Conserving
Greater Yellowstone is a series of lesson plans and student activities
designed to supplement existing high school life science curricula,
although they may be adapted for both younger and older audiences.
Several educational programs have been developed dealing with the
natural history of Yellowstone National Park and the ecology of selected
species in the Yellowstone region. Conserving Greater Yellowstone
differs from these in that, rather than focusing on a single species
or a politically defined unit (like a National Park), it applies conservation
biology—the science of conserving biological diversity—to
the study of an ecologically meaningful entity: the Greater Yellowstone
Ecosystem (GYE).
Resource management in the GYE has been the subject of fierce debate
at both local and national levels, as indicated by the volume of media
attention that has been given in recent years to such issues as fires,
bison hunting, and development on private lands in the region. It
is not the intent of this curriculum to argue for or against particular
policies or management practices in the GYE. Rather we hope to provide
educators and students with tools for thoughtfully examining the impacts
of human activities on |
 |
| natural
systems. lt is our hope that, so armed, they will be prepared to evaluate
all sides of these issues in light of the best available scientific
evidence, and to make intelligent choices, based on clearly articulated
values, about resource use and conservation both in the GYE and around
the globe. |
Teacher testimonial:
“Thank you for the Conserving Greater Yellowstone Teachers
Guide. I have searched for several years for a good ecology curriculum
for high school students, and yours is truly the best I have ever
found.”
Lee Anne Eareckson, Biology Teacher, Moscow School District
281, Moscow, ID.
Overview
of the lessons:
In each of the eight lessons in this curriculum, students participate
in some combination classroom discussion and individual or group
efforts to collect and analyze information from written materials,
maps, graphs, and field data. The activities call on students to
use their skills in language, mathematics, and geography as well
as in science. The content of these lessons is described briefly
below. They are not intended to provide an exhaustive survey of
the science of conservation biology but rather to introduce teachers
and students to some of its key concepts and tools and to stimulate
their interest in pursuing the subject in greater depth.
Lesson 1 introduces students to the concept and values of
biological diversity and some of the terminology they will
be encountering throughout this unit. Students consider the situation
of the Yellowstone grizzly bear as an example of how one element
of diversity—a small population—can be threatened with
extinction as a result of human activities and chance events.
Students examine the ecological and political boundaries
of the GYE in Lesson 2, and investigate and report on the
agencies and organizations involved in managing the ecosystem.
Lessons 3 and 4 explore the relationship between human activities,
habitat loss, and local extinctions. In Lesson 3 students
learn about island biogeography and the species-area relationship.
In Lesson 4 they use these concepts to develop a hypothesis about
the relationship between habitat disturbance and species numbers
in their local area, which they test by collecting field data.
In Lesson 5, students compile case studies of rare, threatened,
or sensitive species in the GYE in order to learn more
about some of the organisms living in the ecosystem, as well as
to gain insight into the general process of species extinction.
The role of large-scale ecological processes in maintaining
biological diversity is considered in Lesson 6 as students
investigate the impacts of fire in the GYE.
In Lesson 7 students debate a resource issue that affects
the GYE’s biological diversity, and finally, in Lesson
8 they discuss the concept of sustainable use, the values
that they would like to preserve in the GYE, and the ways
that they personally can influence the GYE’s future. |
