Fire Rehabilitation with Baker High School and Baker Intermediate

PBWC partnerd with Oregon Department of Forest and Baker Schools' Science Departments on a local fire rehabilitation project

On Monday, October 19th, over 45 students and educators toured the Dooley Mountain and met at the Phillips Reservoir to learn about conifer seed collection and the ecological role of fire in our Eastern Oregon forests. As our community has faced severe, yearly droughts, and extreme wild fire over the Summer months, Baker High School and Baker Middle School turned to their community hoping to help. The science department, with guidance by ODF and PBWC took initiative in including fire ecology into their five-year plan hoping to engage students in fresh new ways while also performing duties gaining student's technical and scientific skills. Educators provided hands-on experiences, taking students directly to burn sites from both recent and past fires. PBWC provided tree identification lessons to prepare students for identifying cones from trees needed for rehabilitation. They hope to germinate the seeds collected in Spring 2016. Stay tuned!