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Point Reyes National SeashoreLimantour area during the 1995 Vision Fire
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Point Reyes National Seashore
Fire Education
 
hiking through Vision Fire area
NPS photo by Alyssa Baltrus
Learning about fire on the Bayview Trail
 

Fire education is an important fire management strategy which emphasizes fire safety, fire ecology and fuel treatments.

At Point Reyes National Seashore, fire education focuses on lessons learned from the Vision Fire, community wildlfire protection, and the park's prescribed fire program.

 

Visiting the Park
Hiking through the area that burned during the 1995 Vision Fire is one of the best ways to learn about fire at Point Reyes. "After the Vision Fire: An Educational Trailguide" (648 KB PDF) was developed to help you see the effects of the fire in the landscape.

There are also two films which you can request to see at Visitor Center:

"The Spark of Life: Fire are Point Reyes" (11 min) - includes live footage and interviews

"Fire Management" (6 min) - a Science Behind the Scenery presentation by the Pacific Coast Learning Center

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Internships in Fire Communications and Education
Internships provide another opportunity to learn about fire and fuels management. Past internships have been offered through the Multi-media Studies Program at the College of Marin, the Communications Studies Department at Sonoma State University, and a national partnership with the Student Conservation Association.  

Fire Education Materials 
Many resources for teachers are available online. Burning Issues is an interactive multimedia program for middle school students developed by Florida State University and the Bureau of Land Management.    

Project Learning Tree
Project Learning Tree offers workshops to train teachers how to use the Burning Issues curriculum, and provides a variety of other environmental education resources.

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Fire Management Video
In 2004, the Pacific Coast Science and Learning Center produced a DVD entitled "Science Behind the Scenery." One segment of this DVD featured fire management at Point Reyes National Seashore. This 6:17 minute Quicktime video is available as either a "Low" resolution video of 240 pixels x 180 pixels at 12 frames per second for those with slower connections, or as a "Medium" resolution video of 320 pixels x 180 pixels at 15 frames per second for those with faster connections.
Low (9,377 KB) | Medium (28,951 KB)

Download QuickTime Player for free.

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KQED's Quest Program

 
KQED's Quest Program: Into the Inferno: The Science of Fire

Into the Inferno: The Science of Fire - initially aired on September 25, 2007

 

Adobe® Acrobat Reader® is needed to view PDF documents.

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Marin manzanita
1995 Vision Fire
The Vision Fire led to many new insights about ecosystems at Point Reyes.
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Point Reyes Lighthouse  

Did You Know?
The Point Reyes Lighthouse was completed in 1870, 16 years after Congress initially appropriated funds for its construction. It still stands in its original location, having weathered over 135 years at what is considered to be the windiest, foggiest location on the US west coast.
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Last Updated: March 28, 2009 at 16:42 EST