Lesson Template

 

                                    Title: Oregon’s Public and Private Forests

                                    Author: Cindy Hall-Bogard

 

Overview:

            Approximately 46% of Oregon is covered with forests. Over 50% of those forests, about 28 million acres, are presently owned by the Federal Government.  In this lesson students will learn where Oregon’s forests are generally located and then go on to determine where the private and public forests lie in relationship to their local community.  After creating mental maps, students will look at their surrounding community and describe the relative location of their community in regard to these forests.

 

Geographic Questions:

            1.What is the spatial distribution of public and private lands in Oregon?

2. What is the relationship between Oregon’s major physical regions (Cascades, Coast Range etc) and the spatial distribution of public and private lands?

           

Connection to Curriculum:

            Oregon Social Science Level 2 Benchmark

            -Geography: Understand how human activities are affected by the physical

                                 environment.

            -History: Identify cause and affect relationships in a sequence of events.

 

National Geography Standards:

(1)    How to use maps and other geographic representations, tools, and technologies to acquire, process, and report information from a spatial perspective

(2)    How to use mental maps to organize information about people, places, and environments in spatial context

(4)    The physical and human characteristics of places

 

Grade Levels: 4th and 5th grades

 

Objectives:  While working independently and in a group the students will

            -create mental maps of Oregon’s geographic features and Oregon’s forests

            -use maps to locate the forests of Oregon

            -understand there are public and private forests and know generally where they

            are located                      

            -determine the relative location of their community in relation to these forests

 

Materials:

            -blank outline maps of Oregon

            -transparency of outline map of Oregon

            -colors (markers, crayons, pencils)

            -USFS Oregon forest maps (one per group of three)

            -Loy, W. (Editor), Atlas of Oregon, (2nd Edition). University of Oregon Press,

            2001, pages 82-85

            -copies of Land Use maps on p. 84-85 of Atlas of Oregon (one per group of three)

            -overhead transparency of Public Lands on p. 82-83 in Atlas of Oregon

 

Presentation Steps:

  1. Using the blank maps of Oregon, have students create their own mental map of the geographic features of Oregon. Students then find a partner to share knowledge and add information to their own maps if needed.
  2. As a class, discuss what was found taking turns drawing the features on the overhead transparency map of Oregon.
  3. On their own maps, students add their mental perceptions of where Oregon’s forests are located.
  4. In groups, students are given a USFS (United States Forest Service) Forest map. Together they review it and determine the general location of where the forests are and then compare this new information with their own mental maps.
  5. As a class discuss the findings (Coast Range, Cascades and pockets in Eastern Oregon) and add to the overhead.
  6.  Share the Public Lands overheads and discuss. Discuss briefly the role of the different organizations (BLM and USFS).    Take note of students’ knowledge of areas traveled.
  7. Discuss possible reasons why public and private forests are situated where they are.
  8. Go outdoors for a visual survey of surroundings. Determine the local community’s relative location in regard to the public and private lands in the area.

 

Assessment:

            Ask the students to create a new mental map of Oregon’s geographical features including the general location of its public and private forests. Besides including the title, orientation, author, and directions students should include a key and the community’s location.

This new map should include the Coast Range, Willamette Valley, Cascades, Wallowa Mountains, and Steens Mountain. It should also have the public forests throughout the Cascades, Wallowas, and Steens areas and the private lands generally located throughout the Coast Range.

Students are to attach a paragraph with their explanation as to why the public and private forests are located where they are.

 

The following checklist could be used:

 

_____1. My map has a clear title that explains its purpose.

_____2.  I have included a key in which I explain all symbols.

_____3.  My map is neatly drawn, detailed, labeled and easy to read.

_____4.  My map is oriented properly towards north with a compass rose.

_____5.  I have included the physical features of Oregon.

_____6.  I have included the location of our community.

_____7.  I have included the general location of the public and private forests.

_____8.  I have included my name.

_____9.  I have written a paragraph that has a topic sentence with several

               supporting details.

 

 

 

        

 

Extensions:

  1. Compare the elevation and precipitation of Oregon to the forest types found in those regions.
  2. Design a timeline for the settlement of the community’s area and the ownership of private lands in this area.
  3. Visit the local museum and write five questions that you would be interested in researching.
  4. Create an interview for a resident of the community that was (or is) in the timber business.
  5. Visit a private forester and continue on to visit the local mill where the timber is sold.
  6. Look at wilderness locations in the federal lands and research their history.
  7. Compare historical maps of the Oregon Trail and see if there is any correlation of

private land ownership.