NEWFOUNDLAND AND LABRADOR ENVIROTHON

Develop Tomorrow’s Informed Leaders. Educate Future Resource Stewards. Promote Sustainable Development.

2009 HANDBOOK

NL ENVIROTHON COMMITTEE

Bonny Moroni (Chair) Model Forest of Newfoundland and Labrador Tina Newbury Jacques Whitford Environmental Consultants Sheldon Peddle ACAP – Humber Arm Chris Baldwin Department of Environment and Conservation Wildlife Division Craig White Department of Education Chantal Meyers Natural Resources Canada Charlene Connors Model Forest of Newfoundland and Labrador Ron Smith Eastern School District Darroch Whitaker Gros Morne National Park Leslie Daye College of the North Atlantic Margaret McKeon Western School District Krista House Conservation Corp NL Carla Hayes CBCL Consulting Engineers For More Information: Model Forest of Newfoundland and Labrador PO Box 68, Corner Brook NL A2H 6C3 Ph. (709) 637-7300 Fax. (709) 634-0255

Above—The team from Menihek High School in Labrador City receives an explanation from Shelley Pardy-Moores, the Wildlife Judge. Below—The team from Pasadena Academy works together on the Forestry Field test during the first day of NL Envirothon competition.

NEWFOUNDLAND & LABRADOR ENVIROTHON

WELCOME TO NL ENVIROTHON

Develop Tomorrow’s Informed Leaders

Educate Future Resource Stewards

Promote Sustainable Development

Create Community Awareness

WHAT IS ENVIROTHON?

NL Envirothon is an environmental education competition for youth that raises awareness of environmental issues through hands-on learning and outdoor competitions in five subject areas: • Aquatic Ecology • Forestry • Soils and Land Use • Wildlife • Current Environmental Issue selected annually. NL Envirothon competition usually takes place over two days at a conference centre in the province. Day one is devoted to field testing and preparation of oral presentations and day two to oral presentations and final judging to determine winning teams. NL Envirothon is open to young people enrolled in Levels 1, 2 and 3, and youth of eligible age who are members of community groups with an environmental focus. Students from a school's junior high feeder school may be eligible to compete. NL Envirothon members work as a team on all tests at the event. Field tests are completed as a team and oral presentations require participation from all team members. It is a great team-building experience! NL Envirothon encourages young people to learn more about the environment both in and out of the classroom. In a group setting, participants learn from one another, from resource professionals, and from nature itself. Winners of the provincial competition will be presented with the opportunity to compete in the Canon Envirothon held in a different state/province each summer. For more information about the North American Competition, see www.envirothon.org For more information, contact The Model Forest of Newfoundland and Labrador PO Box 68, Corner Brook, NL, A2H 6C3 Phone (709) 637-7300 Fax (709) 634-0255

COMPETITION STRUCTURE

Every province and/or state has their own way of conducting Envirothon competitions. The com-petition structure is determined by the provincial Envirothon Committee dependant on factors including location, time frame, number of teams and number of judges. The following is the structure adopted by the NL Envirothon Committee but may be altered at any time at the discre-tion of the Organizing committee:

Field Testing Teams compete a 15 minute field test in each of the 5 subject areas: Aquatic Ecology, Forestry, Soils/Land Use, Wildlife, Current Environmental Issue. Teams rotate around the field test station to complete their tests, usually during the first morning of competition. Where possible, field tests will be set up so that only one team competes at each station. However, there may be times when teams will be complet-ing a field station at the same time. Field tests are marked out of 100 so that a total score out of 500 is given for this component of NL Envirothon.

Scenario Preparation Teams have a length of time (usually 3-4 hours, depending of scheduling) to prepare a response to the scenario based on the current Environmental issue. The teams are isolated from their teachers/coaches under supervision and are given all the required materials for the preparation of their oral presentation. A list of materials supplied for this are given in the Appendix. Teams may provide their own snacks for this scenario preparation time, however, all notes, printed materials, electronic devices, pens etc. are prohibited. At the end of the sequestering, all items supplied to the teams will be collected and stored until just prior to their oral presentation on the second day of Competition

Oral Presentations On the second day of competition, teams will be required to give their oral presentations to the panel of judges. The highest scoring teams are usually required to give their presentations a second time to the full panel of judges. This enables the other teams to experience a high quality presentation and also al-lows all the judges to assess the oral presentations. The teams chosen to present again are placed in a separate room while the other team is presenting to be fair to all teams. The scores obtained by the team in this second round is added to their original oral presentation score and divided by 2 so that an average is obtained. The Oral Presentation component of NL Envirothon is marked out of 200.

Awards Ceremony At this final event of NL Envirothon, awards are given in the following areas: • Overall Winner—Team with the highest score out of 700 (500 for field testing plus 200 for oral

presentation) • Highest Score in each Field Test • Highest Score on the Oral Presentations • Dr. Neal Simon Team Spirit Award

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HOW TO GET INVOLVED

1. Get together a group of 5 friends or like-minded individuals in Levels I, II or III. An Envirothon team can also be made up of members of a community group.

2. Find a teacher sponsor or coach who is willing to work with your team as you prepare for NL Envirothon

3. Complete the Registration Form and return it to the Model Forest Office by the due date in the spring. The registration form must be accompanied by the registration fee of $300 per team to cover accommodation, food, sup-plies and T-Shirts. Check with your school administration/organization to see if they have funds to cover your registration costs.

4. Meet with your team once weekly if possible to prepare for NL Envirothon. This involves: studying the learning objectives, researching the special topic, learning from websites, practicing oral presentations, reviewing the score sheets etc. Some teams allocate each member as an ‘expert’ in a topic. You may find it useful to have each team member present something new to the team each week at your meetings.

5. Arrange transportation to NL Envirothon. Be prepared and fundraise for transportation costs if necessary

6. The winning team at NL Envirothon will be offered the opportunity to repre-sent the province at the Canon Envirothon held each summer in a different state or province in North America. Some fundraising for this event is re-quired of the winning team to help cover the costs of travel, registration etc.

7. Get some more information on the event: www.mfnl.ca www.envriothon.org Ph. (709) 637-7300 Email: bmoroni@wnmf.com

HISTORY OF NL ENVIROTHON

NL Envirothon began in 2000 with one team from Regina High School in Corner Brook, under the guidance of teacher-advisor Cecil Lake, participating in the Nova Sco-tia Envirothon in Port Hawkesbury and the Canon Inter-national Envirothon at Acadia University. In 2001, as a pilot project, the Western Newfoundland Model Forest and School District #3 hosted a regional Envirothon com-petition in Corner Brook with three teams from Regina High School in Corner Brook and one team from Elwood High School in Deer Lake. The event has grown signifi-cantly over the years and the 2008 event involved 11 teams from 8 schools across the province. Since the inception of NL Envirothon, the event has been held on the west coast of the island except for the 2004 event which was held at the MUN campus in St. John’s and the 2005 Envirothon which was held at Lav Rock Centre just outside of St. John’s. The 2009 event will be the first Envirothon held in central Newfoundland.

Year NL Envirothon Location

Number Teams

Winning Team

2000 Team traveled to Nova Scotia

1 Regina High School, Corner Brook

2001 Corner Brook 4 Elwood High School, Deer Lake

2002 Corner Brook 5 Regina High School, Corner Brook

2003 Corner Brook 6 Regina High School, Corner Brook

2004 St. John’s 7 Elwood High School, Deer Lake

2005 Lav Rock 7 Elwood High School, Deer Lake

2006 Killdevil Conference Centre

7 Regina High School, Corner Brook

2007 Killdevil Conference Centre

9 Elwood High School, Deer Lake

2008 Killdevil Conference Centre

11 Corner Brook Regional High School

Canon Envirothon

N/A

Jackson, Mississippi

Amherst, Massachusetts

Mount Saint Mary’s College, Maryland

Buckhannon, West Virginia

Springfield, Missouri

Winnipeg, Manitoba

Geneva, New York State

Flagstaff, Arizona

The Cycle from Pasadena Academy

HISTORY OF CANON ENVIROTHON

In 1979, the Pennsylvania Soil and Water Conservation Dis-tricts created an "Environmental Olympics" as a way to encour-age high school students to become interested in natural re-source conservation and environmental issues and ca-reers. The Environmental Olympics, later shortened to Enviro-Olympics, quickly gained popularity as a hands-on outdoor competition designed to challenge and test students knowledge of soils/land use, aquatic ecology, forestry, wildlife and current environmental issues.

The program grew rapidly and involved 40 conservation district teams at the 1987 Pennsylvania State Enviro-Olympics, provid-ing greater visibility and stimulating interest from neighboring states.

In 1988 the program became known as the Envirothon. Teams from Pennsylvania, Ohio, and Massachusetts competed in the first "National Envirothon." The Pennsylvania Association of Conservation Districts hosted the event. Subsequently, Mas-sachusetts, Ohio, and Maine hosted the annual "National Envi-rothon," and in 1992 the first Canadian team (from Nova Sco-tia) participated in the competition, hosted by Maryland's Envi-rothon Committee.

Historically, Envirothon funding came from local conservation districts, state conservation committees, state, federal and pro-vincial conservation organizations, and provincial forestry asso-ciations. In 1997 Canon U.S.A., Inc. began supporting the En-virothon program and in 1999 became the title sponsor. The program currently operates under the name Canon Envirothon.

For more information, visit www.envirothon.org

The Canon Envirothon is governed by the Canon Envirothon Comm

2008 Winners of Dr. Neal Simon Award: The Cycle, Pasadena High School

TEAM SPIRIT AWARD

The Dr. Neal Simon Team Spirit Award is given to a team that displays good sportsmanship, team-work and spirit during NL Envirothon competition. This award was instituted by the Model Forest of Newfoundland and Labrador in 2007 in memory of Dr. Neal Simon, the special topic judge at the 2006 NL Envirothon. Dr. Neal Simon was born in Labrador City on De-cember 30, 1973. He worked with the NL Depart-ment of Natural Resources as Regional Ecologist for Labrador. He held a B.Sc. from Memorial Uni-versity with a major in ecology and evolution and a minor in statistics, and M.Sc. in Forestry and Envi-ronmental Management from the University of New Brunswick. He completed his Ph. D. in this same faculty in 2006. Neal was NL Envirothon’s theme judge in 2006 and was an enthusiastic and knowl-edgeable addition to the Envirothon team. He died on September 23, 2006 in a boating accident in Labrador at the age of 33. In his memory, the “Dr. Neal Simon Team Spirit Award” was established to honor the NL Envirothon team that best exemplifies Neal’s love of learning and the natural environment of Newfoundland and Labrador. The winner of the inaugural Dr. Neal Simon Team Spirit Award in 2007 was Menihek High School from Labrador City. In 2008, the award went to “The Cycle” from Pasa-dena Academy.

Dr. Neal Simon December 30, 1973- September 23, 2006

2007 Winners of Dr. Neal Simon Award: Team Labradorimi, Menihek High School, Labrador City

2008 SPONSORS/ SUPPORTERS

THE OPPORTUNITY APPENDIX

In the following pages you will find photocopiable pages with the following information relevant to NL Envirothon: • Learning Objectives and websites for each subject area at NL Envirothon

• Oral Presentation Scoring Sheet

• Supply List for Oral Presentation Preparation Time

• Registration forms

• Medical/Photo Release forms

• Team Preparation suggestions

• Sample Schedule of activities at NL Envirothon

• Rules of NL Envirothon

• Rules of Canon Envirothon

For more information about NL Envirothon:

Model Forest of Newfoundland and Labrador PO Box 68 Corner Brook NL A2H 6C3 Ph. (709) 637-7300 Fax. (709) 634-0255 bmoroni@wnmf.com www.envirothon.ca

Participants in NL Envirothon 2008 at Killdevil Conference Centre, Gros Morne

A competitor works on the Wildlife test