2008 ENVIROTHON focuses on Recreations Impacts on Natural Resources

Hoosier employee serves on Indiana's Envirothon team and takes the lead in 2008 Current Issue.

Across North America this spring found high school students studing resources related to recreational impacts on natural resources. Each year the Envirothon - a competition held across the US and Canada sponsored by Canon, the Forest Service, and the Natural Resource Conservation Service, focuses on core subjects: forestry, soil, wildlife, and aquatics. Then one current issue is selected annually at the national level. For 2008, the issue was recreational impacts on natural resources. High School students across the county in 4-5 person teams representing their school science classes, 4H, or FFA group compete first in regional contests and then at the State level. The winning team at the State level goes on to the North American competition held this year in Arizona.

Teena Ligman, Public Affairs Specialist on the Hoosier, had helped with Indiana's Envirothon before, so when Indiana's Envirothon Committee heard what the current issue was, they immediately called Ligman and asked if she'd take the lead in the current issue. Ligman agreed saying, "It was an amazing experience. I wrote the questions for both the regional and state contests and developed the presentation that was given at the six regional Envirothons in Indiana." Since two of the regional events ended up being held on the same day Stacy Duke lent a hand and gave the presentation at one of the events.

Ligman explained that each of the regional events is organized by local Soil and Water Conservation District Conservation Educators. Each all-day regional event draws an average of 20 teams which attend a series of presentations on five topics and then are tested on each subject, including a hands-on component. "It was an incredible opportunity for us to tell the story about impacts caused by recreation on public lands." Ligman explained, I tailored my presentation to Indiana and talked about the impacts to caves, karst and to wetlands and watersheds as well as all the usual impacts of recreation; but across North America each state was doing the same thing."

The top three teams, (four if there were any ties) from each of the regional competitions went to the state competition held at the Minnetrista Cultural Center in Muncie, Indiana. "This," said Ligman "Is where it REALLY gets cool." Each team at the state competition had to take another version of a test on each of the five core subjects including an outdoor component with test questions. "But the real meat of the competition was the presentation," said Ligman.

Each team was required to do a 20 minute presentation. The problem they were given was to select a tract of public land in their local community that was under-developed and to assume the role of a planning committing to develop a recreational plan for the property. Every member of the team had to participate equally and make use of maps, photographs, zoning ordinances, budgets, graphs, etc. "Those presentations were phenomenal!" said Ligman. The committee posed as the town planning board that they had to present their plan to, and served as the judges for the presentation. "It was really hard to pick, because there were so many amazing presentations and those kids had worked so hard on their presentations," said Ligman. "I swear they had put as much time into their plans as we do some of our environmental assessments and tried to think of everything that we might ask, and gotten opinions and facts from experts in different fields. It was just very impressive how hard those teams had worked on their plans and how they'd dug into the project and really come up with some great ideas."

Ligman said people often wonder if people are listening when they make presentations. As she sat with the judges listening to the presentations she was pleased how many of the techniques and suggestions she'd made in her presentation weeks before at the regional competitions had been wrapped into different recreation plans. "One judge said they didn't know where that boot brush station idea came from, but boot brush stations to wipe invasive seeds off shoes at trailheads showed up in almost every plan," said Ligman. "It made me laugh because that was one of the examples I gave for mitigating invasive problems. She said there were also a lot of signs proposed to warn fishermen not to dump their bait or requiring anglers to buy their bait at the local nature center. "It did my heart good to know that the kids had gotten several of the messages!"

A team from Clinton County won the Envirothon for 2008. They scored high marks on the written tests but clinched the competition with their presentation to take an abandoned industrial park and dump and clean it up and create a city park and ball field. "This group had their presentation choreographed down to the minute and had done an incredible amount of research on how to accomplish their goal including paving their parking lot with a new material that absorbs rainwater - so as not to disrupt the watershed." Ligman acknowledges that though the Envirothon teams may have learned from her, it was inconsequential to what she learned from them.