Pinehurst students plant seed after 2014 Oregon gulch fire in cascade-siskiyou national monument. Image courtesy of Jim Impara. Pinehurst school is located within the cascade-siskiyou national monument.

This Earth Day 2015 we note that our Cascade-Siskiyou National Monument was established in 2000 for its biodiversity.
Our guest commentators, Pinehurst School students tell about their work with the BLM in forest recovery efforts. Their efforts grow our next generation to be caregivers and champions for biodiversity in our environment.

Pinehurst Students Lend a Helping Hand to BLM
By Sam Skillen and Rowan Amann, Pinehurst School
After the devastating Oregon Gulch fire [2014]  destroyed over 36,000 acres of land, the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) and thirteen children struggled to bring the forest back to life. Pinehurst students ventured down a long, bumpy road to the Box O Ranch to meet with the BLM’s interpretive specialist, Justin Glasgow.
   Glasgow explained a technique called back burn used to take fuel out of the fire's path. The back burn wiped out the vegetation in a large area. The students were put in a line and each was given a bag of native grass seed to be spread where the fire had burned all the vegetation.
   “It made me happy that I was helping the BLM and regrowing the forest,” said Hannah Marmorstein, an eighth grader at Pinehurst School.
   As the students finished planting the seed, they were given bales of straw to spread on the dirt track to Jenny Creek
   “[Pinehurst can be] an extension of the BLM to help us accomplish our mission. These projects need to get done,” Glasgow said.
   The students are always looking for ways to help in the community and they do all the jobs given to them well.

Many thanks to Pinehurst teacher Jim Impara for sharing this submission and photo, which was published in their school newspaper.