Format
1. This program begins with an overview of the National Park Service and Rocky Mountain National Park.
2. We then dive into three "big changes" Rocky Mountain National Park has experienced including the management of wildlife, wildfire and visitor use.
3. We discuss "what's next?"".
4. Time is allowed for questions and answers.
Objectives
1. Understand that the visitor experience of a National Park is in itself a value to be preserved.
2. Describe the impacts of wildlife management, wildfires planning and visitation trends.
3. Internalize how change doesn’t necessarily alter the fundamental resources involved.
Standards Alignment
National Standards
HS-LS2-6 Ecosystems: Interactions, Energy, and Dynamics
Evaluate the claims, evidence, and reasoning that the complex interactions in ecosystems maintain relatively consistent numbers and types of organisms in stable conditions but changing conditions may result in a new ecosystem.
HS-LS4-5 Biological Evolution: Unity and Diversity
Evaluate the evidence supporting claims that changes in environmental conditions may result in (1) increases in the number of individuals of some species, (2) the emergence of new species over time, and (3) the extinction of other species.
HS-LS2-8 Ecosystems: Interactions, Energy, and Dynamics
Evaluate evidence for the role of group behavior on individual and species’ chances to survive and reproduce.