A wildfire education program in Southern Oregon is at risk of closing by the end of the year because of federal funding cuts.
The Southern Oregon Forest Restoration Collaborative has run programs since 2020 for K-12 students in Jackson, Josephine and Klamath Counties, helping local teachers learn how to incorporate fire science into their lessons.
Program Director Jennifer Payne said the Environmental Protection Agency said the program no longer reflects the agency’s priorities. Payne said wildfire prevention should be a bipartisan effort.
“It's almost a human right that our students receive education on how to be wildfire adapted, how to be prepared for these emergencies and what it takes to return our forests to health and maintain that,” she said.
The program allows some high school students to be certified in wildland firefighting upon graduation. Payne said 42 students are expected to graduate from a wildfire career training program at Crater High School next spring.
Payne said the group is working on preparing teachers in case it runs out of money. The collaborative-developed fire ecology curriculum will remain. But, Payne said, it will be harder for teachers to implement without support.
“The teachers need support to get the program started, to make the connections with the field professionals, to have the curriculum modeled," she said.
Caroline Burdick Rihan, who teaches the wildland firefighting career program at Crater High School, could likely run things on her own, according to Payne. But other teachers don't have the support yet to do so.
Payne said the group has used private donations to replace $164,000 in funding lost from the EPA grant, but they need more funding starting in January. She is looking at more private donors and possible state funding to help fill that gap.
"We feel confident that we can make this transition," she said. "It's just we're in a tenuous time."
