Colorado PLT Outstanding Educator Tours Oregon Forests

Durango Teacher and Facilitator, Lu Boren, was Colorado's nominee for National Outstanding PLT Educator. As a result, this summer, she was able to participate in the Temperate Forest Foundation's Forest Tour for Teachers. In the photo Lu receives her award plaque, presented on behalf of Colorado PLT by Durango District Forester, Kent Grant, who often helps Lu bring forest education to her students.














Below is the letter of thanks she wrote to the sponsor of her trip, Denver Lumber.

August 7, 2010

Dear Denver Lumber

My name is Lu Boren, and you sponsored my recent trip to the 2010 Pacific NW Teacher Forestry Tour in Corvallis, Oregon. I thank you so much for the opportunity to broaden my knowledge of forest ecology with a trip to the forests of the Pacific Northwest.

I am a middle school science teacher in Durango. I teach Earth Science, Chemistry, Physics, and Biology, but my passion is Forest and Fire Ecology. I began teaching Fire Ecology with Project Learning Tree after the Missionary Ridge Fire of 2002. I quickly fell in love with forests and fire, and the students in my class loved it also. It is a rite of passage at our school to study how fire behaves in the forest, to experiment and “burn things”. My kids choose Fire Ecology over any other subject. And, living at the edge of the forest, I am constantly surprised at how few kids have ever really “seen” the trees in the forest. We study forest health, bugs, dendrochronology, parts of a tree, overcrowding, watersheds, and especially how fire behaves in the forest.

So, as much as I am familiar with Colorado forests and especially Western Slope Ponderosa Pine forests, I was completely unprepared for the differences in the forests of the Pacific NW. I learned about Doug Fir, immeasurable rainfall, and tree farming. Since I hail from an agricultural background, I completely understood forest agriculture. We had the opportunity to see clearcuts, and all stages of replanting and regrowth. We saw areas of tree farms deliberately left as wildlife habitat, and Christmas Tree farms. It was amazing. We also had the opportunity to tour a Georgia-Pacific Plant and see the Doug Fir becoming household lumber. It was eye-opening to see how much of the tree becomes usable fiber. And more importantly, to see how little is wasted.

This year, because of your sponsorship, as we are studying the forests and fires of Colorado, we will also be studying the differences in ownership, tree types, forest products, and general usage of the forest land in Oregon. Thank you for the chance to visit and see for myself the differences in the forests. All of the internet information gathering in the world doesn’t touch the impact that two and half days in the forest will have on my teaching.

My Thanks,

Lu Boren