Earth, Forest & Fire: SD83 Careers Pro-D Event A Success
Eight SD83 teachers enjoyed great fun and learning this October Pro-D Day. SD83 Careers, the Council of Forest Industries (COFI) and Project Learning Tree Canada (PLT) hosted the event at Gardom Lake Bible Camp. The event had three components: Indigenous ways of knowing, monitoring forest health and wildfire nature and awareness.
The first segment was hosted by indigenous elder S:py7ellp (spap-eww-ee) and his partner Honey Williams. Both of them had the teachers walk through the forest to identify certain trees, bushes and moss and their medicinal and practical uses. Teachers also did sensory exercises in the forest and lake, learned Secwepemc words and did self-reflection work.
From there, PLT Canada’s Senior Forest Education Coordinator James Thordarson had teachers work in small groups to map and access forest health within the local forest. The groups set their compasses and carried onto various parts of the grounds counting trees, identify them, record their size and make estimations of their age.
They also used degree-scale clinometers to calculate the height of trees and witnessed the simulation of a corer to determine how old a tree is based on the number of rings counted in the core. During this time, teachers learned about the various careers that are needed in the modern forest industry to ensure a sustainable resource remains such.
After lunch, BC’s Wildfire Service got hold of their new crew and brought them down to the beach where they donned BCWS coveralls and hard hats for their next assignment. The forest firefighters showed the teachers how they needed to work in teams to pump water from the lake, and string together a long line of hoses before putting out an active fire and numerous spot fires on the beach. Teachers were highly engaged in the competitive exercise but it was also a good opportunity for problem solving as one group had pump issues and needed to solve it before their fire spread to other areas.
During clean-up, teachers learned about the “fire triangle” of surface, crown and ground wildfires, how important thinning and prescribed burns are to forest health and fire mitigation and how to be fire smart around their homes.
Teachers can take this knowledge and opportunity back to their students as SD83 Careers, PLT Canada and COFI will run this same session for district students this spring for those interested in forestry and fire fighting careers. If you wish to learn more about career opportunities in these industries, please reach out to the career coordinators located at your community high school or contact George Richard via text or phone at 778-824-1188 or email grichard@sd83.bc.ca