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Getting Ready
Materials: Youth need journals and writing utensils; staff need 2 Rocky Mountain Tree Finder: A pocket manual for Identification Rocky Trees 2nd ed. Books and Handouts.
Location: This lesson is specific to a conifer community with signs of fire. The handouts include a map of fires visible from park roads, fire boundaries, and a map of the vegetation in the park. By overlapping these maps, staff can locate a conifer community with recent signs of fire.
Ecological Relationships Lesson #4: U
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Background
The following material is adapted from Yellowstone Resources and Issues Handbook: 2011 (2011) and is provided as supplemental information.
Fires need heat, fuel, and oxygen to burn. Remove any of these elements and a fire will go out. In the Northern Rockies, lightning provides a ready source of ignition or heat. Fuels in the form of dead and downed trees accumulate at a steady rate because the process of decay is slow in this region. Conditions in Yellowstone, however, are usually much too cold and wet for larger-scale, sustained burnings.
For the first 100 years of the park’s existence, managers believed fires had to be extinguished to preserve park resources. Fires play a critical role in creating the vegetation patterns of the landscape that sustain biodiversity by offering different habitats. Fire is a part of the ecosystem that park managers want to preserve the role of fire in landscape ecology. Suppressing fires leads to homogeneity in the age and physical structure of vegetation
communities, decreasing biodiversity. In 1972, Yellowstone began using natural fire management. Between 1972-2005, 397 natural unsuppressed fires burned 66,354 acres.
The severity of the drought of 1988, unprecedented in the park’s 112 years written record, was the key event that changed conditions in favor of fire. Unusually high winds fanned the fires beyond the control of firefighters. Burning 793,880 acres or 36% of the park, five fires burned into the park that year from adjacent public lands. One of the largest fires, called the North Fork fire, started accidentally and burned more than 410,000 acres.
In the first years after a major fire, young trees emerge from the burned ground. Years later after the 1988 fires, those young trees are renewed forests; once again filling its vistas. The current fire management policy follows the guidelines of the 2003 Federal Wildland Fire Policy, which allows firefighters to manage fires for multiple objectives. Yellowstone is a functioning ecosystem in which fire plays a vital role.
Overview: This introduces youth to the effects of fire on the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem
(GYE) using observations and guided inquiry.
Learner Outcomes Youth will:
1. Be introduced to basic fire ecology.
2. Be introduced to the fire-related natural history of Yellowstone.
3. Understand the steps involved in succession of a grassy field to a forest.
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Lesson at a Glance
Conifer + Fire= Adaptation (45 minutes)
Explore a conifer community to look for signs of a new abiotic disturbance and discuss what was observed
in a large group. Next, divide them into groups with task cards that focus on the myth and science of
Yellowstone’s 1988 fires. Finally, each group shares their thoughts.
Succession Ro-Sham-Bo (15 minutes)
Explore the concept of succession using a game of “rock, paper, scissors” to move through four vegetation
roles after a fire disturbance.
Concluding the Lesson (5 minutes)
Create definitions of succession and disturbance and discuss the effects of fire and other disturbances on the
GYE.
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Suggested Procedure Conifer + Fire= Adaptation (45 minutes)
Staff will:
1. Invite youth to explore a conifer community and look for signs of a new abiotic disturbance. Ask them to return with a small piece of evidence (4 minutes).
2. Lead a discussion by asking the following questions: (D1) (3 minutes). a. Describe what you found to the group.
b. What signs of abiotic disturbances do you see?
c. What observations can you make about how this abiotic disturbance currently affects biotic factors? d. Have each person choose one word to describe the conifer community, trying not to repeat the same
word.
3. Explain that, in the aftermath of the 1988 Yellowstone fires, scientists flocked to the park. This was a rare opportunity because never before had there been a living laboratory where they could study the effects of fire on such a scale. Scientist conducted more than 250 studies to investigate questions about fire. The NPS spent six million dollars to support thirty-two of these research projects. Plant Ecologist Don Despain said that the amount of breadth of this research was the most important outcome of the 1988 Yellowstone fires because it gave ecologists a unique opportunity to examine the natural processes of fire. The world’s first national park belongs to everyone and people had strong opinions about its future. Predictions about the effects of the fire on the park ran from “any land this black will never be green again” to “wildlife will die because there isn’t any food.” The following activity focuses on the myths or predictions of 1988 and the scientific findings that followed (Reinhart, 2008).
4. Divide youth into 3 equal groups and pass out the three task cards. Have them review the cards and complete the tasks. After each group has completed their task card, have them exchange cards with another group. Repeat this process until all of the groups have completed all three task cards (F1) (30 minutes).
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a. It may be necessary to model how to use a dichotomous key in the tree key book for the task card titled Myth: Yellowstone Will Never Be The Same. Any Land This Black Will Never Be Green Again. (Refer to the to the tree key book for how to use a dichotomous key).
Conclusion: Come together as a group and ask them the following about each task card: (8 minutes).
1. Myth: Yellowstone’s Forests Will Have To Be Reseeded: What do you estimate is the age of this lodgepole pine stand? How can whorls inform us about the last fire in this area?
2. Myth: Dead Trees Will Provide Fuel For Another Huge Fire In The Near Future: What direction was the fire moving in this area? Use evidence to support your claim.
3. Myth: Yellowstone Will Never Be The Same. Any Land This Black Will Never Be Green Again: What types of conifer trees did you identify? How are the different conifers adapted for survival in the Yellowstone Ecosystem? (i.e. many trees rely on animals and wind to disperse their seeds).
Transition: Explain that they will be exploring succession through an energizer called Succession Ro-Sham-Bo. Succession Ro-Sham-Bo (15 minutes)
Play “rock, paper, scissors” to move through four successive vegetation roles, modeling succession after a fire disturbance.
1. Four vegetation roles: While modeling fire, youth will wave their hands around like flames. As grass, youth will lay on the ground. Youth will crawl around on their knees and put their arms out to their sides like branches as they pretend to be lodgepole pine seedlings. As full grown lodgepole pines, youth will walk upright with their arms out to their side like branches.
2. Explain that everyone will start out as fire. Next, everyone should find a partner and play one round of “rock, paper, scissors”. The winner can then move on to grass, the loser remains fire. This process is
continued; grass becoming lodgepole pine seedling, and then lodgepole pine.
Assessment Check Ins:
(D1): Examines prior knowledge, interests, and misconceptions of ecosystem disturbance. This information will assist the staff in planning the level of instruction.
(F1): This assessment provides insight into how youth can apply their knowledge through a skill. (S1): Assesses what youth have learned about YNP natural history.
Staff Notes:
• This lessons starts with an observation exploration that helps fine-tune these skills. If youth are restless after the Conifer + Fire= Adaptation activity, transition them quickly into Succession Ro-Sham-Bo.
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33. Explain that when they become an adult lodgepole, they freeze in the lodgepole formation (arms to the side). Lodgepole pine seedling may only play “rock, paper, scissors” with other lodgepole pine seedlings. Lodgepole pines compete with other pines—the winner remains a full grown pine, the loser goes back to being grass.
4. Start the activity and when there is a good make up of different vegetation roles staff should call “freeze”. This allows players to observe the make-up of the community.
5. Ask them to observe the number of grass, lodgepoles, and lodgepole pine seedlings. Tell them that a crown fire has just swept through the conifer forest and it is the most intense type of fire. It burns the trunks, limbs, and tops of the trees as well as the soil. Flames may shoot 200 feet above the trees!
6. Because of the fire, they must start the game all over again. Play until everyone has become Lodgepole pines, forming a conifer community.
7. Gather as a group and transition to the conclusion.
Conclusion: (5 minutes) (S1)
1. Ask youth to define succession and disturbance in their journals. Afterwards ask them to share and discuss the similarities and differences of their definitions.
a. Example definition: Succession is the natural replacement of one community of plants by another over time. Disturbance is an event that interrupts the “normal” functioning of the ecosystem.
2. Ask:
a. How does fire affect the landscape in Yellowstone National Park? b. What might interrupt the process of succession?
5 References:
Lanner, R. (1996). Made For Each Other: A Symbiosis Of Birds and Pines . New York: Oxford University Press. Nyland, R.D. (1998). Patterns of Lodgepole pine regeneration following the 1988 yellowstone fires. Forest Ecology
and Management, 111 (1), 23-33. Doi: 10.1016/So378-1127(98)00308-9
Reinhart, K. (2008) Yellowstone’s Rebirth by Fire: Rising from the Ashes of the 1988 Wildfires. Helena, Montana Faircounty Press.
Incorporates the 1988 fire myths in the handouts. It was modified in the following way: Instructional language was changed to match the REC.
Yellowstone National Park. (2011). Yellowstone Resources and Issues Handbook: 2011. Yellowstone National Park, WY.
Handouts:
• 3 Yellowstone Maps • 3 Myth and Task Cards
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Fires visible from park roads. Compare the fire perimeters on this map with those of the 1988 fires. So far, the large fires of the 21st century are burning in areas largely unaffected by the 1988 fires. Ongoing research is showing that areas of stand-‐replacing fires can affect future fire behavior for up to 200 years. (Reprinted from “Yellowstone Resources and Issues Handbook: 2012”, 2012, p. 77).
Yellowstone YCC REC
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This map uses colors only to help you see fire boundaries. Colors do not indicate intensity, duration, or anything else (Reprinted from “Yellowstone Resources and Issues Handbook: 2012”, 2012, p. 82).
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Map of Vegetation in Yellowstone National Park
Yellowstone YCC REC
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The following material is from Reinhart, 2008.
Myth: Yellowstone’s Forests Will Have To Be Reseeded
Science: There were no trees planted in Yellowstone after the 1988 fires. Although lodgepole reseeding was discussed that fall, and there was public pressure to do so, ecologists knew there was no need. Ecologists and naturalists had to educate visitors about the role of fire in lodgepole forests. The forests of Yellowstone’s high-‐elevation central plateau are almost uniformly lodgepole pine, a species that is uniquely adapted to fire. Many lodgepole pines have serotinous cones, which means that they are sealed by resin until a hot fire melts their protective coating, sending an explosion of seeds to the forest floor. The spring following a fire, tiny seedlings begin growing, sheltered by dead trees. Fire is necessary for the rebirth of lodgepole pines.
You can see that the density and height of the new forest varies. In some places, the trees are so thick and the crosshatch of fallen logs so intricate, that hiking through them is a chore at best. Nearly every year since the 1988 fires, researcher John Burger measures the height of lodgepole saplings. He had found that the tallest lodgepoles grow as much as a foot or more per year in open locations (Reinhart, 2008).
Task: Finding the age of the lodgepole pine stand. To practice, pick a small tree first and count the whorls of 6 different trees to find the estimated age of the lodgepole pine stand.
Questions: What do you estimate is the age of this lodgepole pine stand? What information can whorls tell us about the last kind of fire in this area?
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Myth: Dead Trees
Will Provide Fuel For Another Huge Fire In The Near Future.
Science: After the fires, in some areas, dead trees stretched as far as one could see. Of course, there were pockets of green trees within burned areas, but the general impression was one of fire-‐carved, blackened skeleton trees everywhere. Many people feared that the vertical and horizontal maze of partially spent wood would be fuel for an even larger fire the next time a dry lightning storm flashed over the park.
However, dead trees in a recently burned forest don’t carry fire in the same way as living plants and other small diameter fuels in an unburned forest. Recently burned areas rarely burn again; when they do, the fire burns hot, but moves slowly. A hot, stand-‐replacing or “crown” fire needs understory “ladder fuels” that move the fire up from the ground into the trees.
Slow-‐growing spruce retains their tangled lower branches, providing a way for fire to climb to the taller, mature lodgepole pines. Once the understory fuels burn, subsequent fires usually halt or slow the old burns. The fire season of 1988 was an exception. In the last month of fire season, some said, “It didn’t matter what you were, you burned” (Reinhart, 2008).
Task: When fire burns a living tree, the burned or charred side is the downwind side of the tree. When fire burns a dead tree, the charred part of the tree faces into the wind. Examine three trees that have been affected by fire.
Questions: What direction was the fire moving? What can you observe that affected the direction of a fire?
Yellowstone YCC REC
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Myth: Yellowstone Will Never Be The Same. Any Land This Black Will Never Be Green Again.
Science: After twenty years of watching green grass, green plants, and green seedlings grow in the park, these fears seem groundless. Grass sprouted in burned areas only weeks after the fire. The following year, green growth was abundant and the carpet of wildflowers was like a rainbow after the storm. By 2006, the forest noticeably tipped the visual scale from black to green. In many areas, most of the charred snags that had towered over the young saplings had fallen, giving way to the young lodgepole pines. You can see signs of the 1988 fires because some of the burned trees will remain standing for fifty years or more.
“Yellowstone will never be the same” was a quote often heard after the 1988 fires. This is partly true, but the scenic landscapes of Yellowstone had burned many times since the glaciers retreated; the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem will continue to evolve with fire, as it has for thousands of years.
Species that lived in Yellowstone National Park before the 1988 fires have already adapted to the changed environment. Eight years after the fires, new lodgepoles began producing non-‐
serotinous cones, which don’t require fire to open the cones. Eventually, the oldest Lodgepole pines will tower above the forest floor and the forest canopy will begin to close. White bark pine,
engelmann spruce, and subalpine fir, which rely on animals and wind to disperse their seeds, will begin growing beneath the lofty lodgepole pines. Douglas fir trees will grow in low-‐elevations forests and it will look like the fire never happened (Reinhart, 2008).
Task: Use the Rocky Mountain Tree Finder book to key out two different conifer trees.
Questions: How many different types of conifers are in this area? How might the presence of fire affect the diversity of trees?
