Dew It! Dew It!

page 47

Time Will 

Tell

Fighting Fire 

With Fire page 15

NATURAL VOLUME 4, NUMBER 1 • USDA FOREST SERVICE

INQUIRER

Wildland

Fire Edition

Smoke 

and

Mirrors

Smoke 

and

Mirrors

page 34

Liar! Liar!

House on Fire!

Liar! Liar!

House on Fire!

page 41

Time Will 

Tell

page 21

Let’s Clear

the Air 

Let’s Clear

the Air page 6

Who 

Gives 

a Hoot?

Who 

Gives 

a Hoot?

page 27
The Natural Inquirer

Volume 4, No. 1, Spring 2003

Wildland Fire Edition

Barbara McDonald

USDA Forest Service

Research and Development

Washington Office

Jean Szymanski

USDA Forest Service 

Southwestern Region

Albuquerque, NM

USDA Forest Service

scientists highlighted in the

journal:

Ron Babbitt

Jan Beyers

Jack Cohen

Paulette Ford

Armando Gonázlez-Cabán

Wei Min Hao

Roger Ottmar

Brian Potter

Ron Susott

Dale Wade

Other scientists 

highlighted in the journal:

Isaac Bertschi

Dave Griffith

John Loomis

Tim Reinhardt

Darold Ward

Bill Wirtz

Bob Yokelson

Produced by:

USDA Forest Service

Dale Bosworth, Chief

Research and Development,

Washington, DC

Robert Lewis, Deputy Chief

Resource Valuation and Use

Research Staff

State and Private Forestry

Joel Holtrop, Deputy Chief

Conservation Education Staff

Denver James, Acting

Director

With thanks to:

Kathleen Cullinan, 

Ag in the Classroom

USDA Cooperative State

Research, Education, and

Extension Service

Washington, DC

John Owens

National Interagency Fire

Center and Bureau of Land

Management

Boise, ID

Katrina Krause

USDA Forest Service

Athens, GA

Jessica Tanner

Atlanta City Public Schools

Atlanta, GA

Firewise Communities

Program

Quincy, MA

Fire and Aviation 

Management

USDA Forest Service

Washington, DC 

Office of Communication

USDA Forest Service

Washington, DC

USDA Design Center

Washington, DC

USDA Forest Service

Southern Research Station

Athens, GA

This Natural Inquirer issue is

dedicated to the memory of

Eugene P. Odum, a great

ecologist and educator.

The U.S. Department of

Agriculture (USDA) prohibits discrimination in all its programs and

activities on the basis of race, color,

national origin, sex, religion, age,

disability, political beliefs, sexual

orientation, and marital or family

status. (Not all prohibited bases

apply to all programs.) Persons

with disabilities who require alternative means for communication of

program information (Braille, large

print, audiotape, etc.) should contact USDA’s TARGET Center at

(202) 720-2600 (voice and TDD).

To file a complaint of discrimination, write USDA, Director,

Office of Civil Rights, Room 326-

W, Whitten Building, 1400

Independence Avenue, SW,

Washington, DC 20250-9410 or

call (202) 720-5964 (voice and

TDD). USDA is an equal opportunity provider and employer.

United States Department of Agriculture

Forest Service

FS-692
Contents

Teacher’s Note . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .2

About the Natural Inquirer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .3

What Are Scientists? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .3

Welcome to the Natural Inquirer

Wildland Fire Edition! . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .5

Features

Let’s Clear the Air: 

The Danger of Forest Fire Smoke to Firefighters . . . . . . .6

Fighting Fire With Fire: 

Protecting the Homes of People and Birds . . . . . . . . . . .15

Time Will Tell: 

Does Wildfire Damage the Prairie? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .21

Who Gives a Hoot? 

Determining the Value of Owl Habitat . . . . . . . . . . . . .27

Smoke and Mirrors:

Detecting the Amount of Gases in 

Wildland Fire Smoke . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .34

Liar! Liar! House on Fire! 

The Relationship Between Trees, Wildland Fire, 

and Damage to Homes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .41

Dew It! 

Which Weather Measurements Are Related 

to the Occurrence of Wildland Fire? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .47

Student Evaluation Form . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .52

Teacher Evaluation Form . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .53

Website Connections . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .55

Which National Science Education Standards 

Can Be Addressed by the Natural Inquirer . . . . . . . . . .56

What Is the USDA Forest Service? . . . . . . . . .Back Cover

What Is Agriculture in the Classroom? . . . . . .Back Cover

What Is the National Interagency Fire Center? Back Cover

The Natural Inquirer is reproduced on recycled paper with soy-based inks.

Please pass this journal along or recycle it when you have finished using it!

1

Ms. Tanner

Editorial Review Board

Members of Ms. Jessica

Tanner’s 5th grade 

science class

Mary Lin 

Elementary School

Atlanta City Public Schools

Atlanta, GA

Kaitlyn Lewis

Addison 

Morarre

Anja Griffin

Deonte Kimber

Janeé Brown

Delun Attwooll

Emily 

Burns
Teacher’s

Note

As teachers of science, you

want your students to acquire

abilities that will enable them

to conduct scientific inquiry,

and you want them to gain an

understanding of the scientific

inquiry process. Scientific

inquiry can best be taught by

integrating minds-on and

hands-on experiences. Over

time, such experiences encourage students to independently

formulate and seek answers to

questions about the world we

live in. As educators, you are

constantly faced with engaging your students in scientific

inquiry in new and different

ways. In an age of abundant

technology, standard teaching

strategies can become monotonous to today’s learners. The

Natural Inquirer provides a

fresh approach to science and

a view of the outside world

bigger than the classroom that

can be used while still in the

school setting.

The Natural Inquirer is a

science education resource

journal to be used with learners from Grade 5 and up. The

Natural Inquirer contains articles describing environmental

and natural resource research

conducted by USDA Forest

Service scientists and their

cooperators. These are scientific journal articles that have

been reformatted to meet the

needs of middle school and

higher students. The articles

are easy to understand, are

aesthetically pleasing to the

eye, contain glossaries, and

include hands-on activities.

The goal of the Natural

Inquirer is to stimulate critical

reading and thinking about

scientific inquiry and investigation while learning about

ecology, the natural environment, and natural resources.

Science Education

Standards and Evaluations:

In the back of the journal,

you will find a matrix that

allows you to identify articles

by the national science education standards that they

address. You will also find

evaluation forms in the back

of the journal. Please make

copies of these evaluation

forms and have your students

complete them after they complete an article. Please note the

form for teachers to complete

also. Please send the evaluation forms to the address listed at the end of the forms.

You and your students may

also complete the forms online by visiting www.natural

inquirer.usda.gov. 

This journal was created by

Conservation Education

Research and Development,

an education program of the

USDA Forest Service. If you

have any questions or comments, please contact:

Dr. Barbara McDonald

USDA Forest Service

320 Green St.

Athens, GA 30602-2044

706.559.4224

barmac@bigfoot.com

Teacher’s Manual:

To read the teacher’s manual online, download it, or

request a hard copy, visit the

Natural Inquirer Web site at

www.naturalinquirer.usda.

gov.

At this Web site, you will

also find previous issues of the

Natural Inquirer, sample lesson plans, word games, the

teacher’s manual, information

about the USDA Forest

Service, and other resources.

2

Visit www.naturalinquirer.usda.gov for previous issues of the 

Natural Inquirer, sample lesson plans, word games, the teacher’s manual, 

information about the USDA Forest Service, and other resources.
Scientists are people who

collect and evaluate information about a wide range

of topics. Some scientists

study the natural environment. To be a successful

environmental scientist, you

must:

• Be curious —You must be

interested in learning.

• Be enthusiastic —You

must be interested in an

environmental topic.

• Be careful —You must be

accurate in everything

that you do.

• Be open minded —You

must be willing to listen

to new ideas.

• Question everything —

You must think about

what you read and

observe.

3

What Are Scientists?

Scientists in this issue

at work.

About the Natural

Inquirer

Scientists report their research in journals,

which are special booklets that enable scientists to share information with one another.

This journal, the Natural Inquirer, was created so that scientists can share their research

with you and other middle school students.

Each article tells you about scientific research

conducted by scientists in the USDA Forest

Service. If you want to know more about the

USDA Forest Service, you can read about it

on the back cover of this journal, or you can

visit the Natural Inquirer Web site at

www.naturalinquirer.usda.gov. 

All of the research in this Natural Inquirer

is concerned with wildland fires. In each article, you will “meet the scientist” who conducted the research. Then you will read

something special about science and about

the natural environment. You will also read

about a specific research project. This is written in the format that scientists use when

they publish their research in journals. Then,

YOU will become the scientist when you

conduct the FACTivity associated with each

article. Don’t forget to look at the glossary

and the special sections highlighted in each

article. These sections give you extra information about wildland fire.

At the end of each section of the article,

you will find a few questions to help you

think about what you have read. These questions are not a test! They should help you to

think more about the research. Your teacher

may use these questions in a class discussion.

Welcome to the Wildland Fire Edition of the

Natural Inquirer !

Wildland fires have been in

the news a lot. Every year, it

seems, we hear about more

frequent and more severe

wildland fires. Wildland fires

are fires that burn in forests,

on prairies, or over other large

natural areas. Wildland fires

may start naturally or they

may be started by human

activity. Wildfires are large,

uncontrolled wildland fires

that usually burn large areas

of land. They are typically

started by lightning or by a

careless human act.

In the past, we thought that

most wildland fires were bad,

and we tried to stop these fires

from burning. We now know

that wildland fire is neither

good or bad, it is simply a natural part of the environment.

Many plants need occasional

fire to reproduce, and fire

offers other benefits to the

natural environment. For

example, when fire burns

decaying branches and

stumps, the nutrients from the

plants are released into the

soil, making them available to

new plants. Without fire, open

environments such as prairies

eventually become covered

with trees. When fires are not

allowed to burn occasionally

in the wildlands, the thick

growth of plants near the

ground level provides a lot of

potential fuel. If a wildfire

then begins to burn, it burns

hotter and faster because of

the extra fuel. Thus, by trying

to eliminate wildland fire in

the past, we have actually

enabled larger fires to burn.

To keep this from happening,

land managers can start small,

controlled fires that burn the

fuel that is close to the ground.

These fires are called managed

fires or prescribed fires. 

This edition of the Natural

Inquirer is all about wildland

fire. You will learn about the

benefits of wildland fire, as

well as some of its dangers.

You will learn what fire scientists are learning about wildland fire. They are learning,

for example, that wildland fire

should not be completely

eliminated from natural environments, but it should be

managed. They are learning

how to predict which weather

conditions most favor a wildfire being started. They are

learning about the relationship between wildland fires

and global warming. They are

learning how to best protect

homes and other buildings

from wildfires. And they are

learning about how wildland

fires can benefit the natural

environment.

Even though wildland fire

can be beneficial to the environment, it is always dangerous. As you have always

heard, you should never play

with matches or with fire. If

you see an uncontrolled fire

burning, no matter where it is,

immediately get away from

the fire, and report the fire to

an adult. Never leave a campfire unattended, and make certain that it is completely put

out before you leave it.

Wildland fires are interesting,

and they are fun to learn

about. As you will see when

you read the articles, all of the

scientists in this journal enjoy

learning about wildland fire.

We hope that you enjoy learning about it too!

5

Is Your Community Firewise?

No forested community is

completely safe from wildfire,

but we can be wise about how

our homes and communities

are designed and built. A

Firewise home and community is one that is designed,

built, and maintained to withstand a wildfire without the

help of the fire department. To

help people create Firewise

homes and communities, the

Firewise Communities program was created. This program teaches people that live

in forested communities how

to keep their homes safe from

wildfires. You can read some

of their tips on page 46 of this

journal, and you can visit

www.firewise.org for more

information.

5

Meet Mr.

Reinhardt: 

I like being a

scientist because 

I get to solve 

hard problems 

for people. I also learn more

about what is true, rather than

what is thought to be true.

Meet Mr. Ottmar: 

I like being a 

scientist because 

I can provide new

knowledge and develop tools

to help forest managers to

become better stewards of the

land.

Thinking About

Science

Science can be

classified into

two very broad

categories.

These categories

Glossary:

forest managers (för est man ij ürs):

Skilled individuals that take care of

natural resources.

stewards (stoo ürds): People that

take care of large areas of land.

astronomers (uh staw no mürs):

Scientists that study the stars, planets, comets, etc.

fire managers (fir man uh jürs):

People whose job it is to prevent or

control wildland fires.

data (da tuh): Facts or figures studied in order to make a conclusion.

sample (sam pul): A part or piece

that shows what the whole group or

thing is like.

analyze (an uh liz): To separate

something into its parts in order to

examine them.

average (av rij): The number determined by dividing the sum of two or

more quantities by the number of

quantities added.

scale (skal): A series of marks along

a line, with regular spaces in

between, used for measuring.

relationship (re la shun ship): When

two or more things are connected in

some fashion.

Let’s Clear the Air:

The Danger of 

Forest Fire

Smoke to

Firefighters

Pronunciation Guide

a as in ape ô as in for

ä as in car u as in use

e as in me ü as in fur

i as in ice oo as in tool

o as in go ng as in sing

Accented syllables are in bold.

7

are called basic science and

applied science. When a scientist conducts basic science, he

or she is working on answering a question that adds to our

knowledge but may not

directly help to solve an immediate problem. Astronomers,

for example, are scientists that

conduct basic science. In the

USDA Forest Service, most of

the research conducted is in

the applied science category.

When a scientist conducts

applied science, he or she is

trying to solve an immediate

problem. In this study, the scientists wanted to measure

some of the health risks from

fighting wildland fires. They

also wanted to find an easy

way for firefighters to determine those risks. In applied

science, the results of research

can be applied to an immediate problem. 

Thinking 

About the

Environment

The natural

environment 

provides

humans and other animals

with what we need to live.

This includes, for example,

air, water, and a temperature

that is neither too hot nor too
for fire managers to estimate

the danger from breathing in

the dangerous chemicals

found in wildland fire smoke. 

Reflection

Section

• What is the

problem the scientists were trying to solve?

• Do you think that this

problem is important? Why

or why not?

Method

The scientists collected data

from two kinds of wildfires.

The first kind is called an initial attack wildfire, and it is

the kind that firefighters are

able to control within hours of

being started. The second kind

is called a project wildfire.

Project wildfires take days,

and even months, to control.

Firefighters at initial attack

wildfires work close to the

fire, but they work for short

periods of time. They are the

emergency crews of firefighting. Firefighters at project

wildfires take more time and

have to develop specific plans

for fighting the fires because

they are so large and difficult

to put out. They usually work

farther away from the actual

fire, but they work for longer

periods of time. 

The scientists gave firefighters special battery-powered

equipment to wear. The equipment included three containers that collected samples of

smoke. The containers hung

on the firefighter’s chest.

When firefighters went to a

8

cold. Sometimes, however,

parts of the natural environment can become dangerous

for humans and other living

things. The danger can be natural, as when a volcano or

flood occurs, or can be caused

by human activity. When

humans pollute the air, for

example, the air might be dangerous to breathe. In this

study, the scientists studied the

danger of the smoke coming

from wildfires to humans.

Wildfires are wildland fires

that can start naturally from

events like lightning, but often

they are caused by careless

human action. When firefighters fight a wildfire, they might

breathe in harmful chemicals

contained in the smoke. You

can see that the natural environment provides support for

humans and other life most of

the time. Sometimes, however,

parts of the natural environment can pose a danger to

humans and other living

things.

Introduction

Smoke from wildland fires

contains hundreds of chemicals. These chemicals can be

gases, liquids, or solid forms.

The chemicals that cause the

most hazard to human health

are carbon monoxide (mä näk

sid) gas (CO), a group of gases

called aldehydes (äl duh hidz),

and tiny particles of solid matter that are small enough to be

breathed in. The effects of

breathing wildland fire smoke

include eye and throat irritation, shortness of breath,

headaches, dizziness, and nausea (nä ze uh). Breathing in

carbon monoxide can also

cause people to become mentally confused. 

When firefighters fight fires,

they are exposed to smoke for

various lengths of time (figures 1 and 2). Some firefighters are sent to a wildfire when

it first starts. These firefighters

are closer to the actual fire

and breathe in a lot of smoke,

but typically only do so for a

short amount of time. Other

firefighters fight fires that

have been burning for at least

a few hours or days. These

firefighters fight the fire for

more hours at a time, but do

not usually get as close to the

flames or smoke. The scientists in this study wanted to

measure the danger smoke

poses to firefighters. They also

wanted to find an easier way

Figures 1 and 2. Firefighters

at a fire.
9

fire, they hung this equipment

on the outside of their firefighting suits. While they were

fighting the fire, the equipment automatically collected

the smoke. The scientists took

the smoke samples to their

laboratories to analyze the

smoke. The scientists were

interested in two measurements. First, they wanted to

know the average amount of

different dangerous chemicals

the firefighters breathed in

during the time that they were

fighting fires. Second, they

wanted to know the maximum amount of dangerous

chemicals that were breathed

in at any one time.

The scientists also asked

people working near the fires

to estimate how much smoke

firefighters were breathing in.

They gave them a scale from 1

to 5, and asked them to assign

a number to the smoke at different times (figure 3).

Reflection

Section

• Why do you

think that the

containers were

hung on the

firefighters’ chests, instead

of on their backs?

• What is the difference

between the average and

the maximum amount of

something? Why do you

think that the scientists

wanted to know both of

these measures?

Findings

The scientists measured the

smoke for 30 days of wildfires. One hundred and twenty-nine firefighters wore the

equipment that collected the

smoke samples (table 1). Over

Figure 3. Classification of how much forest fire smoke was

in the air.

NUMBER SMOKE CONDITIONS

1 None

2 Light

3 Medium

4 Heavy

5 Very heavy

Table 1. Results of smoke samples collections.

Type of Wildfire Number of Days Number of Firefighters

Initial Attack 13 45

Project 17 84

Total for All Fires 30 129

the 30 days, 1,763 samples

were collected by the scientists. (On the average, how

many samples were collected

from each firefighter?)

The scientists discovered

that, except for in some cases,

there was not much danger to

firefighters from breathing

smoke. Firefighters were in

danger from smoke when the

wind was facing them, sending smoke in their direction.

Firefighters were also in danger from smoke when they

spent long periods of time

putting out smoldering

stumps and logs. Initial attack

firefighters were in danger

from smoke when they had to

surround a fire quickly. These

are the emergency firefighters

that try to control a wildfire

shortly after it starts.

Fortunately, these firefighters

do not spend much time in

smoky conditions. This is

because they usually put the

fire out very quickly. The scientists discovered that there is

a close relationship between

the amount of different dangerous chemicals in smoke.

When carbon monoxide levels

rose, so did the levels of aldehydes and the amount of tiny

particles of solid matter being

breathed in (figure 4). 
10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100 110

7

6

5

4

3

2

1

0

Figure 4. When carbon monoxide levels rose, the amount of

particles in the smoke rose also.

Figure 5. No smoke. 

Rating of 1

Figure 6. Light smoke. 

Rating of 2

Figure 7. Medium smoke. 

Rating of 3

Figure 9. Very Heavy smoke.

Rating of 5

Figure 8. Heavy smoke. 

Rating of 4

10

Particulate matter breathed in

(milligrams per cubic meter)

Carbon monoxide concentration

in parts per million (ppm)

What do you think the scientists discovered about people’s ability to estimate the

amount of smoke occurring

near a wildfire? They found

that people working near a

wildfire were able to accurately estimate how smoky the

conditions were. In other

words, when a person gave

the smoke a low rating, there

were not many dangerous

chemicals measured by the

equipment. When a person

gave the smoke a high rating,

the equipment measured a

high level of dangerous chemicals (figures 5-9).
nominate someone to record

the ratings on the blackboard.

For each photograph, record

every student’s rating. Now

count the number of times

each rating was given. For

each photograph, you can

create a bar chart (see example on page 13). Use the form

on page 13 to record the number of ratings for each photograph.

Evaluating the bar charts

should tell you how consistent

you and your classmates are in

your ratings of the amount of

smoke from wildland fire photographs. Would you say that

you are consistent, not consistent, or mixed? What is it

about the bar charts that tells

you that?

Photograph # Rating (1-5)

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

11

12

11

Reflection

Section

• Based on the

results of this

research, do

you think that

there will ever be much

danger for firefighters from

breathing smoke? Why or

why not?

• Why do you think that it is

important to know that

when one dangerous chemical is measured in the

smoke, there are other dangerous chemicals as well?

Implications

Although firefighters do not

usually breathe in dangerous

amounts of smoke, they do so

occasionally. This especially

happens when a wildfire has

just started. Because people

can estimate how smoky the

conditions are, firefighters

should be trained to determine

when the conditions are too

smoky and dangerous. If conditions are too smoky, firefighters should limit the

amount of time they are

breathing the smoke.

Equipment should also be

used that measures the

amount of carbon monoxide

in the smoke. By using equipment to measure the amount

of carbon monoxide in the

smoke, the amount of danger

from many chemicals can be

determined.

Reflection

Section

• What are the

advantages of

training firefighters to estimate the danger from

smoky conditions over

using equipment to measure

the amount of dangerous

chemicals in smoke?

• What are the disadvantages

of having firefighters estimate the danger from

smoky conditions compared to using equipment to

measure the amount of dangerous chemicals in smoke?

FACTivity 

The question

you will answer

in this

FACTivity is:

How consistently can you

and your classmates estimate

the amount of smoke coming

from a wildland fire? The

method you will use to answer

this question is: Examine the

photographs in figures 5-9 of

the article above. Pay particular attention to the amount of

smoke in the photograph and

the rating assigned to each.

Each student will take a piece

of paper and create the form

at the top of the next column.

Next, each student will look

at the photographs on the

next page and rate the

amount of smoke in each one

from 1-5. Write your rating in

the form beside the correct

number for each photograph.

After everyone is finished,

From Reinhardt, T. E. and Ottmar, R. D.

(2000). Smoke exposure at western wildfires. Res. Pap. PNW-RP-525. Portland,

OR: U.S. Department of Agriculture,

Forest Service, Pacific Northwest

Research Station. 72 p.
Photograph #7 Photograph #8 Photograph #9

Photograph #10 Photograph #11 Photograph #12

12

Photograph #1 Photograph #2 Photograph #3

Photograph #4 Photograph #5 Photograph #6
13

Photograph # No. of 1’s No. of 2’s No. of 3’s No. of 4’s No. of 5’s

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

11

12

16

14

12

10

8

6

4

2

1 2 3 4 5

Ratings

4. DON’T stop to get

valuables.

5. Never re-enter a burning

building.

6. Plan a place to meet outside of your home.

7. If your clothing catches

on fire, stop, drop, and roll.

Do not run. Call for help.

Number of ratings given

Photograph 1 1 = No smoke, 5 = Very heavy smoke

Fire Safety Tips

Here are some tips from the

Arkansas Fire Prevention

Commission (kuh mish un) to

help keep you safe from

uncontrolled fires in your

home:

1. Plan two escape routes

out of your home and practice

using them.

2. Be sure you can open all

doors and windows from the

inside.

3. Call the fire department

AFTER you have left the

building.

Example of bar chart
14

When a Japanese submarine

shelled the southern

California coast during

World War II, people were

worried that more attacks

might start forest fires. So the

USDA Forest Service began a

program to make everyone

aware of the dangers of forest fires. They wanted an animal to represent forest fire

prevention and they decided

on a bear. This bear was to

have a short nose, be brown

or black, and have a face that

looked smart and friendly.

They also wanted him to

wear a ranger hat and blue

jeans. They named this bear

“Smokey” after “Smokey

Joe” Martin, a fire chief from

the New York City Fire

Department. 

Until 1950, Smokey was

just a character drawn on

posters asking people to help

prevent forest fires. Then in

1950, someone was careless

with a match, cigarette, or

campfire in the Lincoln

National Forest in southern

New Mexico. This was the

start of a terrible forest fire.

After the fire passed and the

smoke cleared, the only living thing the firefighters saw

was a badly burned bear cub

clinging to a blackened tree.

The little bear was taken to

the ranger station, where

people bandaged his burned

paws and helped him to

become healthy again. They

called this cub “Smokey,”

and he became the first living

symbol of Smokey Bear.

When Smokey’s burns

healed, he was sent to live at

the National Zoo in

Washington, DC. Over the

years, thousands of people

from around the world came

to see Smokey Bear. Smokey

died in 1976, and he is buried

near his original home in

southern New Mexico at

Smokey Bear State Park.

The Story of Smokey Bear
Fighting Fire

with Fire:

Protecting the Homes of

People and Birds

15

Meet Dr. Beyers: 

I like being a scientist

because I never get tired of

asking questions and trying to

answer them. The questions I

like to answer are things like,

“Why do plants and animals

live where they do?” and

“How do human activities

and land management decisions affect animals living in

the wild?” Plus, I get to run

around in the woods and the

scrub and wear jeans all the

time!

Glossary

land management (land man ij ment):

Decisions and actions involving natural

lands to achieve specific purposes.

scrub (skrub): An area with short,

stubby trees or bushes.

mammals (mam uls): Warmblooded

animals that have a backbone; Female

mammals have glands to produce milk

for feeding their young.

ecologist (e käl uh jist): A person who

studies the relationship between living

things and their environment.

habitat (hab uh tat): Environment

where a plant or animal naturally

grows and lives.

threatened (threh tend): Legal term

meaning the existence of the species is

likely to become endangered in the

future.

species (spe sez): Groups of organisms

that resemble one another in appearance, behavior, chemical processes, and

genetic structure.

wildfire (wild fir): An uncontrolled

wildland fire started naturally or by

careless human action.

climate (kli met): The average condition of the weather at a place.

nonnative (nän na tiv): Not naturally

occurring in an area.

adapt (uh dapt): To change so as to fit

new conditions.

randomly (ran dum le): A way of

selecting a smaller number from a

group in such a way that all members

of the group have the same chance of

being selected.

extinction (ik stin(k) shun): No longer

existing.

conserve (kän sürv): To avoid wasteful

or destructive use of something.

consensus (kän sen sus): Agreement of

all or most.

Pronunciation Guide

a as in ape ô as in for

ä as in car u as in use

e as in me ü as in fur

i as in ice oo as in tool

o as in go ng as in sing

Accented syllables are in bold.
16

Meet Dr. Wirtz: 

I like being a scientist

because ever since childhood I

have loved mammals and

birds and the outdoors. By

training to be an ecologist, I

have a career that allows me

to study the things I love most.

I can also work outdoors, and

travel to places like Africa and

Australia.

Thinking

About Science

The natural

world holds

many secrets.

Although scientists study

just about everything you can

think of, there is still a lot to

learn. In this study, the scientists wanted to learn about

the habitat of the California

gnatcatcher, a small grey bird

that lives in a particular area

along the coast of California

(figure 1). This little bird is

listed as threatened by the

U.S. Government. In 1993, a

wildfire burned 10,000

hectares of land. (To figure

out how many acres this is,

multiply 10,000 X 2.47.) The

wildfire killed 330 of the

2,200 pairs of gnatcatchers.

(What percentage of the gnatcatcher pairs were killed?

Divide 330 by 2,200 to find

out.) The scientists wanted to

know how any future fires

would affect the remaining

birds. 

When scientists begin to

study a problem, they always

learn as much as possible

about their subject. They do

this by going to the library,

just like you do when you

write a class paper for school.

The scientists found out that

people do not know very

much about what the gnatcatchers eat and where they

live. As you can see, scientists

learn not just from observing

things and doing experiments,

they also learn by reading and

studying.

Thinking About

the

Environment

Along the

central and

southern pacific

coastline of California, there is

an area of land that has a lot

of different kinds of shrubs

growing on it. Altogether,

these shrubs are called coastal

Figure 1. California gnatcatcher

sage scrub (figure 2). The climate in this area is hot and

dry, and the shrubs usually do

not grow higher than 2

meters. (Calculate how many

feet this is by multiplying 2 X

3.28.) By the end of the summer, the shrubs become dry

and brittle from the hot summer sun, and they often lose

their leaves from the heat. The

southern California coastal

area is a place where people

like to live and work, mainly

because the weather is warm

there all year, and the ocean is

not far away. When people

build houses and businesses

on land, they change the land.

When people build houses and

businesses on land with

coastal sage scrub, they

remove the shrubs and replace

them with buildings, roads

and parking lots, and grass

and other nonnative plants.

This might not seem bad for

people, but it is not good news

to the California gnatcatcher.

This little bird needs coastal

sage scrub to reproduce.

When people change the land,

they almost always affect the

plants and animals that live

there.

Introduction

The California gnatcatcher

is a little bird with a big problem. Its habitat has been

reduced 80 percent by people

that are building homes and

businesses in coastal southern

California. The bird’s habitat

consists of shrubs that can

become very dry and brittle,

especially during the summer.

Wildfires are more likely to
17

occur when shrubs are dry

and brittle. When a wildfire

burns an area of coastal sage

scrub, the gnatcatchers cannot

use the area for about 5 years

(figure 3). They have to live

somewhere else until most of

the shrubs grow back. People

that live and work close to

areas of coastal sage scrub can

also be hurt by wildfires.

Wildfires sometimes damage

or destroy their homes and

businesses. 

Although wildfires cannot

always be prevented, there is a

lot that people can do to

reduce the strength of a fire.

Have you ever heard the term

“fighting fire with fire”?

That’s exactly what people do

to reduce the threat of a wildfire. They purposely set fires

in areas without letting the

fire get too big or out of control. That way, if a wildfire

gets started, it will not have as

much fuel to burn, and people

can more easily put it out. The

scientists in this study wanted

to know how these purposely

set fires, called prescribed (pre

skribd) fires, affect the

California gnatcatcher.

Figure 2. Coastal sage scrub.

Figure 3. Coastal sage scrub still recovering after a fire.

Compare this photograph with the photograph in figure 2.

In the area pictured here, there is not enough scrub for gnatcatchers to live and reproduce.

Because the gnatcatcher is a

threatened species that lives

only in coastal sage scrub

areas, it is important to protect as much of its habitat as

possible.

Reflection

Section

• What question are the scientists trying to

answer?

• Do you think that prescribed burns help or hurt

gnatcatchers? Why or why

not?

Methods

The scientists drew a line on

a map around the area with

coastal sage scrub in southern

California (figure 4). Then, on

the map, they identified smaller areas within the larger area

to study. They wanted to
18

study places throughout the

area of coastal sage scrub, so

they selected areas near the

ocean and farther inland (figure 4). The scientists selected

areas where gnatcatchers were

known to live and areas where

no gnatcatchers had been

living.

As you can see in figure 4,

five areas were studied. Some

of these areas had been recently burned and others had not

been burned. Within each of

the 5 areas, 200 specific points

were randomly identified. At

each point, the type of coastal

sage scrub or other vegetation

was identified and the height

of the vegetation was

recorded. 

Reflection

Section

• Why do you

think that the

scientists only

studied five

areas within the larger area

of coastal sage scrub? Why

would they not study the

entire area?

• Look at figure 4. What

large city is included in the

coastal sage scrub area?

Findings

California gnatcatchers prefer to live in areas that have

more than 50 percent of the

ground covered in coastal sage

scrub. If an area had less than

40 percent of the ground covered in shrubs, gnatcatchers

did not live there. Coastal sage

scrub had to be at least 1

meter high in an area for gnatcatchers to live there. (To find

out how many feet this is,

multiply 1 X 3.28.) If an area

with less vegetation was close

to an area with more vegetation, gnatcatchers would

sometimes go into the area

with less vegetation to look

for food. 

The scientists suspect that

gnatcatchers need areas with

more vegetation because

insects do not live in areas

with less vegetation. Insects

are the gnatcatcher’s main

Fire Facts

Many people build their

homes in areas in or near a forest or other natural area, such

as a prairie or in coastal sage

scrub. When homes are built

in these areas, they are more

likely to be damaged by a

wildfire. Many homeowners

want people that manage the

land to put out all wildfires.

Although putting out wildfires

seems to be good for homeowners, it is not always the

Figure 4. Area where coastal

sage scrub grows (dark

green) and areas studied

(white birds).

best thing for the land. Many

lands need fire to be healthy.

Many plants cannot reproduce

until heat from a fire opens

their buds or cracks their

seeds. Fire helps release needed

minerals in the soil, which are

then used as nutrients by

plants. Fire opens shaded areas

in the forest, allowing sunlight

in and encouraging new

growth. In addition, most animals avoid being burned in a

fire. Fortunately, there is a way

to protect homes and at the

same time get the benefits of

fire. Managers can purposely

set controlled fires every few

years. These fires reduce the

amount of burnable material

available if there is a large

wildfire, making it easier to

put out the wildfire. When

fires are purposely set as part

of land management, the land

gets the benefits of fire and

human communities are

protected. 
19

Figure 5. Coastal sage scrub with buildings nearby.

source of food. After fire

burns an area of coastal sage

scrub, the shrubs are burned

to the ground. The shrubs can

grow back, but it takes them

about 5 years to grow 1 meter

high. California gnatcatchers

cannot live in an area that has

been burned until about 5

years following the fire.

Reflection

Section

• How many

feet are in 1

meter? (Hint:

You can find

out by reading the

“Findings” section.)

• Why do you think that

gnatcatchers cannot live in

an area that has been

burned until about 5 years

after the fire?

Implications

The California gnatcatcher’s

habitat is reduced when people build homes, other buildings, roads, and parking lots

in areas of coastal sage scrub

(figure 5). Once buildings are

built near coastal sage scrub,

people want to reduce the risk

of wildfire to those buildings.

One way to do that is to set

prescribed fires in the coastal

sage scrub areas that are close

to buildings. The fire will burn

most of the fuel away. Then, if

a wildfire does occur in the

coastal sage scrub, it will not

be able to reach any buildings.

Reflection

Section

• Do you think

that the habitat

of the

California gnatcatcher should be conserved? Why or why not?

• How do you think that purposely setting fire in the

natural areas near buildings

protects those buildings

from wildfires?

FACTivity

The question

you will try to

answer with

this FACTivity

is: What should

be done when

the habitat of a threatened

bird is in conflict with the

safety of people’s homes? The

method you will use to try to

answer this question is: Divide

your class into two discussion

groups and one decision

group. Each discussion group

will take one of the following

positions:

Group 1: People’s homes are

much more important than

conserving the habitat of a

bird, even if it is threatened.

Therefore, wildfires must be

controlled by reducing the

amount of fuel available. This

must be done by frequently

burning areas of coastal sage

scrub surrounding people’s

homes. If this burning takes

away a threatened bird’s habitat, that is the way it has to be.

Group 2: When people

build homes in areas that are

likely to have wildfires, they

take the chance that their

homes will be burned by a

wildfire. We should leave

these areas alone. If a wildfire

occurs, we can then go into

the coastal sage scrub areas

and put the fire out. Until

then, we should let nature

take its course.

The two discussion groups

should meet separately for at

least 10-15 minutes to develop

an argument to support their

position. One person should

be appointed the spokesper-
20

When you are sick and go

to the doctor, the doctor

might prescribe medicine or

some other action to help you

to become healthy again.

Prescribed fire (a fire that is

started on purpose) works in a

similar way. But why start a

fire on purpose? Fire is one

way to help restore health to a

forest. If trees are too crowded, if there are too many dead

leaves and branches on the

forest floor, or if insects and

disease have become widespread, the forest may need

help from fire. Land managers

only prescribe fire when the

weather conditions are right.

Long before a fire is lit, prescriptions are made for different types and locations of

forests. The prescription

describes what the condition

of the forest should be after

burning. Factors to consider

are the locations of homes and

other buildings, weather forecasts, wind speed, humidity,

the amount of moisture in the

trees, and the types of trees

and plants. Before fires are

started on purpose, the forest

conditions have to be measured to see if they meet the

prescription for that type of

forest. Burning begins only

when conditions are right. If

the weather conditions change

quickly or the fire does something unexpected, firefighters

reduce the flames or put the

fire out.

son for the group, and another

person should record what the

group members say during

their discussion.

The third group will make

the decisions. This group will

decide which course of action

to take based on the presentations of the other two groups.

While the two discussion

groups are developing their

arguments, the third group

must decide how they will

choose a course of action. Will

they vote and allow the majority to rule? Will they insist on

consensus? Will one person

make the decision for everyone else? After the 15 minutes

has passed, the first two

groups will each present their

argument to the third group.

The decision-making group

will then make a decision, and

explain why and how they

made their decision. The decision-making group may

choose parts of more than one

option when making their

decision.

Note: People often disagree

about the best course of action

to take to solve a problem.

This FACTivity is similar to

the process communities

across the United States take

to decide on a course of

action. Many communities

have locally elected commissions (kuh mish uns) that

serve as the decisionmakers.

What is the name of the body

that makes these kinds of decisions for the United States as a

whole? (Hint: It is made up of

people elected from across the

United States, and it is divided

into two houses.)

From: Beyers, J. L. and Wirtz, W. O. II.

(1997). Vegetative characteristics of

coastal sage scrub sites used by California

gnatcatchers: Implications for management in a fire-prone ecosystem. In:

Proceedings: Fire Effects on Rare and

Endangered Species and Habitats

Conference. Coeur d’ Alene, Idaho:

November 13-15, 1995, 81-89

Fire Facts: Writing a Prescription for Fire
Glossary

ecosystem (e ko sis tem): Community

of plant and animal species interacting with one another and with the

nonliving environment.

prairie (prair e): Large areas of grasslands with fertile soils and few trees.

forage (for ij): Food for animals usually taken by browsing or grazing;

Act of taking such food.

wildfire (wild fir): An uncontrolled

wildland fire started naturally or by

careless human action.

sample (sam pul): Part or piece that

shows what the whole group or thing

is like.

species (spe sez): Groups of organisms that resemble one another in

appearance, behavior, chemical

processes, and genetic structure.

rodent (ro dent): An animal having

sharp front teeth for gnawing.

live-traps (liv traps): Devices used to

trap an animal without harming it.

evolved (e volvd): Developed by

gradual changes.

land managers (land man ij ürs):

Skilled individuals that take care of

natural resources.

Does Wildfire 

Damage the Prairie?

Time Will Tell:

Meet Dr. Ford: 

I like being a scientist

because I love to read, write,

and explore, and I have fun

learning about our planet

Earth and how it works.

Pronunciation Guide

a as in ape ô as in for

ä as in car u as in use

e as in me ü as in fur

i as in ice oo as in tool

o as in go ng as in sing

Accented syllables are in bold.

21

Thinking About

Science

There are

many ways to

investigate a

question or

problem. When

a scientist decides to study a

problem, he or she must make

many decisions. One decision

a natural resource scientist

must make has to do with

time. Over how long a period

should the problem be studied? Should the problem be

studied over an hour’s time?

For 1 week? Or, should the

problem be studied over a

period of years? The scientist

in this study observed the

impact of her experiment on

the natural environment

immediately after the experiment was over. She also

observed the same natural

area 1 year later. Then, she

observed it again after more

than 12 months. Do you think

that the natural area had

changed during the time that

she observed it? Do you think

that her conclusions about the

experiment changed over that

period of time? Why or why

not?
22

Figure 1. A prairie.

Fire Facts

Fire was a normal occurrence

in most plant-based ecosystems in the United States. The

plants in these ecosystems

evolved to resist fire, and

even thrive under the effects

of fire. An example of an

ecosystem that needs fire is

the tallgrass prairie. The tallgrass prairie grew in parts of

Nebraska, Illinois, Iowa, and

Kansas. The tallgrass prairie

is mostly grasses and forbs.

Forbs are low-growing plants

with broad leaves. In the past,

every 5 to 10 years a fire

would naturally occur. These

fires were probably started by

lightning. The fire would kill

the woody plants that had

begun to grow, such as trees,

shrubs, and most vines. These

woody plants, had they

grown, would have shaded

out and killed the grasses and

forbs. When fires are not

allowed to burn in a tallgrass

prairie, woody plants grow

and replace the grasses and

forbs. Land managers purposely set fire to prairie

ecosystems about every 2 or 3

years. They set these fires in

April, so that the grasses will

grow back during the summer

growing season. That way,

the prairie ecosystem will

continue into the future.

Thinking About

the

Environment

One possible

characteristic of

an ecosystem is

the ability to withstand a sudden crisis without changing

very much. This characteristic

is called resilience (re zil

yentz). An example of a

resilient (re zil yent) ecosystem

is a natural sandy beach.

When a storm or a hurricane

hits, the beach may change its

shape by losing or gaining

sand. Overall, however, a

sandy beach is resilient to

storms and does not change

very much in the long run.

Another example is a flood

plain, the flat land area on

either side of a river. When the

flood plain is not disturbed by

human activities, in the long

run it does not change very

much when the river overflows its banks during a flood.

The scientist in this study

wanted to know whether a

prairie is resilient to fire.

Ecosystems are not the only

things that may be resilient to

a sudden crisis. What are

other examples of resilience?

Introduction

Prairies are grasslands that

are often used as forage for

cattle (figure 1). When a wildfire burns across a prairie, the

grass is killed immediately and

there is no forage for cattle.

Because of this, many people

thought that prairies were

changed by fire. The scientist

in this study believed that

prairies are resilient to fire.

She thought that people did

not wait long enough after a

fire had burned to determine

whether the fire had changed

the prairie. The questions the

scientist wanted to answer

are: 1) How does wildfire

change a prairie? 2) How long

does it take a prairie to recover after a wildfire? 3) In addition to immediately killing the

prairie’s plants, does a wildfire

affect the type of animals that

live on the prairie?

Reflection Section

• If you were

thescientist,

how would you

study the

resilience of a

prairie to fire?

• Do you think that prairies

are resilient to fire? Why or

why not?

Method

The scientist studied an area

of prairie in New Mexico that

covered 160 hectares (figure

2). (To find out how many

acres this is, multiply 160 X
23

Albuquerque

Los Alamos

Carlsbad Texas

Oklahoma

Colorado

Longitude

Latitude

Utah

Arizona

30'

30'

30'

30'

30'

36°

37° 108° 107° 109° 106° 105° 104° 103°

35°

34°

33°

32°

Figure 2. Map of New Mexico with lines of latitude and longitude. Latitude consists of imaginary lines around the Earth

from the equator to the poles. Longitude also consists of imaginary lines around the Earth. Each line of longitude circles the

Earth through both the North and South Pole. These lines are

used to identify locations on the Earth. Both latitude and longitude are identified by degrees (°), minutes ('), and seconds

("). The study area for this project was 36°, 31' latitude north,

103° 3' longitude west. See if you can locate where in New

Mexico the scientist conducted her study.

Figure 3. A research assistant

purposely setting fire to an

area of prairie.

Figure 4. Beetles that can be

found living on the prairie.

2.47.) Within this area, the scientist marked off 12 separate

sample areas that covered 2

hectares each. Four of these

areas were purposely burned in

April of 1997 (figure 3). This

was before the prairie grasses

had begun their spring growth.

Four more areas were burned

in July. In July, the grasses

were in the middle of their

growing season. The last four

areas were left unburned. The

scientist used these unburned

areas to compare with the

burned areas. When the scientist burned the areas, she did

not allow the fire to burn more

than the sample area. 

The scientist observed and

measured six things. The six

things she measured were:

1) What percentage of the

ground was covered by prairie

grass, 2) What kind of grasses

were growing in the area, 3)

How many different species

of beetles were living in the

area (figure 4), 4) How many

beetles of each species were

living there, 5) How many different species of rodents were

living in the area (figure 5),

How many rodents of each

species were living there. The

scientist measured these six

things five different times

(table 1).

The scientist used live-traps

to catch the rodents. After she

put a numbered tag on the

rodent’s ear and took body

measurements (such as

weight, color, and sex), she

released the rodent back into

the area. 

Clemson University 

Department of Entomology

Cooperative Extension 

Service.
Period Date

1 March 1997 (Before any areas were burned)

2 April-June 1997 (After the first set of areas were burned)

3 July-October 1997 (After the second set of areas were burned)

4 July-October 1998 (1 year after the second set of areas were burned)

5 October 1999 (Over 2 years after the second set of areas were burned)

Table 1. The dates that the scientist took measurements.

Figure 5. Thirteen-lined ground squirrel, plains harvest mouse, and grasshopper mouse. 

24

Reflection

Section

• Why do you

think that the

scientist put a

numbered tag

on each rodent’s ear before

releasing him or her?

• Why do you think that the

scientist took measurements

after 1 year and after 2

years?

Findings

Before any areas were

burned, the scientist found

that 10 species of beetles made

up 90 percent of the beetles

living there. Overall, however,

there were 115 species of beetles living in the areas. (How

many beetle species made up

the last 10 percent?) Although

the scientist found nine total

species of rodents living in the

areas, most of the rodents

were northern grasshopper

mice, thirteen-lined ground

squirrels, or plains harvest

mice (figure 5). Each of the 12

areas had about the same

number and variety of beetles

and rodents.

Immediately after the April

fires, the grass cover in the

burned areas was killed. By

July, however, the grass in

those areas had grown back

and looked like the grass in

unburned areas. The areas

that were burned in July also

lost their grass cover after the

fire. For 2 years following the

fire, there was still much less

grass cover in those areas than

in unburned areas. However,

by 2.5 years after the fire,

those areas once again looked

like unburned areas. 

Immediately after the fires,

the scientist noted that the

number and variety of rodents

had been reduced. By 1.5

years after the fires, however,

the number and variety of

rodents was similar to the

unburned areas. Up to 1.5

years following the fires, the

number of beetles increased.

By 2.5 years following the

fires, the number and variety

of beetles was the same as the

unburned areas.

Reflection

Section

• By 2.5 years

after the fires,

what had happened to the

areas of prairie that had

been burned?

• What happened to the areas

immediately after the fires? 

Bill Gannon Bill Gannon
25

• Why do you think that vegetation in the areas that

were burned before the

growing season regrew

faster than vegetation in the

areas burned during the

growing season?

Implications

The judgments that people

make about something may

depend upon the length of

time between the event and

their judgment about it. This

is the case for judging whether

prairies are resilient to fire.

Immediately after a fire, the

prairie looks very different. Its

grasses are gone and there are

few rodents living there. After

2.5 years, the prairie has

recovered so much that a person can hardly tell that a fire

ever occurred. If a person’s

timeframe for judging

resilience is a few months, the

prairie is not resilient to fire. If

a person’s timeframe for judging resilience is a few years,

the prairie is resilient to fire.

Since wildfires are a natural

part of what happens on a

prairie, it is no surprise that

over time the prairie is

resilient to fire. Think about

your own judgments. When

you have an argument with a

friend or you make a lower

grade than you expected, you

immediately judge the event

one way. Later, after you have

had time to think about it,

your judgment may change.

Thus, when making a judgment about an event, people

should always remember that

the judgment may change,

depending on how long after

the event it is made.

Reflection

Section

• Are your fingernails resilient

to breakage?

How do you

know? Do they seem

resilient immediately after

being broken? 

• How are broken fingernails

like a prairie that has been

burned by a wildfire? How

are they different?

Discovery

FACTivity

The question

you will answer

through this

FACTivity is:

What are some

similarities and differences in

examples of resilience? The

method you will use to answer

this question is: Divide your

classroom into three or four

groups. Each group will take

10 minutes to observe examples of resilience in your classroom and outside your classroom window. For example,

remember that your fingernails are resilient to breakage.

Another example might be the

grass outside, which is

resilient to being cut. In each

case, estimate the amount of

time it takes for the resilience

to show, or for the thing to

appear as it did before the

sudden change occurred.

Record your observations

using the form on the next

page.

Now, compare the lists that

each group developed. What

are the similarities between all

of the resilient objects? How

are they different? Compare

the amount of time it takes for

the resilient items to show

resilience. What does this

exercise tell you about the

characteristic of resilience? 

For more information about

fire resilience in Yellowstone

National Park, visit www.discovery.com/stories/nature/yellowstone/yellowstone.html.

From Ford, P. L. (2001). Scale, ecosystem

resilience, and fire in shortgrass steppe.

Pp. 447-456. In: Ecosystems and

Sustainable Development III. C.A.

Brebbia, Y. Villacampa, and J-L Uso

(eds.). Series: Advances in Ecological

Sciences, Vol 10. WITPress Southampton,

Boston. 824 pp.
26

Object Sudden change event Time needed for resilience 

to show

Sometimes people want to

burn trash or other debris

(duh bre) in the out of doors.

It is important to be careful

when burning debris. If such

fires get out of control, a

wildland fire may result and

homes may be damaged or

destroyed. Local governments may have restrictions

on when or if trash and

debris can be burned outdoors. Only adults should

burn trash or other debris.

Before the adults in your

household start any outdoor

fires, they should check with

their local government. If an

outdoor fire is allowed, here

are tips for safe outdoor

burning:

1. Never burn trash or

debris on dry, windy days.

2. Check to see if weather

changes are expected, especially if windy conditions are

likely to occur. 

3. Before burning, clear the

area around the place where

the fire will be, up to 5 feet,

of any burnable materials,

such as leaves and sticks.

Larger fires will require larger areas to be cleared out.

4. Stay with all outdoor

fires until they are completely

put out.

5. Never attempt to burn

aerosol cans. Heated cans

will explode and may cause

human injury.

Fire Safety Tips from Smokey and His Friends at the Texas Forest Service

Form for Recording Resilience.
Who Gives a Hoot?

Determining

the Value of

Owl Habitat

27

Glossary

endangered species (n dan jürd spe

shez): Wild plants or animals with so

few individual survivors that the

species could become extinct in the

area where it naturally lives.

economic (e ko nom ik): Having to do

with the management of money in a

home, business, or government.

psychology (si kôl uh je): The science

that studies the ways that people think

and the reasons for their actions.

sociology (so se ôl uh je): The study of

people living together in groups.

economics (e ko nom iks): The study

of the way that goods and wealth are

produced, distributed, and used.

conservation (kän sür va shun): The

care and protection of natural

resources such as forests and water.

mammals (mam uls): Warm-blooded

animals that have a backbone; female

mammals have glands to produce milk

for feeding their young.

old-growth forests (ôld groth fôr ests):

Forests that contain trees that are hundreds or sometimes thousands of years

old.

wildfire (wild fir): An uncontrolled

wildland fire started naturally or by

careless human action.

forest managers (för est män ij ürs):

Skilled individuals that take care of

natural resources.

vegetation (vej uh ta shun): Plant life.

represent (rep re zent): To be an example of.

Pronunciation Guide

a as in ape ô as in for

ä as in car u as in use

e as in me ü as in fur

i as in ice oo as in tool

o as in go ng as in sing

Accented syllables are in bold.
28

Meet Dr. Loomis: 

I like being a scientist

because I like solving puzzles

about human behavior. I am

interested in how much people

value clean air and water, and

protecting the environment

for things like hiking and as

homes for endangered

species. People cannot buy

resources like clean air in

stores, so it is hard to put a

price tag on them. As a scientist, I play detective to discover these values by asking

people questions. 

Meet Dr. Armando GonzálezCabán: 

I like being a scientist

because it is fun to play detective and try to understand

how people make economic

decisions about the natural

environment. I discover how

people feel about the environment by asking them questions. As a scientist, I get to

travel to interesting places all

over the world, including

Chile, Peru, Mexico, Spain,

Russia, Portugal, and Ghana!

Thinking About

Science

When people

think about science, they usually think about

topics like biology, chemistry, and astronomy. These topics are grouped

into a category of science that

deals with physical aspects of

all life. There is another category of science that includes

topics that deal with human

behavior, such as psychology,

sociology, or history. You

study these kind of topics in

Dr. Loomis

Dr. González-Cabán and

son Omar

Social Studies class. Scientists

call these kind of topics social

sciences. In this study, the scientists investigated the economic behavior of people.

Economics is a social science

built on the idea that people

spend money on things that

are important to them. The

scientists asked people if they

would be willing to spend

money on environmental conservation. By doing this study,

the scientists gained a better

understanding of how important the environment is to different people.

Thinking 

About the

Environment

Have you ever

seen Mt.

McKinley (also

called Denali [duh nä le]) in

Alaska? Have you ever seen

Yellowstone National Park in

Fire Facts: Forest Fuels

Within a forest, forest fire

fuels are not all the same.

They sit in layers, kind of like

a three-layer cake. Ground

fuels are found beneath the

surface of the soil, and

include materials like tree

roots and decaying matter.

Surface fuels are found at the

top of the soil level, and

include grasses, fallen needles

and leaves, decaying wood,

and other vegetation. The top

layer of fuels is above the level

of the soil and includes

branches, dead trees, and

treetops (called crowns).

When a fire begins to burn the

top layer of fuels, it can

spread quickly. When you see

a photograph of a large wildfire with flames in the crowns

of trees, that kind of fire is

called a crown fire. Prescribed

fires, which are strictly controlled, burn only the surface

fuels. Prescribed fires leave

the large trees standing and

unharmed.
29

Wyoming? How about the

Amazon River in Brazil or the

Sahara Desert in Africa? You

might not have ever seen any

of these natural places, but

you still might think they are

valuable. You might think

they are valuable because you

would like to visit them one

day. Or maybe you think they

are valuable because they provide homes for wildlife. You

might not think they are valuable at all. Natural areas have

a lot of different kinds of

value to humans. Some people

might think that forests are

valuable because they provide

wood for building homes, or

Figure 1. Northern spotted

owl.

Figure 2. Old-growth pine forest that provides habitat for

the northern spotted owl.

Figure 3. The Pacific Northwest of the United States.

because they provide homes

for birds and mammals. As

you can see, people might

think the environment is valuable for a lot of reasons. 

Introduction

The northern spotted owl is

an endangered species that

needs old-growth forests in

the Pacific Northwest to live

(figures 1, 2, and 3).

Unfortunately, old-growth

forests, like all forests, may

catch fire and be damaged or

destroyed. Scientists estimate

that over a 100-year period

there is a 70 percent chance of

a large wildfire burning a forest so that northern spotted

owls can no longer live there.

(What does it mean to say that

there is a 70 percent chance of

something happening?) There

are many things forest managers can do to reduce the risk

of a large forest fire. One of

the best ways is to use what

managers call prescribed (pre

skribd) fire. These are small

fires that burn the lower forest

vegetation but leave the large

trees standing. Prescribed fires

are purposely started and are

strictly controlled by forest

managers.

By purposely burning the

vegetation that grows near the
30

ground, the total amount of

wood fuel is reduced. That

way, the old trees that the

owls need are left standing

and the area is better protected from large fires.

Unfortunately, prescribed fires

cost a lot of money. As you

can see, this can be a big problem. If managers leave the oldgrowth forests as they are,

there is a risk of a large forest

fire destroying the owls’ habitat. The owls would have no

place to live. Managers could

conduct prescribed fires if

they had money. The scientists

in this study wanted to know

whether people like you and

your family and friends value

the endangered owl’s habitat

enough to support spending

more of our tax money on

prescribed fires.

Reflection

Section

• What is the

question the scientists are trying to answer?

• Do you think that it is

important to protect the

habitat of an endangered

species like the northern

spotted owl? Why or why

not?

Methods

The scientists designed

information that explained

how the risk of fire could be

reduced in old- growth

forests. Then, the scientists

developed information that

they hoped would help people

think about the reasons they

might value old-growth

forests (see “Thinking About

the Environment,” above).

For example, they asked people to think about the beauty

of the forest, the use of the

forest for wood products such

as furniture, and the forest as

a home for wildlife. The scientists asked people if they

would pay money to reduce

the risk of a large wildfire in

old-growth forests. 

The scientists put the information and the questions into

a booklet and sent the booklet

to a random sample of people

in California and New

England (figure 4). When the

scientists picked their random

sample, it means that all of the

people living in California and

New England had an equal

chance of being selected to

receive the information.

However, only a small perAlthough Smokey wants

you to prevent wildfires, he

also wants you to prevent

uncontrolled fires in your

home. Every year, almost

100,000 fires are started by

kids. Here are some tips to

help you prevent uncontrolled fires in your home:

1. Do not play with

lighters, matches, or candles. 

2. Remind adults to turn

pot handles toward the center of the stove. Pot handles

should never hang over the

edge where someone could

bump them and knock them

off of the stove.

3. Never put anything over

a lamp, like clothes or a blanket, not even when you are

playing.

4. Don’t stand too close to

a fireplace or a wood stove. 

5. Ask adults to install

smoke alarms, if you do not

have them, in your house.

6. Remind the adults in

your household to change

smoke alarm batteries every

spring and fall. 

Fire Safety Tips from Smokey and His Friends at the United States Fire Administration!

7. Don’t play with electrical cords.

8. Never stick anything

into an electrical socket

except an electrical plug.

9. Turn off electrical equipment when you are finished

using it.
31

Figure 4. The State of

California and the area of

New England.

80

70

60

50

40

30

20

10

Mean Median

People in

California

Mean Median

People in

New England

78.69

68.64

45.70

36.37

Figure 5. Amount people in California and New England

are willing to pay in dollars per household to reduce wildfires in old-growth forests.

1

The mean is the average, the quantity

that is determined by dividing the sum of

two or more quantities by the number of

quantities added. The median is the number halfway between the smallest and the

largest. For example, take the numbers 2,

5, 8, 26, 27, 30, and 50. The average is

21.14, and the median is 26.

centage of the total number of

people living in the areas

received the booklet. The people that received the booklet

were assumed to represent

everyone in California and

New England. You can do the

same thing with a bag of

M&Ms® candy. If you shake

the bag right before you pick

out an M&M®, and you pick

five M&Ms® (shaking the bag

in between), you can assume

that the five pieces closely represent the number and proportion of colors in the rest of

the bag of candy. 

Findings

Once the scientists had collected the responses from their

sample, they calculated how

much money people said they

would be willing to pay to

reduce the risk of a large wildfire in old- growth forests.

From all of the responses, the

scientists calculated the mean

(or average) and the median

amount that people said they

would pay (figure 5). (What is

the difference between the

mean and the median? 1

)

[When you see a small number

following a word as you see it

here, that means that further

information is provided at the

bottom of the page. Look for

the small number at the bottom of the page for more

information about the mean

and median!]

In the calculation above, the

scientists did not include the

responses of people that did

not respond to their questions.

The scientists assumed that

the people that did not

respond would not be willing

to pay anything. Therefore,

the average and median

amounts that they used were

lower than the values in figure

5. The scientists took the

lower average amount and

multiplied it by the number of

people living in each area.

Then, they divided the total

amount by the number of

hectares of protected oldgrowth forest in California

and Oregon. By doing this,

they were able to estimate

how much money people living in California and New

England would be willing to

pay per hectare to reduce the

risk of wildfire in California

and Oregon (table 1).
Questionnaire Example for Each Item

I am a boy_____ girl_____ I Am Willing To Pay

This Amount

Item 1:

Item 2:

Item 3:

Item 4:

Item 5:

32

Reflection

Section

• Why do you

think that people in California

are willing to

pay more money to reduce

fire risk in California and

Oregon old-growth forests

than people in New

England?

• Look at table 1. From this

table, can you tell how

many hectares equal 1 acre?

How many would you say

that it is?

Implications

Using the amounts calculated from the responses to their

questions, the scientists concluded that people in

California and New England

place a high value on protecting old-growth forests for

northern spotted owl habitat.

This study shows that oldgrowth forests are important

for many reasons, including

providing habitats for endangered species such as the

northern spotted owl. In the

future, people that make decisions about whether to pay for

Amount People Amount per Acre

Are Willing To (Multiply the per

Pay Per Hectare hectare amount 

by 2.47)

People in California $386 $953.42

People in New England $128 $316.16

Table 1. Average amount people are willing to pay to reduce

the risk of wildfire in old growth forests.

a prescribed fire may want to

consider many different kinds

of values, including the value

of providing habitat for

endangered species.

Reflection

Section

• Are you surprised that people in New

England are

willing to pay money to

protect owl habitat that is

located across the country

in California and Oregon?

Why? 

• Do you think that people

that make decisions about

using tax money for prescribed fires should consider values like providing

habitat for endangered

species? Why or why not?

FACTivity

In this

FACTivity, you

will answer the

questions: What

is the value of a

favorite possession? Is there

just one value, or is the value

different for different people?

Why might different people

place different values on an

item? To answer these questions, you will follow this

method: Select five classmates

to bring a favorite personal

possession to class. It could be

something like a stuffed animal or a model car. For each

of the five items, construct a

survey using the form below

as a guide. Make one copy of

the survey for each member of

the class. Each class member
Example of Results: 15 Average Amounts

Overall Average Girls’ Average Boys’ Average

Amount Amount Amount

Item 1:

Item 2:

Item 3:

Item 4:

Item 5:

33

will write in the maximum

amount they would be willing

to pay to purchase each item.

Try to be realistic, as if you

really had a chance to purchase the item (but you do not

really have that chance!). A

class member cannot submit

an amount for their own item. 

Collect all of the surveys

and calculate the average

amount the class is willing to

pay for each item. To calculate

the average, add all of the

amounts and divide the total

by the number of classmates

participating in the bidding

for that item. Calculate the

average amount that the girls

are willing to pay for each

item. Then, calculate the average amount that the boys are

willing to pay for each item.

You will have 15 average

amounts, 3 amounts for each

item. (See the example below.)

Hold a discussion in your

class on the average value of

each item. Are the values different for boys and girls? Why

do you think this is? Would

the person that owns the item

be willing to sell his or her

item for the average amount?

Why or why not? As a class,

discuss what this FACTivity

illustrates about the value of

an item. What are the similarities and differences between

bidding on a classmate’s

favorite item and being willing

to pay a certain amount to

protect endangered species

habitat?

From: Loomis, J. B. and González-Cabán

(1997). Comparing the economic value of

reducing fire risk to spotted owl habitat in

California and Oregon. Forest Science,

43(4): 473-482.
Smoke and

Mirrors:

Detecting the Amount of

Gases in Wildland Fire Smoke

Glossary

ecosystem (e ko sis tem): Community

of plant and animal species interacting

with one another and with the non-living environment.

gaseous emissions (gash us e mish

ens): Things discharged in the form of

gas.

troposphere (trop uh sfer): The part of

the atmosphere from Earth’s surface

up to about 6 miles.

vegetation (vej uh ta shun): Plant life.

molecules (môl uh kyools): Smallest

particles of a substance. Consist of one

or more atoms.

compounds (käm pownds): Chemical

substances formed from two or more

elements.

duct (dukt): A tube or a channel

through which a gas or liquid moves.

plume (plum): Something that is

shaped like a large, fluffy feather.

sample (sam pul): Part or piece that

shows what the whole group or thing

is like.

simulated (sim yoo lat ed): Created

the appearance or effect of something

for purposes of evaluation.

upwind (up wind): The direction from

which the wind is blowing.

34

Pronunciation Guide

a as in ape ô as in for

ä as in car u as in use

e as in me ü as in fur

i as in ice oo as in tool

o as in go ng as in sing

Accented syllables are in bold.
Meet Dr. Yokelson: 

I like being a scientist

because in my job as a scientist

at least one interesting thing

happens almost every day.

Meet Dr. Ward: 

I like being a scientist

because every day brings something new. Being a fire scientist

is important. I study questions

about the danger of fire smoke

to human health, whether forest fires contribute to global

warming, and how to use

small fires to protect society

from big fires. The answer to

one question often leads to

many other questions. 

Meet Dr. Griffith: 

I like being a scientist

because I am curious about

what makes the world around

Dr. Yokelson Dr. Ward Dr. Griffith Dr. Susott

Dr. Babbitt Dr. Wade

Dr. Bertschi with 

African teens Dr. Hao

35

me work the way it does. I

enjoy developing instruments

so that I can make careful

measurements in our atmosphere. These measurements

help me to solve problems.

Being a scientist is a challenge,

and it is very satisfying when

you can help people solve

problems.

Meet Dr. Susott: 

I like being a scientist

because I get to work in interesting places with other scientists on problems of

worldwide importance.

Meet Dr. Babbitt: 

I like being a fire scientist

because big fires are almost

always exciting.

Meet Dr. Wade: 

I like being a scientist

because I get to investigate

wildland fire. Wildland fire is

one of nature’s most awesome

forces. Through research I

learn how it can be harnessed

to improve ecosystem health.

Meet Dr. Bertschi: 

I like being a scientist

because doing research is fun.

Sometimes I get to go to interesting places to discover new

things about the environment.

I also like to tell others what I

have discovered, and we get to

share and discuss our ideas.

Meet Dr. Hao: 

I like being a scientist

because I want to understand

the impact of human activities

on the global environment.
Thinking About

Science

Scientists

often work with

other scientists

on their

research projects. This is similar to what

you do when you work with

other students on a class project. In this study, scientists

from the University of

Montana, the USDA Forest

Service, and the University of

Wollongong in Australia

worked together to study the

gaseous emissions of forest

fires. What are the advantages

of working with others when

you are trying to learn something new? What are the disadvantages?

Thinking 

About the

Environment

You have

probably heard

a lot about

global warming. Global

warming is the gradual warming of the Earth. Some scientists believe that it will take

decades or more to prove that

global warming is or is not

occurring. Other scientists

believe that there is enough

evidence now to claim that

global warming exists. Global

warming occurs when too

much heat is trapped in the

troposphere by certain kinds

of gases. These gases are commonly called greenhouse

gases. Some warming of the

troposphere is necessary

because the Earth would

freeze without it. When greenhouse gases escape from Earth

and are trapped in the troposphere, the heat is reflected

back to Earth. One of the

things that might cause greenhouse gases to escape into the

troposphere is forest fires. The

scientists in this study wanted

to know the amount of greenhouse gases escaping to the

troposphere during forest

fires.

Introduction

Some kinds of forest fires

can be beneficial to the natural environment and to people.

Fire is a normal event in the

natural environment. Some

types of vegetation need fire

to reproduce, and fire can help

prepare the soil for new plant

growth. Fires are sometimes

purposely used by people to

clear leftover trees and vegetation from an area after large

trees have been cut for human

use. Fires are also used to clear

land of trees when the trees

are not useful for lumber or

other wood products. Forest

fires also have some disadvantages. If they are not controlled, they might destroy

homes and other buildings.

Fire also produces gaseous

emissions, some of which

might contribute to global

warming. The scientists in this

study wanted to test the

smoke that comes from forest

fires to discover the amount of

greenhouse gases going into

the troposphere.

Reflection

Section

• What is the

question the scientists are trying to answer?

• If you were the scientist,

how would you test the

smoke coming from a forest

fire?

Methods

The scientists built a special

box to collect and measure the

gases coming from forest fires.

They put an instrument, called

an infrared (in fruh red) spectrometer (spek trôm uh tür),

into the box. An infrared spectrometer can identify what

kind of molecules and compounds are in the smoke. It

does this by shining infrared

light into the smoke (figure 1).

Different kinds of molecules

react in different ways to the

light. The spectrometer measures and records the reaction

of the molecules and compounds, and from these measurements the scientists can

identify the different kinds of

molecules and compounds.

They put the spectrometer in

an airplane (figures 2 and 3). 

To collect the smoke, they

built a duct in the front of the

plane, leading from the outside to the inside, and connected it to the spectrometer

in the box. They also built a

duct in the back of the plane,

leading from the box to the

outside. They put valves in the

ducts so that they could control the air flow (figure 4). The

scientists then flew the plane

over three forest fires burning

36
in North Carolina (figure 5).

The scientists collected smoke

by opening the duct valves in

both the front and back of the

plane. Then they flew into the

smoke plume. While they

were in the smoke plume, they

closed both of the valves (figure 6). In this way, the scientists collected samples of the

smoke from the forest fire.

The scientists flew the plane

back and forth for many

hours. They were able to collect many samples of the forest fire smoke. 

Radio Waves Microwaves Gamma-rays X-rays Ultra-violet Infra-red Visible Light

10-11 10-9 10-7 10-5 10-3 10-1 10310

short

wavelength

long

wavelength wavelength (cm)

Figure 1. Electromagnetic spectrum, showing the area of

visible light and the light waves outside of the visible spectrum. Note the location of infrared light waves.

Figure 2. USDA Forest Service Air King

90. The smoke intake is visible in the side

cockpit window. The pilot sat on the

other side of the cockpit.

Figure 3. The spectrometer before it was placed into the 

airplane. 

Figure 4. Example of the duct system showing

how forest fire smoke was moved through the

spectrometer as the airplane flew through forest fire smoke.

Figure 5. North Carolina, on

the east coast of the United

States.

37
Flow of Smoke Flow of Smoke

valve valve

Figure 6. The flow of the smoke was regulated by valves.

The scientists used the spectrometer to measure the

amount of certain greenhouse

gases contained in the smoke.

They measured formaldehyde

(fôr mowl duh hid), acetic (uh

set ik) acid, and methanol

(meh than ôl). These three

gases contribute to global

warming by helping to create

the greenhouse gas ozone

(O3). In the past, the scientists

had simulated forest fire

smoke in their laboratory.

They had already measured

the amount of these gases in

the laboratory smoke as in the

smoke from the actual forest

fires. Then, they compared the

amount of gases in both kinds

of smoke. 

Reflection

Section

• Why do you

think it is

important to

know how

much greenhouse gases are

contained in the smoke

from forest fires? (Hint:

Where does the smoke from

these fires go?)

• Why do you think that the

scientists compared the laboratory smoke with the

actual smoke from forest

fires?

Results

The scientists found that the

amounts of formaldehyde,

acetic acid, and methanol

from the forest fires were similar to the amounts of these

gases found in the laboratory

smoke. Then, the scientists

took all of their measurements

and compared them with the

amount of these gases other

scientists had found in other

research studies. The scientists

in this study found greater

amounts of the three types of

gases than other scientists had

found. 

Fire Facts

Fires need fuel, heat, and

oxygen to begin burning and

continue burning. Although

air usually contains about 21

percent oxygen, fire requires

air with only 16 percent oxygen to burn. Wildland fire

fuels are materials such as

green plants, tree branches,

and other burnable materials.

When fuel burns, it reacts

with the oxygen in the air,

releasing heat and creating

gases, smoke, and particles.

This process is known as oxidation (ox uh da shun). Some

of the gases created during

oxidation may contribute to

global warming. Close to

Earth, the gases and particles

in smoke can cause dangers to

people’s health. 

38
Reflection

Section

• Why do you

think the scientists wanted to

know how the

actual forest fire smoke

compared with the smoke

they created in the laboratory? What would be the

advantage of being able to

create smoke in the laboratory that is similar to actual

forest fire smoke?

• Why do you think it is

important to compare current research results with

earlier research results?

Implications

When formaldehyde, acetic

acid, and methanol combine

with other gases in the troposphere, ozone is formed. Ozone

increases the possibility of

global warming (See

“Thinking About the

Environment,” above).

Previous research had indicated that these three gases are

not present in large amounts

in forest fire smoke. However,

the scientists in this study

found that there are larger

amounts of these gases in

smoke than scientists had

thought before. If the results

from future studies agree with

these results, forest fires may

be become known as another

source of gases that contribute

to global warming. 

Reflection

Section

• Do you think

that more studies should be

done on this

topic? Why or why not?

FACTivity

In this

FACTivity, each

student will

answer the

question: What

barriers might

you face if you had to quickly

escape from a fire in your

home? The method you will

use to answer this question is:

Each student will think about

a fire occurring in the kitchen

of their home. This is where

many home fires start. When

you learn about the fire, you

are in your bedroom. What

steps will you take to escape

from your home? Get into

groups of four students and

discuss what you would do.

Also discuss what you might

do in advance of a fire, such as

decide as a family where you

will meet outside if a fire

occurs, or where you should

keep fire extinguishers in your

home. As a class, make a list

of the questions and barriers

that you would face as you

escape a fire in your home.

Examples include whether to

grab your favorite possession,

or whether you would have to

escape from a window. As a

class, discuss the steps you

would take. Develop five tips

for escaping a fire and post

them in your classroom. 

39

Fire Safety Tips

Smoke from either wildland fires or uncontrolled

home fires is very dangerous.

The smoke from these fires

poses a serious risk to human

health and safety. If there is a

fire in your home and smoke

is surrounding you, stay as

close to the floor as possible

as you leave the house. Do

not go toward the smoke,

and use an escape route away

from the smoke. Cover your

nose and mouth with a damp

cloth if possible. If you are

outside near a wildfire or

other fire, stay upwind of the

fire, away from the smoke

and the fire. Remember,

smoke poses a serious danger

to your health and safety –

stay away from it!
40

Another

FACTivity

The question

you will answer

with this

FACTivity is:

How do mirrors

affect the distance light waves

travel to reach an object? The

method you will use to answer

this question is: Get a shoe

box, and two inexpensive mirrors, about 3.5 inches X 4

inches each. Tape the mirrors

to one side of each end, as

shown in the illustration

below. Poke a small hole on

one end where there is no mirror. On the other end, poke

five holes. Turn the lights off

so that the room is dark.

Using a laser pointer (used for

presentations), shine the

pointer from the outside

through the one hole. WARNING: Do NOT point the laser

at any people! First, point the

beam directly at one of the

five holes, trying to get the

beam to shine though the

hole. One of your classmates

can hold a piece of black

paper about 1 foot from the

outside of the opposite hole to

make it easier to see the beam.

Now using the mirrors, try to

get the beam to come out of

each of the five holes. If you

can get dry ice (ask at your

grocery store), line the shoe

box with aluminum foil. Place

the dry ice in the bottom of

the box and cover the box

with a piece of clear plastic or

plexiglass. The dry ice will

enable you to see the beam

inside of the shoe box.

WARNING: Have your

teacher or an adult handle the

dry ice.

Estimate how long the

direct beam of light is between

holes. You can use a ruler to

measure the approximate distance. Now use the ruler to

estimate how long the reflected beam is between holes.

What happens to the length of

the light beam when mirrors

are used?

When using an infrared

spectrometer, the infrared

light causes molecules in the

smoke to vibrate. The longer

the beam of light, the better

able scientists are to use the

sample of smoke to identify

chemicals. This is because a

longer light beam will create

more opportunity for vibration of the smoke molecules.

This gives the scientists more

information. The infrared

spectrometer in this study

caused the infrared light beam

to travel back and forth 120

times! The spectrometer was

only 0.8 meter long (to find

out how many feet this is,

multiply 0.8 X 3.28). How

long was the light beam after

it traveled back and forth 120

times? Now you know why

the infrared spectrometer is

built with mirrors. 

From Yokelson, R. J., Goode, J. G., Ward,

D. E., Susott, R. A., Babbitt, R. E., Wade,

D. D., Bertschi, D. W. T., and Hao, W. M.

(1999). Emissions of formaldehyde, acetic

acid, methanol, and other trace gases

from biomass fires in North Carolina

measured by airborne Fourier transform

infrared spectroscopy. Journal of

Geophysical Research, 104(D23): 30,109-

30,125.

Black paper Mirror

Mirror

Laser

pointer
Liar, Liar,

House on Fire!

The Relationship Between

Trees, Wildland Fire, and

Damage to Homes

Glossary

ignition (ig ni shun): The act of setting

on fire or catching on fire.

forest managers (för est män ij ürs):

Skilled individuals that take care of

natural resources.

endangered (en dan jürd): Legal term

referring to a species whose existence

is in danger.

decompose (de käm poz): To rot or

decay.

combustible (käm bus tuh bul):

Capable of catching fire and burning.

simulate (sim yoo lat): To create the

appearance or effect of something for

purposes of evaluation.

downwind (down wind): In the direction toward which the wind is blowing.

case studies (kas stuh des): Particular

events or stories used as a learning

tool.

firebrands (fir brands): Burning

embers that fly out of intense fires.

intense (in tens): Very strong or great.

nonflammable (non fläm uh bül): Not

easily set on fire.

data (da tuh): Facts or figures studied

in order to make a conclusion.

landscape plan (land scap plan): A

drawn plan to make a piece of ground

more attractive by adding trees,

plants, shrubs, and flowers.

41

Pronunciation Guide

a as in ape ô as in for

ä as in car u as in use

e as in me ü as in fur

i as in ice oo as in tool

o as in go ng as in sing

Accented syllables are in bold.
Meet Jack Cohen: 

I like being a scientist

because I am curious about

nature and I like to ask questions. It’s great to have a job

that pays me to find out how

things happen. As a fire scientist, I can explore my lifelong

interest in fire. I use my understanding of how fires burn to

help solve problems with fire

in wildlands. Solving problems with wildland fire helps

people to find ways to live in

harmony with fire.

Thinking About

Science

Scientists are

like detectives

because they

solve mysteries.

Like detectives,

scientists sometimes follow

many different clues and

determine if all of the clues

lead them to the same conclusion. When a detective follows

a clue, he or she plans in

advance how that clue will be

Thinking

About the

Environment

Sometimes

things happen

in the environment that people call natural

disasters. A natural disaster is

a natural disturbance that

people judge to be harmful.

When injury or harm does not

occur, these natural events are

recognized as normal environmental events that happen at a

large scale. Examples include

floods, avalanches, and wildfires. Wildfires are different

than floods and avalanches in

one important way. Floods

and avalanches consist of a

mass, such as water or snow,

which moves and completely

covers everything in its path.

Fire does not move in this

followed. Scientists also develop plans to solve problems.

Their plans are called methods. In this study, the scientist

used three methods to find out

under which conditions houses might catch fire from forest

wildfires. Then the scientist

compared the methods to see

if all three of the methods (or

clues) led him to the same conclusion. Can you think of a

time when you do the same

thing? Think about the latest

movie hit. To determine if the

movie is good, you might ask

your friends if they liked the

movie (clue #1); you might

read about the movie in a

magazine, newspaper, or on

the Web (clue #2); and you

might see the movie yourself

(clue #3). When you do this,

you are like a scientist!

Fire Facts

For a fire to burn, it needs

fuel, heat, and oxygen. When

forest managers want to control forest fires, they try to

reduce or eliminate the

amount of fuel, heat, or oxygen that is feeding the fire.

For a wildland fire, fuel consists of burnable material

such as trees, shrubs, and

grasses. Once a fire is burning, it continues to provide

heat that supports the fire.

Heat is transferred in three

ways to nearby unburned

fuel. Two of these ways play

an important role in the life of

a wildland fire. Convection

(kän vek shun) happens when

heat is transferred through

the flow of liquids or gases,

such as when hot air rises

above a fire. A fire can spread

from the ground to shrubs

and into treetops by convection. Radiation (rad e a shun)

transfers heat by rays, such as

from the sun or the flames of

a fire. Radiation is the way

most of the heat from a wildland fire is transferred to

unburned fuel.

42
43

way. Fire spreads from the

continual ignition and burning of fuel. For a fire to

spread, it must have fuel, heat,

and oxygen. If any one of

these three is not present in a

great enough amount, a fire

cannot spread. Scientists call

this the fire triangle.

Introduction

When lightning or other

forms of ignition start a fire in

a forest, there is a chance of a

wildfire. Wildfires may be

started by a natural cause,

such as lightning, or they may

be started accidently by

human activities or on purpose by an ill-meaning person.

When wildfires are started by

a natural cause, forest managers may let them burn if

there is no threat of injury to

people, to houses or other

structures, or to endangered

wildlife. In the past 10 years,

however, wildfires have

threatened, damaged, or

destroyed hundreds of houses.

One reason for this is that

more and more houses are

being built in what was once

large areas of forests and

shrubs. 

When houses are built close

to trees, the trees provide the

fuel that wildfires need to

spread. (Remember the fire

triangle?) If trees and shrubs

are close to a house, they can

enable wildfires to burn close

to the house. The question the

scientist wanted to answer

was: How close must flames

come to a house’s outside

wooden walls before those

walls catch fire? 

Reflection

Section

• Can you

think of another

way to ask the

scientist’s question? (Hint: Think about

the trees’ distance from the

house.)

• If you were the scientist,

what is one way that you

might answer this question? 

Method

The scientist collected information from three places to

find the clues he needed to

answer his question. First, the

scientist used information

from another scientist’s

research to create a computer

program. The computer program predicted how much

heat is needed before a wooden wall would catch fire.

When wood gets hot enough,

it begins to decompose. As

wood decomposes, it releases

combustible vapors into the

air. The computer program

helped the scientist to determine how close flames would

have to come to a house to

heat the wood hot enough so

that it might be ignited by a

little spark. 

Second, the scientist set up

an experiment. In his experiment, he built three wooden

walls that were meant to simulate the walls of a house (figure 1). The walls were built in

a field near a forest. The walls

were built 10, 20, and 30

meters downwind of the

forested area. (To determine

number of feet, multiply the

number of meters by 39.37

Figure 1. One of the wood

walls built by the scientist

for his experiment.

and divide by 12.) Into each of

the three walls, the scientist

placed an instrument that

measured the amount of heat

reaching the wall. The scientist then set fires in the forest

to simulate a forest wildfire

(figure 2). 

Third, the scientist was concerned that the computer program and the experiment did

not include all of the factors

present during an actual wildfire. He went to the library

and read about two other

wildfires and how they

destroyed houses. These case

studies gave him actual stories

of homes being destroyed by

wildfire. The scientist was

able to compare the case studies with the computer program and the experiment.

Reflection

Section

• Think about

each of the

three ways that

the scientist

used to find clues to answer

his question. Name a rea-
feet is that?) The farther a

source of flame is from wood,

the less heat the wood receives

(figure 3).

In the scientist’s experiment,

flames never swept very far

beyond 10 meters from the

forested area. When the

flames got close to—but did

not make contact with—the

wall built 10 meters away

from the forested area, the

wall was scorched but did not

ignite (figure 4). When the

flames made contact with this

wall, it ignited and began to

burn. When the flames

extended just beyond 10

meters, the wall built 20

meters away was only lightly

scorched but did not ignite.

The wall built 30 meters away

was not scorched at all and

did not ignite. The scientist

found that firebrands contribute to the ignition of

wooden walls during wildfires.

By reading the case studies,

the scientist learned that

between 86 percent and 95

percent of the houses with a

nonflammable roof and trees

no closer than 10 to 18 meters

(How many feet is that?) survived the wildfires (figure 5).

When the scientist compared the amount of heat predicted by the computer

program for a distance of 10

meters with his experimental

data, he found that the program predicted greater heating

than he actually found.

However, the scientist found

that all three ways of determining ignition distances generally agreed. When trees,

which serve as fuel for a wildfire, are between 10 and 40

meters away from a wooden

structure, even intense wildfires will not ignite the structure 90 percent of the time.

Reflection

Section

• The scientist’s

experiment

showed that

walls located 20

meters away from flames

will not usually ignite in a

wildfire. The computer program predicted that trees

burning 40 meters away

will not ignite a structure.

The case studies mentioned

44

son why each way alone

might not give the scientist

the right answer.

• If each of these three ways

that the scientist used gave

him three very different

answers to his question, do

you think the scientist could

draw a conclusion about

how close trees must be to a

house to set the house on

fire? Why or why not?

Findings

The computer program

taught the scientist that even

very large wildfires will not

cause wood structures to

ignite if the fire is farther than

40 meters away. (How many

Figure 2. The experimental fire.
45

a distance of 10 meters.

Why do you think the scientist used a range of 10 to 40

meters when reporting his

results?

• If you were the scientist,

what would you recommend as a result of this

research?

Implications

The scientist reported that

the condition of the house and

its surroundings, within 40

meters, are responsible for the

house catching fire during

intense wildfires. The area of

land around a house is usually

owned by the homeowner.

Amount of heat

(Kilowatts per square meter)

Distance from flame

(meters)

Ignition time

(minutes)

12

10

8

6

4

2

0

120

100

80

60

40

20

0

0 10 20 30 40 50

Amount of heat Ignition time

Figure 3. The relationship between the amount of heat,

ignition time, and distance from the flame.

Figure 4. When flames did

not make contact, the wall

built 10 meters away was

scorched but did not ignite.

Figure 5. Almost 9 out of 10 houses that were at least 18

meters away survived a wildfire. 

The scientist concluded that

people who own houses

should take responsibility for

making their houses safe from

wildfires.

Reflection

Section

• Do you think

that people

should take

responsibility

for making their houses safe

from wildfires? Why or

why not?

• Based on this research, how

could people make their

houses safer from wildfires?

Discovery

FACTivity

The problem

you will solve

with this

FACTivity is:

What are the potential wildfire problems with a particular

home’s landscape plan? How

can you change the landscape

plan to make the home safer

from wildfires? The method

you will use to solve this problem is: Look at the landscape

plan on the next page. This

plan is drawn from a bird’s

eye view. Using a ruler, you

will need to determine which

trees and other vegetation are

too close to the house to protect it from wildfires. You can

determine this distance from

reading the “Findings” section

of the article above. The symbols for the house, trees,

shrubs, and the driveway are

shown. Then, get a blank

piece of paper, 8 inches X 11

inches or larger. Using your
Do you live in or near a

forest? If so, ask the adults in

your household if they have

protected the house from a

forest fire. Here are some

things you can do to protect

your house from fire:

1. Establish a space around

your house that does not

have any combustible materials. This space should be at

least 30 feet or 9 meters

across. The larger the space,

up to 130 feet or 40 meters,

the better protected your

house will be.

7. Make sure your address

is easy to read from the road,

and that your driveway is

large enough for emergency

vehicles.

8. If you have a wood

shake roof, replace it with a

material that is more fire

resistant.

9. Recycle your yard waste.

10. Listen to your local

radio and TV stations for fire

reports and instructions.

2. Reduce the amount of

vegetation close to your

home.

3. Remove or thin overcrowded or weak trees near

your home.

4. Cut your grass and other

plants regularly.

5. Move wood piles and

building materials away from

your home. 

6. Keep your roof and yard

clean. Clean your gutters regularly. Remove dead limbs

and branches from your

yard, and from the base of

your chimney and deck.

46

ruler and a pencil, develop a

landscape plan that places

trees, shrubs, and other vegetation close to the house, but

not so close as to cause a danger from wildfires. To do both

of these tasks, you will need to

convert the measurement of

meters to inches using your

ruler. For your own landscape

plan, 1 inch equals 20 meters.

Compare your landscape plan

with your classmates’. Discuss

why you designed the home’s

landscape the way that you

did, and how your landscape

plan will help to protect the

home from wildfires but still

provide the benefits of trees

and other vegetation.

From: Cohen, J. D. (2000). Preventing

disaster: Home ignitability in the wildland-urban interface. Journal of Forestry,

March 15-21.

Large Tree

Bushes

Legend: Scale:

1/2" = 20 meters

For your landscape

plan, use this scale:

1 inch equals 20 meters.

Fire Safety Tips from the Firewise Communities Program
Dew It!

Which Weather Measurements 

Are Related to the 

Occurrence of Wildland Fire?

Glossary

complexity (käm plek suh te): The

state of being complicated or having

many related parts.

predict (pre dikt): To tell what one

thinks will happen in the future.

wildfire (wild fir): An uncontrolled

wildland fire started naturally or by

careless human action.

associated (uh so she a ted): Closely

connected with another.

relative humidity (rel uh tiv hu mid uh

te): The percentage of water vapor in

the air relative to the total amount of

water vapor the air can hold at that

temperature.

weather stations (weh thür sta shuns):

Places where instruments measure and

record weather conditions.

saturated (sah chür at ed): Soaked

completely through.

intensity (in ten si te): The quality of

being very strong.

Pronunciation Guide

a as in ape ô as in for

ä as in car u as in use

e as in me ü as in fur

i as in ice oo as in tool

o as in go ng as in sing

Accented syllables are in bold.

47
48

Meet Dr. Potter: 

I like being a scientist

because as a child I never

stopped asking why. As an

adult, I’m still asking why.

Thinking About 

Science

The world is a

complicated

place. When

you look closely

at things in

nature, you will find that

many things are connected in

one way or another. Scientists

study this complexity in

nature, but they also search

for simpler ways to understand what they observe. 

One of the ways that they

try to simplify their research is

by studying things piece by

piece. Instead of observing

everything all at once, they

observe and measure separate

things. Then, they examine

how the separate things are

related. In this study, the scientist wanted to know which

daily weather conditions are

most related to forest wildfires. To answer his question,

he divided the daily weather

conditions into separate measurements. The daily weather

is not really a lot of separate

conditions. Instead, it is a

related set of conditions.

However, by separating the

weather into different kinds of

measurements, the scientist

made the problem easier to

study and to understand.

Thinking 

About the 

Environment

Wildfires can

be a threat to

the health and

safety of people and animals

(figure 1). Wildfires might be

started by mistake, as when

people are not careful with

campfires or with matches.

Wildfires may also be started

by lightning or by other natural means during dry weather.

Most people know that weeks

of dry weather will increase

the danger of a wildfire.

Whether a wildfire spreads

may also depend on the

weather that occurs each day.

If the weather on some days is

more likely to help a wildfire

to spread, people should be

extra careful with matches or

with fire during those days.

The scientist in this study

wanted to identify the most

important daily weather conditions that were associated

with a dangerous or a large

wildfire. To identify these conditions, the scientist measured

things like air temperature,

relative humidity, and wind

speed.

Introduction

Although scientists know

that many weeks of low rainfall increase the chances of

wildfires, they do not know

which daily weather conditions are the best for determining the danger of fire.

Scientists believe that when

certain kinds of weather conditions occur, they can better

predict wildfires. 

Unfortunately, they have

not checked to see if these

same conditions occur on days

with no wildfires. If scientists

can determine which daily

weather conditions are the

best for identifying the risk of

wildfires, they can more easily

determine which days wildfires might occur. The scientist

in this study wanted to determine which daily

weather conditions

are associated with

large or dangerous

wildfires.

Figure 1. Wildfire.
49

Reflection

Section

• What is the

question the scientist is trying

to answer?

• Is it important to be able to

predict on which days a

wildfire might burn? Why

or why not?

Methods

The scientist collected information from large wildfires

that had burned in areas

across the United States. To

make sure that he was collecting weather information only

for large wildfires, the scientist

decided that wildfires burning

less than 400 hectares would

not be included. (To find out

how many acres this is, multiply 400 times 2.47.) He found

information on 459 large

wildfires that had burned

between 1971 and 1984

(figure 2). 

The scientist collected

weather measurements

recorded at 20 weather stations on the dates the fires had

burned (figure 3). For each

wildfire, he used information

from the closest weather station. He then divided the

weather information from

each weather station into four

groups, based on the season

the fire had burned. This

meant that the scientist had

information from each weather station for the days that

wildfires burned in the spring,

summer, fall, and winter (figure 4). The scientist also collected weather measurements

for days in which wildfires

had not burned. In this way,

the scientist was able to compare the weather measurements made on days when

wildfires did not burn with

measurements made on days

in which wildfires had burned.

Figure 2. Number of wildfires in each 

State.

17

14 1

4

10

0

0

4

1 1

0

01 0 1

49

0 5

3

1

2

00

0

0

81

0

7

5

0

29

0

0

1

26

17

0

3

25 85 0

51 7

0

6

Figure 3. Weather station.

5

5

21

8

8

18

11

11

64

5

23

5

30

15 25

6

33

19

23

17

Figure 4. Location of weather stations and

number of days there were fires recorded at

each weather station.
50

Weather measurements used

include air temperature, wind

speed, relative humidity, dew

point depression, and wind

shear. Dew point depression is

the air temperature minus the

dew point temperature. The

dew point temperature is the

air temperature at which the

air is saturated with water.

Wind shear occurs when

winds at different heights

blow in different directions or

at different speeds. 

Reflection

Section

• Why do you

think that the

scientist had to

use weather

data from fires that had

already occurred?

• Which of the five measurements do you think were

more closely associated

with large wildfires? Why?

Findings

The scientist found that air

temperature, relative humidity, and dew point depression

were the three weather measurements most associated

with wildfires. When air temperature is high and the

amount of water in the air is

low, large or dangerous wildfires are more likely to burn.

Of these three measurements,

dew point depression is the

single best measurement to

use when trying to predict

wildfires. When dew point

depression is low, there is a lot

of water in the air, and wildfires are not as likely to burn.

When dew point depression is

high, there is little moisture in

the air and a wildfire is more

likely to become large or dangerous.

Reflection

Section

• Even without

weather instruments, humans

can generally

tell when the dew point

depression is low. Even

though you will perspire if

the temperature is high,

what happens to your perspiration when the dew

point depression is low?

• Why do you think that your

perspiration does not evaporate off of your skin when

the dew point depression is

low?

Implications

In the past, scientists

thought that air temperature,

relative humidity, dew point

depression, and wind shear

were the weather measurements most associated with

large or dangerous wildfires.

This research suggests that

dew point depression is the

most important measurement.

On days when large wildfires

burned between 1971 and

1984, the dew point depression was high. When people

try to predict wildfires based

on weather conditions, they

should pay the closest attention to dew point depression.

Reflection

Section

• How did this

research simplify what was

known about

the association between

wildfires and daily weather

conditions?

Fire Facts

For wildland fires, fuels consist of burnable materials,

such as trees, shrubs, and

grasses. Besides the availability of fuel, the type of weather

occurring at that time can

help a wildfire spread. Air

temperature, humidity, and

wind affect the spread of a

wildfire. A wildfire can generate its own wind, thus helping

to spread itself. When the air

above a flame gets heated, it

rises. When it rises, fresh air

rushes in to fill the vacuum.

The fresh air provides a new

source of oxygen for the fire.

Thus, if fuels are available

and there is a lack of moisture

in the air, a wildfire can continue to spread in part by creating its own wind.
51

1. 0-200: Soil and fuel

moisture content are high.

Most fuels will not readily

ignite. There is not much

danger of wildfire.

2. 200-400: Fires will more

readily burn, but heavier

fuels will not ignite readily. 

3. 400-600: Fires will readily burn in all directions. In

some places, all of the fuel on

the ground will burn away.

Larger fuels may smolder for

many days, possibly creating

problems with smoke.

4. 600-800: Fires will burn

all of the fuels off of the

ground. Fires will burn

throughout the night and

heavier fuels will actively

burn, increasing the intensity

of the fire.

The Keetch-Byram (kech bi

rum) Drought Index, or

KBDI, is a mathematical system developed to help people

understand how likely a

wildfire is to occur. The

KBDI rates current and

expected weather conditions

and places them on a numbered scale, from 0 to 800.

Here are what the numbers

mean:

Fire Safety Tips from Smokey and His Friends at the Texas Forest Service!

Discovery FACTivity

The best time to do this

FACTivity is when the temperature is high. It is best if

the temperature is over 85 °F

(or 29 ° C). In this FACTivity,

you will determine the air’s

dew point temperature. Dew

point is the point at which the

air, at a given temperature,

can hold no more moisture.

The question you will answer

is: What happens when the air

can hold no more moisture?

For this activity, you will need

a cleaned-out vegetable can,

filled three-quarters high with

water, a thermometer, a

spoon, ice, paper, and a pencil.

The method you will use to

answer this question is: Let

the vegetable can filled with

water sit for a few hours outside in the shade. It should

reach air temperature before

you continue. Using the thermometer, measure the air temperature in the shade and

record the air temperature.

Hold the thermometer against

the outside of the can so you

can measure the temperature

of the air immediately outside

of the can. Put some ice into

the water and stir. The dew

point of the air surrounding

the can is the temperature registered on the thermometer

when the first sign of moisture

appears on the outside surface

of the can. Record the temperature at dew point. What has

happened? The ice has caused

the air immediately surrounding the can to cool. As the air

cools, it absorbs moisture

which you cannot see until it

can hold no more moisture.

Now calculate the dew point

depression. (See “Methods”

to learn how to do this.) If the

air temperature and the dew

point are far apart, the air is

dry and the relative humidity

is low. Weather reports often

give the air’s dew point temperature. Knowing the dew

point will help you to determine whether dew or fog is

likely to occur.

Activity from: Bosak, S. V. (2000). Science

is...: A source book of fascinating facts,

projects, and activities, Ontario, Canada:

Scholastic Canada, Ltd., p. 446.

From Potter, Brian E. (1996).

Atmospheric properties associated with

large wildfires. International Journal of

Wildland Fire, 6(2): 71-76.
52

1. The article I read was entitled:

■ Let’s Clear the Air

■ Fighting Fire With Fire

■ Time Will Tell

■ Who Gives a Hoot?

■ Smoke and Mirrors

■ Liar! Liar! House on Fire!

■ Dew It!

Circle the answer that best describes how you

feel about the article you just read.

2. The article was:

Easy to understand

Hard to understand

Very hard to understand

3. The article was:

Very interesting to read

Somewhat interesting to read

Not interesting to read

4. Did you learn something from reading 

the article? ■ Yes ■ No

5. Did you try to answer the 

Reflection Questions? 

■ Yes ■ No ■ Some of them

If you read and tried to answer any of the

reflection questions, did they help you to

think about the article? ■ Yes ■ No

6. Would you like to read another article?

■ Yes ■ No

7. How old are you? (Circle)

9 10 11 12 13 other age: _____

8. What grade are you in? (Circle)

4th 5th 6th 7th 8th 9th

9. Are you a girl or a boy?

■ Girl ■ Boy

Now write in your answer:

10. What did you learn from reading 

the article?

11. What is your favorite subject in school?

Along with your class or by yourself, 

please send this form to:

Dr. Barbara McDonald

USDA Forest Service

320 Green St.

Athens, GA 30602-2044

Thank you!

TEACHERS, PLEASE COPY THIS FORM BEFORE DISTRIBUTING.

STUDENTS,

Tell Us What You Think About The Natural Inquirer
For each article that you read, please answer

the following:

Name of Article:________________________ 

1.Would this article help you meet any of

the required statewide science curriculum

standards? ■ Yes ■ No

2.How close to the appropriate reading and

comprehension level for your students is this

article written?

■ Very close

■ Somewhat close

■ Not close

3.If the article is somewhat close or not close

to the appropriate reading and comprehension

level, is it:

■ Too hard

■ Too easy

4.Would or did you use this article in your

classroom as an educational resource?

■ Yes ■ No ■ Why or why not? 

5.Please rate the article sections on a scale of 

1 to 5. One means the section was not useful

at all, five means the section was very useful.

Not Very

useful useful

Sidebars 1 2 3 4 5

Glossary 1 2 3 4 5

Introduction 1 2 3 4 5

Methods 1 2 3 4 5

Findings 1 2 3 4 5

Graphs, figures, photos 1 2 3 4 5

Reflection Questions 1 2 3 4 5

FACTivity 1 2 3 4 5

6. For any of the sections you rated with either

a “one” or a “two” in question 5, please indicate why the section was not useful or how it

can be improved:

Sidebars

Glossary

Introduction

Methods

PLEASE CONTINUE THIS EVALUATION ON THE NEXT PAGE ☞

PLEASE COPY THIS FORM BEFORE COMPLETING.

The Natural Inquirer—Teacher Evaluation

53
54

Findings

Graphs, figures, photos

Reflection Questions

FACTivity

7.Was the “Note to the Teacher” useful 

to you?

■ Yes ■ No ■ Somewhat

8.What grade(s) do you teach? ______

9.What subject(s) do you teach?

10. Other comments or suggestions:

Please send this evaluation, along with your students’ evaluations, to:

Dr. Barbara McDonald

USDA Forest Service 

320 Green St. 

Athens, GA 30602-2044

Thank you! Your evaluations will help us to continually improve the Natural Inquirer.
Visit these Web sites for more information:

USDA Forest Service: www.fs.fed.us

The Natural Inquirer: www.naturalinquirer.usda.gov

USDA Forest Service Conservation Education: www.fs.fed.us/outdoors/nrce/

USDA Kid’s Page: www.usda.gov/news/usdakids/index.html

Smokey Bear: www.smokeybear.com

Agriculture in the Classroom: www.agclassroom.org

Yellowstone National Park Wildfire: 

www.discovery.com/stories/nature/yellowstone/yellowstone.html

Fire prevention tips for homeowners: www.firewise.org

Learn more about wildland fire: www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/fire/ and

www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/fire/simulation.html

To view a photo gallery of wildland fire: www.wildlandfire.com

National Interagency Fire Center: www.nifc.gov/

U.S. Fire Administration Kid’s Page: www.usfa.fema.gov/kids/

Arkansas Fire Prevention tips: www.arkfireprevention.org/firesafetips.html

NatureWatch: www.fs.fed.us/outdoors/naturewatch/default.htm

National Forest Recreation: www.fs.fed.us/recreation

National Forest Information: www.fs.fed.us/recreation/map/finder.shtml

55
Which National Science Education Standards Can Be Addressed by The Natural Inquirer?

Standards

Science as inquiry

Abilities Necessary To Do Scientific Inquiry XXXXXXX

Understandings About Scientific Inquiry XXXXXXX

Physical Science

Properties and Changes in Properties Matter X XX

Motions and Forces X

Transfer of Energy X X

Life Science

Structure and Functions in Living Systems XXX

Reproduction and Heredity X

Regulation and Behavior X X

Populations and Ecosystems XXX

Diversity and Adaptations of Organisms X X

Earth and Space Science 

Structure of Earth System X

Science and Technology

Understandings About Science and Technology X X

Science in Personal and Social Perspectives

Personal Health X X

Populations, Resources, and Environments X

Natural Hazards XXX XXX

Risks and Benefits XX XXXX

Science and Technology in Society XX XXXX

History and Nature

Science as a Human Endeavor XXXXXXX

Nature of Science XXXXX X X LET’S CLEAR THE AIR FIGHTING FIRE WITH FIRE TIME WILL TELL WHO GIVES A HOOT? SMOKE AND MIRRORS LIAR! LIAR! HOUSE ON FIRE DEW IT!

56

and communities. The

CSREES provides leadership

to identify, develop, and manage programs to support university-based and other

institutional research, education, and extension. 

What is the USDA Forest Service?

What is Agriculture in the Classroom?

Agriculture in the Classroom is a grassroots program

coordinated by the USDA’s

Cooperative State Research,

Education, and Extension

Service (CSREES). The goal of

Agriculture in the Classroom

is to help students and teachers gain a greater awareness of

the role of agriculture in the

economy and in society. The

program is carried out in each

State, according to State needs

and interests. People involved

at the State level represent

farm organizations, agricultural businesses, education,

and government. 

The mission of the CSREES

is to advance knowledge for

agriculture, the environment,

human health and well being,

What is the National Interagency Fire Center?

As you know, when wildland fires burn they often

cross property lines. One large

wildfire may burn areas

owned by different people or

lands managed by different

government agencies. When

that happens, it pays for people to work together to control the fire. The National

Interagency Fire Center is a

partnership that works

together on wildland fire. The

center’s mission is to reduce

the risks and losses to communities and the environment

from wildland fires. The government agencies that work

together include the following

Department of Interior agencies: Bureau of Land

Management, Bureau of

Indian Affairs, National Park

Service, and the U.S. Fish and

Wildlife Service. The USDA

Forest Service, the National

Association of State Foresters,

the National Weather Service,

and the Office of Aircraft

Services are also part of this

partnership. By working

together, the National

Interagency Fire Center can

do a better job of protecting

human communities and the

natural environment from the

risks of wildland

fires.

The USDA Forest Service is

a part of the United States

Department of Agriculture. It

is made up of thousands of

people who care for the

Nation’s forest land. The

USDA Forest Service manages

over 150 national forests and

almost 20 national grasslands. These are large areas of

trees, streams, and grasslands.

National forests are similar in

some ways to national parks.

Both national forests and

national parks provide clean

water, homes for animals that

live in the wild, and places for

people to do fun things in the

outdoors. National forests

also provide resources for

people to use, such as trees for

lumber, minerals, and plants

used for medicines. Some people in the USDA Forest

Service are scientists, whose

work is presented in this journal. USDA Forest Service scientists work to solve

problems and provide new

information about natural

resources so that we can make

sure our natural environment

is healthy, now and into the

future.

Agriculture in the Classroom