Fire Ecology Field Trip

Hiking through a healthy understory in a recent burn area

NPS

Fire can be a powerful force of change that impacts a forest in surprisingly beneficial ways. It also poses a particular challenge to park managers, whose goal is to maintain natural systems while protecting humans, cultural and historic resources and park infrastructure. Glacier's cultural resources chronicle the evolving history of human activities, interactions, and experiences in the American West, that reveal changes in societal attitudes about land and its uses.

Grades: 4–5
Locations: Fish Creek Area and St. Mary
Duration: 4.5 hours, view our Fire Ecology Field Trip Schedule to see a basic outline for the day
Group Size: 60 students, 2 groups of 30 students
Skills: Communicate, Observe, Identify, Model
Vocabulary: Adaptation, coniferous, dichotomous, disturbance, fire scars, fire triangle (fuel, oxygen, heat), interrelationships, tree cookies
Essential Questions:

• What impact does fire have on a landscape?
• What views do people have about fire?
• How have Native Americans felt about fire?
• How does the National Park Service protect and preserve the landscape if fires occur and are even started on purpose?

National and State Science Standards:

4- LS1-1 Construct an argument that plants and animals have internal and external structures that function to support survival, growth, behavior, and reproduction.
4- ESS2-2 Analyze and interpret data from maps as evidence to make a claim about patterns of Earth's features.
5-LS2-1 Develop and critique a model to describe the movement of matter among plants, animals, decomposers, and the environment.
5-ESS3-1 Obtain and combine information from various sources about ways individual communities use science ideas to protect the Earth's resources, environment, and systems and describe examples of how American Indians use scientific knowledge and practices to maintain relationships with the natural world.

 

Objectives

Students will be able to:

• Tell what national parks protect and one reason Glacier National Park was established.
• Identify coniferous trees with a dichotomous key.
• Give 3 examples of interrelationships in the forest.
• Give an example of an effect the forest fire has had on plants and on wildlife.
• Tell how a fire might increase plant reproduction.
• List the 3 parts of the fire triangle (fuel, oxygen, heat) and how each contributes to a fire.
• Give examples of adaptations that plants and animals have to survive fires.
• Explain how we can understand past fires by examining tree cookies and fire scars.
• Discuss how fires are different and act in varying ways depending on environmental factors like wind, fuel, terrain, and make predictions about how a fire with certain conditions might burn.
• Discuss 2 organisms who not only can survive fire, but who actually thrive after a fire.
• Name 1 important role of fire in a natural system.

 

Field Trip Logistics

Teachers wishing to have their students participate in the fire ecology field trip should plan to arrive in the park by 9:30 - 10 am and stay until 1:30 - 2 pm. Everyone must be prepared to be outside all day and ready to hike 2 miles on some uneven terrain.

 

Reserve Your Trip

Visit the Scheduling & Guidelines page to find the reservation form as well as tips for a successful day in the park.

If you have questions, email or call the Apgar Education Office at 406-888-7899.

 

Preparing for Your Trip

Students that spend time preparing for their visit get more out of a field trip to the park. Activities post-visit also help to reinforce information learned during the trip.

Once registered, we will email you a complete curriculum guide, including the following lessons:

• Pre-visit Lessons:
  • Meeting the Fire Triangle
  • Meeting the Fire Triangle 2
  • Tree Parts
• Post-vist Lesson:
  • Forest Communities

Suggested activities and supplementary materials:

• FireWorks Traveling Trunk
• Key to the Coniferous Trees in Glacier
• Watch the 20-minute documentary video, Disturbance, produced in conjunction with the National Park Service Fire Management Division
• Background Information for Teachers
• Bonus Activities: Vocabulary, songs, coloring pages, etc