Course Description

Wildfire is an ecological process that has shaped landscapes, cultures, and livelihoods for millennia. This course examines the legacy of wildfire through a socioecological lens, exploring how fire science and management practices influence the social, cultural, and economic realities of the communities who live with fire.

The course begins with an examination of the biology, chemistry, and physics of fire itself.  Using this as a foundation, students will then examine the ecological role of wildfire in the ecosystems of New Mexico, particularly in the context of climate change.  In turn, this will inform students' understanding of management approaches used to modify fire behavior to promote ecosystem health and public safety.  As the course progresses, students will also critically examine the historic, cultural, political, and economic drivers of wildfire management, including fire exclusion, fuel treatments, prescribed burning, post-fire restoration, traditional land-use practices, and collaborative community-based initiatives.

Students enrolled in this course will engage with both scholarly and popular literature, participate in discussion-based learning, and observe fire-affected landscapes and management practices through field experiences. As part of the course, students will have the opportunity to begin the Basic Wildland Fire Orientation course required for the Certified Prescribed Burn Manager Program. Through these experiences, students will develop a nuanced understanding of wildfire as both an ecological process and a social phenomenon, while gaining analytical tools to critically understand their role as citizens in the broader community of life in New Mexico and beyond.

Texts

Cottrell, William H. The Book of Fire. Mountain Press Pub, 2004.

Additional course materials will be provided by the instructor on Canvas.

Requirements

Students will be expected to read several excerpts from the peer-reviewed and popular literature, participate in discussions and activities with their peers, and complete the Basic Wildland Fire Orientation course required for the Certified Prescribed Burn Manager Program.

Passive learning through lecturing will be extremely limited and serve primarily as an introduction to in-class activities.  These active learning activities are designed to offer students an applied understanding of the concepts presented in readings and discussion, as well as concrete skills.  And hopefully they’re fun too!  A variety of activities are listed in the schedule, each of which have their own instructions, which will be explained in class.  However, they include discussions, debates, and field data collection, among others.  Some of these activities will involve students producing some kind of deliverable that will need to be turned in for credit. 

Students will be expected to annotate each reading prior to coming to class; the instructor will check these as you arrive.  These low-stakes assessments can help us prepare for discussion and activities in class.

About the Instructor(s): Tomasz Falkowski