New Mexico school helps students recover from wildfire trauma

I'm Dr. Anthony Lizewitz, and this is Climate Connections. Last year, the Calf Canyon and Hermit's Peak Wildfire tore across part of northern New Mexico, burning forests and destroying people's homes. Every family in our school district was evacuated from their home at some point. Some of those families were evacuated for up to a month. Tracy Alcone is the principal of Morahoman Elementary School. She says the danger did not end after the threat of the fire was gone. The region flooded repeatedly because the burned and barren landscape could not absorb much rain. Some students' homes were damaged and their families uprooted again. Alcone says after so much turmoil, even the hint of disaster became triggering for some kids. Any time they smell smoke, even a fire drill was scary. To help the kids heal, teachers began taking them to natural areas, including places that had been burned. They've gone hiking and fishing, and they learned how the ecosystem regrows after a wildfire. Now they're able to come back and say, well, we saw where it burnt, but you should see the new grass coming up, or you should see the new leaves that are growing. They can truly see the effects of what happened, but also know that things are going to move forward and we're going to be okay. Climate Connections is produced by the Yale Center for Environmental Communication. To hear more stories like this, visit climateconnections.org. ♪♪