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JAY — The Spruce Mountain High School Envirothon Team, which won first place in the Aquatic Ecology Competition and sixth place overall at the 2018 National Conservation Foundation North American Envirothon competition in July, is thanking local sponsors for their support.
Envirothon is North America’s largest environmental science competition and the event at Idaho State University included 50 teams from across the United Stated, Canada, and two teams from China. The competition required teams to learn about and complete field tests in Aquatic Ecology, Soil Science, Forestry, Wildlife, as well as a current topic, which was Rangeland Management.
The Spruce Mountain Team that competed in Pocatello, Idaho, included graduated seniors Jordan Daigle and Rylee Delaney, as well as rising seniors John Brenner, Hunter Quirrion and Orion Schwab. Spruce Mountain graduate Bryan Riley was also a member of the team, but couldn’t attend the competition. The team won Maine’s regional and state Championships to qualify to compete in the NCF event and spent months fundraising. Members won $3,500 scholarships for their sixth-place finish.
Technical support for the team came from Kelsey Ramerth, soil conservationist USDA – NRCS Fort Kent Field Office; Rebecca Jacobsm education coordinator – Knox Lincoln Soil and Water District; Marco Grimaldi, Sunset Farm; Maine Association of Conservation Districts.
Local people and organizations that supported the team with donations or in-kind help included Maine Assosciation of Conservation Districts, Finley’s Funeral Home, McCallister Accounting, Franklin Savings Bank, Otis Federal Credit Union, Hilltop Autobody, Livermore Falls Water District, Dr. William Beaker, Guild’s Country Hardware, Main Land Development, Jay Livermore Falls Lions Club, T and L Automotive, PalletOne, Eagle Creek Renewable Energy, Spruce Mountain Pharmacy, Innovative Industries, Jean Castonguay Logging, Re Energy, Maurais and Son Plumbing & Heating, Androscoggin Bank, Amvets Auxiliary Post 33, Amvets Post 33, Dube’s Redemption, St. Rose Parish Block Party, Otis Credit Union Tag Day Donors, Riverside Quickstop, Hannaford supermarkets, Regional School Unit 73, Alan and Linda Cartwright, John and Brenda Yeadon, Linda Olson, Brenner family, Grimaldi and Ouellette families.
“The event is highly competitive,” said advisor Rob Taylor, who attended the week-long event along with school board member and parent chaperone Ann Schwab. “In a number of the tested areas, over a dozen teams scored over 90 percent and these are very challenging tests prepared by Idaho resource professionals. Only state and provincial champions from the US, Canada and China competed. I believe 6th place may be the highest finish ever by a team from Maine.”
The team score of 95.5 out of 100 in Aquatics earned the team a station high score award.
The Current Issue Oral Presentation required the team to do a 20-minute presentation on their solution to a problem scenario involving improving the output and bottom line while protecting the environment and resources of a massive ranch near Pocatello. The team was asked to take an “integrative and innovative” approach to improving the ranch, which they did by proposing the addition of wind turbines as a revenue and renewable energy source and the use of Pseudomonas fluorescens, an experimental rhizobacterium biopesticide that kills invasive cheatgrass that is destroying huge numbers of square miles of Idaho rangeland. The team also proposed the integration of beaver dam analogs (artificial beaver dams) to improve the condition of streams and water bodies, as well as promoting multiuse public access to promote social justice. The team’s oral presentation score of 163/200 placed them 7th in the category. The team’s combine score of 582 was good enough for 6th place overall.
“I could not be more proud of the team,” said Taylor. “We have zero rangeland in Maine, as we are the most forested state by percentage in the country. The learning curve was really steep, as the kids had to take in so much new information about Idaho. When we started out, I asked them why do cowboys wear bandanas? They told me it was because cowboys rob banks. After spending a great deal of time on the rangelands of Idaho, they really understand the need for a bandana as an air filter. Most of the soil is loess in origin, which is wind deposited silt. We have very little of this in Maine. They learned a great deal about Idaho’s natural resources.”
In order to prepare and experience first hand the differences between the West and Maine, the team travelled out a day early and did a whirlwind tour, traveling through the states of Utah, Wyoming, and Montana on their way to Pocatello. The team got to see desert, high desert, temperate forest, and alpine ecosystems while visiting Grand Teton and Yellowstone National Parks and Massacre Rocks State Park.
PHOTO: The 2018 Spruce Mountain Environthon team finished first in the Aquatic compeition and 6th overall at the competition in Idaho, competing against 50 teams from the U.S., Canada and China. (Spruce Mountain Environthon Facebook photo)
