Blog post written by Willow Bend intern Laura Sherrill
On Saturday, we spent the day learning about fire ecology during our monthly Science Saturday event. Since Flagstaff is nestled in an expansive Ponderosa Pine forest, it is important to keep in mind how wildfires can affect our home. This was such a fun day with a very special guest: Smokey Bear himself!
After saying hi to Smokey, people had the option of reading along to the story of Ponderosa Pete, making tree ornaments, trying on real firefighter gear, watching a demonstration of how fire can affect forests, looking at tree rings up close with a magnifying glass, or answering fire ecology trivia questions for the chance to win a prize. Smokey Bear themed erasers, pencils, bandanas, bookmarks, and rulers were up for grabs.
Did you know that Smokey is an American black bear? His brown colored fur can be a bit misleading to his true species. We had such a good day learning new facts on this jam-packed Science Saturday. Thank you to everyone who stopped by to learn about fire ecology. If you missed it, make sure to check out our calendar of upcoming events.
