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National Fire Plan Success Story

Fire Education Teacher-Ranger-Teacher
Saguaro National Park, Arizona
National Fire Plan - Accountability, Education, and Public Interaction
2010

Park Ranger Laura Bolyard and Teacher-Ranger-Teacher Mary Patton.
Park Ranger Laura Bolyard (left) and Teacher-Ranger-Teacher Mary Patton (right) provide information on a prescribed burn in the park at a local farmer's market.

Teacher-Ranger-Teacher Mary Patton uses a candle.
Teacher-Ranger-Teacher Mary Patton uses a candle to teach Junior Ranger campers about the fire triangle.

Saguaro National Park hosted a Fire Education Teacher-to-Ranger-to-Teacher during June and July 2010. Mary Patton, a Middle School English teacher at Valencia Middle School in Tucson, Arizona worked with the Division of Fire Management to develop activities and materials for a Wildland Fire Education traveling trunk. She also assisted with the park’s Junior Ranger Camp and presented four fire education outreach programs in the community. In addition, she had the opportunity to visit local community members to provide information on a prescribed fire in the park and helped staff a community outreach booth where she provided fire information. In total she made more than 250 public contacts.

The park provided Patton training on the diverse resources of Saguaro National Park and the history and organization of the National Park Service. She also completed First Aid and CPR training. In addition, she had the opportunity to participate in the traditional Tohono O’odham saguaro fruit harvest, toured the Western Archeological and Conservation Center, and spent a day pulling buffelgrass with the park’s resource management staff.

Next April she will wear her NPS uniform to school during National Park Week and discuss her summer as a park ranger to help students and other teachers learn more about Saguaro National Park and wildland fire in the National Park Service. The National Park Service Teacher-To-Ranger-To-Teacher engages teachers from schools that are not currently being reached with park programs, paying particular attention to areas with large, ethnically diverse populations. Teachers are detailed as park rangers to parks through an Inter-governmental Personnel Act (IPA) agreement between their public school district and the National Park Service. For additional information, please visit the Teacher-to-Ranger-to-Teacher web page.

Contact: Michelle Fidler, Fire Communication and Education Specialist, (520) 733-5136.