BIOL 340: Living with fire in California

MOTIVATION FOR THE CREATION OF THIS COURSE

The last decade has seen the largest, deadliest, and most destructive fires in California’s history. In 2020 alone, there were 9,639 fires that burned a total area of 4,397,809 acres and caused over $12 billion in property damage! In addition, for our California communities, there was an estimated 10,488 buildings destroyed, and 31 people tragically lost their lives. Firefighters and fire professionals are educated and well trained about fire in California landscapes, but what about the millions of California residents? These residents are scared, confused, and naive about fire and deserve more than just a few CalFire pamphlets.

Currently there are no common core standards for teaching fire science in K-12. Going through the catalogs of CSU’s, there are very few universities that teach fire science or fire ecology. Those that do only have fire classes catered to future biologists, environmental scientists, foresters, and geographers. There are no classes in any CSU catalog that have a fire course dedicated to teaching fire to the masses. The course being proposed here aims to do just that.

This new course will teach what is imperative for nearly all Californians to understand relative to living with fire. It will focus on fire science and fire ecology basics for students so as to: 1) improve information literacy about fire, 2) increase fluency of communication to help educate others, 3) better equip decision making for fire policy ballet items, and 4) to help increase support of fire-related research and projects. In order for to California citizens to live with fire safely, responsibly (socially, economically, and environmentally), and confidently, we need to look beyond the small population of fire professionals - and strive to expand fire education into the general public.

Course Description

The last decade has seen the largest, deadliest, and most destructive fires in California’s history. Firefighters and fire professionals are well trained and educated about fire in California landscapes, but what about the millions of California residents?

This class was designed for anyone who wants to know more about the historic, current, and future of fire in California. This course will mainly focus on fire ecology in California (the role of fire in ecosystems and the ecological effects, the interactions between fire and the abiotic and biotic components of an ecosystem, and fires role as an ecosystem process) but also touch a little on history and policy.

The is an upper-division GE course in Area B within the Sustainability and Climate Change pathway.

Elements of Course Design

This course is being designed as a F2F course for Fall 2022 and it is organized into 5 units.

Content will be delivered in a variety of formats:

Lectures F2F (in person)
Lecture online (pre-recorded) for flipped classroom days
Readings
Videos
Podcasts

Materials

This course has no required text. Any materials that are required for lecture and discussion will be provided in a pdf OR a hyperlink on Blackboard Learn.

the weekly lecture schedule, as follows: 1. introduction to the classa and california fire 2. introduction to fire science 3. california fire climate, fire regimes, and influencer on fire weather 4. fire as an ecological process 5. fire and plant evolution/interactions 6. fire and animal interactions 7. fire in california bioregions (part 1) 8. fire in california bioregions (part 2) 9. fire and biodiversity 10. climate change, invasive species, and rare species with fire future 11. after a fire: hazards 12. after a fire: habitat succession 13. fire as a restoration to california habitats 14. the science of defensive space and fire resistant landscapes 15. case studies: fire future 16. case studies: fire future

Assessment of Student Learning

Course Student Learning Outcomes

Upon successful completion of this course, the student will be able to:

Design a fire simulation utilizing the scientific method and variables that influence fire behavior.
Identify evolutionary adaptations for the flora and fauna of California species.
Explain how climate change has affected current fire regimes and influenced native, exotic, and endangered/rare species now and into the future.
Interpret results from fire simulations and relate it to topics/variables discussed.
Describe the function of fire in different California bioregions and how they affect the plants and animals within.

6.Explain how California habitats change after a fire

7. Understand how fire influences biodiversity

8. Discuss how fire can be used as a restoration tool In California habitats

9. Compare and contrast varying proposals for defensive space design.

Methods of Evaluation

Weekly Quiz

Each week a quiz will be assigned based on content covered that week in class. These quizzes will be open for one week and must be completed within that time frame.

Unit Activities

Each unit there will be 1-2 activities to complete (depending on length of unit) that will total between 40-50 points. These activities will vary based on what is most appropriate for the content. Instructions for the activity(ies) will be posted at the beginning of the unit and they will be due by the end of the unit. Activities can take the form of worksheets/papers/mini-tests/projects.

EXAMPLES:

Fire simulation proposal/experiment: Students will join teams and design an experiment to test a question about fire using the matchstick protocol. Then teams will write up a report and create a presentation explaining their results and its implications.

Wildfire action plans: Each student will create a wildfire action plan for a community of their choice (Chico, Paradise, LA, etc)

News Item Assignments: Several times during the semester will be assigned to review an article based on current news. There will be several topics to choose from based on the current content being covered.

Unit Discussions

Every unit a discussion prompt will be posted and you have until the end of each unit to have minimally participated in the unit discussion according to the guidelines.

Class participation

Each week this class will partake in variety of activities, it is each students job to come to class prepared and ready to take part. The schedule will outline what will be covered and what should be completed before coming to class.

Sample Assignment & Activity

Student Engagement & Feedback

The course includes the following elements that promote student engagement:

Engagement with the course material (Activities, Projects)
Interaction student-instructor (Discussions)
Interaction student-student (Discussions, Activities, Projects)
Group work (Discussions, Activities, Projects)
Participation in discussion boards (BBL)
Welcome/introduction activities (Survey and Introduction Slides)

COURSE CONDUCT AND PARTICIPATION

Grades in this course will not just be based on assessments, but also on the quality and quantity of participation (both in and out of the classroom). Attendance will be taken every lecture, it is the students responsibility to sign in. If you were in class but did not sign in or were absent, it is your responsibility to communicate with the instructor so you can be excused given extenuating circumstances.

Students in this class are encouraged to speak up and participate during all aspects of this course. Because the class will represent a diversity of individual beliefs, backgrounds, and experiences, every student in this course is valuable to meaningful learning.

Elements of Climate Change and Resilience & Environmental Justice

This course is part of the sustainability and Climate Change pathway and will address the following topics:

Climate change influence on past, current, and future wildfires
Environmental sustainabilities potential positive effects on future wildfires and how unsustainable practices have had negative effects past and current wildfires.

TREE ANALYSIS SAMPLE ACTIVITY

When trees are injured, they develop physical and chemical boundaries around the injury to resist infection. In addition, trees will also grow new wood to close over those injuries. Injuries caused by fires are called fire scars and these can best be viewed by looking at a cross-section of a tree trunk (tree cookie) to observe patterns of scarring for understanding when and how often fires burn. In the past, fires often burned with low intensity, killing few trees, because there were no harmful and unsustainable fire suppression policies. With the understanding of fire scaring, surviving trees become legacies of past fire occurrence and thus provide a unique insight into fire history to best plan for future fire.

TECHNOLOGY & TOOLS

Technology use inside and outside the classroom:

Blackboard: All documents will either be loaded or linked here

Google drive: Any documents that will be linked will be in google drive folders and organized by unit. Linked documents will be accessed and edited by the class for various activities. The following google platforms/softwares will be used:

Google slides (similar to powerpoint)
Google documents (similar to word)
Google sheets (similar to excel)

Zoom: You will use zoom to make recordings/videos

Personal technology: you will need to know how to do the following on your personal technology:

Take screenshot/snapshot
Manage zoom videos to upload and post

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