How Wildland Fires Spread 1: Experiment with a Matchstick ForestM05. How Do Wildland Fires Spread? The Matchstick Forest ModelH08A. Fire Environment Triangle and Fire Spread: The Matchstick Model
  H08B. Fire Environment Triangle and Fire Spread: The Landscape Matchstick Model
 M06. Ladder Fuels and Fire Spread: The Tinker Tree DerbyH09. Ladder Fuels and Fire Spread
E05. Fuel Properties: The Campfire ChallengeM07. Fuel Properties: The Campfire ChallengeSee H05.
E06. Effect of Wind: How Wildland Fires SpreadM08. Fire Behavior, Fire Weather, and ClimateH10. Fire Behavior, Fire Weather, and Climate
Unit IV. Fire Effects on the EnvironmentE07. Smoke from Wildland Fire: Just Hanging Around?M09. Smoke from Wildland Fire: Just Hanging Around?H11. Smoke from Wildland Fire: Just Hanging Around?
 M10. Fire, Soil, and Water InteractionsH12. Fire, Soil, and Water Interactions
Unit V. Fire’s Relationship with Organisms and CommunitiesE08-1. What’s a Community? All the Living Things in the EcosystemM11. Who Lives Here? Adopting a Plant, Animal, or FungusH14. Researching a Plant, Animal, or Fungus
E08-2. Who Lives Here? Adopting a Plant, Animal, or Fungus  
E09. Tree Parts and Fire: The Class Models a Living TreeM12. Tree Parts and Fire: “Working Trees” Jeopardy-style Game 
E10. Tree Identification: Using a Key to Identify “Mystery Trees”M13. Tree Identification: Figure out the “Mystery Trees”H13. Tree Identification: Create a Dichotomous Key
E11. Recipe for a Lodgepole Pine Forest: Serotinous ConesE11. Is appropriate for middle school 
 M14. Who Lives Here and Why? Modeling Forest CommunitiesH15. Forest Communities and Climate Change
 M15. Bark and Soil: Nature’s Insulators 
E12. Buried Treasure: Underground Parts that Help Plants Survive FireM16. Buried Treasures: Identifying Plants by their Underground Parts 
Unit VI. Fire History and SuccessionE13-1. My Tree Autobiography: Seeing History through Trees’ Annual Rings  
 M17-H16. Dating Fires Using DendrochronologyM17-H16. Dating Fires Using Dendrochronology
 M18-H17. History of Stand-replacing FireM18-H17. History of Stand-replacing Fire
E13-2. Tree Biography, Forest BiographyM19-H18. History of Low-severity FireM19-H18. History of Low-severity Fire
 M20. Fire History in Ponderosa, Lodgepole, and Whitebark Pine Forest CommunitiesH19. History of Mixed-severity Fire
E14. Story Time: Fire and SuccessionM21. Drama in the Forest: Fire and Succession, a Class ProductionH20. Why Do Historical Fire Regimes Matter?
 M22. Fire Ecology Puzzler 
Unit VII. People in Fire's HomelandE15. Carrying Fire the Pikunni WayM23. Carrying Fire the Pikunni WayH21. Carrying Fire the Pikunni Way
E16. Homes in the Forest: An Introduction to Firewise PracticesM24. Homes in the Forest: An Introduction to Firewise Practices 
E17. Revisiting Wildland FireM25. Revisiting Wildland FireH22. Changing Landscapes, Changing Fires