MICHIGAN ENVIROTHON

 

 

2010 Michigan Envirothon State Competition

The Michigan Envirothon State Competition moves to the beautiful Leelanau Peninsula in 2010. It will take place at the Leelanau Outdoor Center in Maple City on May 13 and 14. The center is set on 220 acres abutting the shoreline of Lake Michigan, in the heart of Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore. We look forward to seeing you there!

To visit the Leelanau Outdoor Center website, click here

 

 

2009 Michigan Envirothon State Competition

 

Lake Orion High School Team from Oakland County Wins the 2009 Michigan Envirothon!

A team of students from Lake Orion High School won the Michigan Envirothon state competition held May 14 and 15 at Michigan State University. The team will now represent Michigan at the North American Canon Envirothon held this year in Asheville, North Carolina in August. The Lake Orion team finished first among 23 teams from across the state that competed against each other on their knowledge and skills of conservation topics. Finishing second in the competition was the FFA Team from Webberville High School followed by a team from Glen Lake High School. In addition to representing Michigan at the Canon North American Envirothon at the University of North Carolina at Asheville, each winning team member received a $2,500 scholarship to MSU. The team members include Colin Freeman, Shane Freeman, Adam Gleason, Jake Gleason, Brad James and Tyler Walton. During the competition on the MSU campus, teams were tested in an outdoors, hands‐on setting, on seven conservation topics including, agriculture, aquatic ecology, energy, forestry, soils/geology, wildlife and the 2009 Envirothon environmental issue “Biodiversity in a Changing World”. Each team also completed a community outreach project prior to the competition that addressed a natural resources concern in their community. The team from Lake Orion High School, whose team name was “Phragadocious”, addressed invasive species for their community outreach project. In particular they studied invasive species encroaching their school’s tennis courts.

View images from the 2009 Michigan Envirothon Competition and pictures of all the winning teams, visit the MACD Flickr site.

 

2009 Michigan Envirothon Community Outreach Projects

One major component of the Michigan Envirothon competition are the Community Outreach Projects. Each team completes a Community Outreach Project, where they identify an environmental issue in their local community and address that issue through hands-on training and community education. At the State Competition the teams give an oral presentation of their Community Outreach Project to a panel of judges.
The following projects were successfully completed by the 23 teams that competed at the State Competition:

1. Two school greening projects to reduce energy usage and costs.
2. Three school gardens to raise the awareness of home vegetable gardens, to start a planning project with elementary school kids and to decrease the honey bee Colony Collapse Disorder.
3. Four compost and recycling programs in schools and a hospital to reduce the amount of garbage that goes into landfills.
4. Three projects to educate local elementary school on environmental topics such as water preservation, recycling and soils.
5. First school in the state that became MAEAP verified. MAEAP = Michigan Agriculture Environmental Assurance Project
6. Started an outdoor adventure club for elementary and middle school students.
7. Restored a wetland and woodland to present an opportunity for a diverse ecosystem and useful teaching resource
8. Development of a brochure for one of the trails at the Sleeping Bear Dunes National Park.
9. Reduced community’s carbon foot print with a tool that minimizes energy use and its costs.
10. Addressed the growing problem of invasive species to restore biodiversity.
11. Worked with legislator to create new legislation to implement more medical waste disposal sites.
12. Started a goose banding project in order to figure out migration patterns and population numbers to decrease the high E.coli levels in surface water due to high populations of geese.
13. Provided an Emerald Ash Borer Preparedness Plan of the Caro Exchange Club Forest to provide accurate information that the Exchange Club Committee will utilize in future silviculture.
14. Two Storm Drain Stenciling Projects

 

2009 Community Outreach Project Winners

The following teams scored the highest on the Community Outreach Project portion of the State Competition:

1st Place – Iron Mountain/Kingsford High School, Team Merlin
Ryan and Renee Johnson, Rose Hruska, Catherine Holmes, and Courtney Wilson. Their team advisor is Ann Hruska.

Project Name: Operation Clothesline
The purpose of the project was to help the community minimize its use and the high costs of energy. Hanging out laundry is a simple way to save energy that involves the whole family in an environmentally friendly practice. The result can be a decreased use of fossil fuel and the amount of carbon dioxide being released into the atmosphere. The goal of Operation Clothesline was to reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 3.1 tons per year (10 families of 4 hanging out 5 loads a week).

Most people in the community did not have clotheslines, and the team set out to assist people to install them. The team bought poles and installed them with a $2000 grant received from the Community Outreach Project from the Dickinson Area Community Foundation. To insure that people would actually use the clotheslines, Team Merlin gave them a contract to sign promising they would hang a minimum of 20 loads this summer. 

Team Merlin had a number of partners in their project:

• The Dickinson Conservation District wrote a grant, provided guidance, postage, paper, and administered the funds.
• The Dickinson Area Community Foundation granted $2000 to purchase materials and installation.
• Kingsford High School and Iron Mountain High School helped publicize the project and teachers gave the team tips on how to write the partner paperwork.
• Peterson’s Welding constructed the T-poles at a reasonable price.
• Community Partners were the major contributors to our project by agreeing to split the cost and install the clotheslines.

The community has accepted the project well. The Merlin Team reported: “They thought the idea was unusual and were very thankful for our contribution. We had interest from about 18 people, and ten people have paid for the clotheslines and agreed to the terms. These people will continue to save as long as they use the clothesline. This may also encourage neighbors to get clotheslines and we may see other people using clotheslines instead of their dryers and multiply the energy savings!”

 

2nd Place – Branch Area Careers Center - BACC1
Kelli Fulkerson, Garrett Walters, Luke Sharp, Karice Hard, Charlie Harvey and Zac McGlothlen. Their team advisor is Bill Earl.

Project Name: MAEAP Phase II – Farmstead and Livestock Verification

In May 2008 the Branch Area Career Center's land lab was officially MAEAP (Michigan's Agriculture Environmental Assurance Program) verified. The Envirothon Team wanted to complete the process by becoming verified in two other areas. Their project focused on the Farm-A-Syst portion (Appendix A) and the livestock area of the MAEAP verification program. Their farm location sits within the city limits of Coldwater, MI. This process required the assistance of several agencies. This is the final stage for this 2 year project.

With the help from Melanie Stoughton, Ameri-Corps Groundwater Technician, Joe Kelpinski, MDA MAEAP Verifier, and BISD, the members of the BACC FFA Envirothon team were able to develop a plan of action to become MAEAP Verified. Careful planning was used in identifying problem areas and then finding the equipment and money necessary to correct the problems. The team met with city officials, the Branch County Drain Commissioner, and the BISD Administration to put their plan into action. The BISD requires that all programs that are expensive are charted on a 3 year plan worksheet. This was completed in cooperation with their teacher.

The BACC1 Team reported: “We are PROUD to say that this project has made a real change for the better for our school, city, community, and all of the residents downstream in the St. Joseph River watershed.”

 

3rd Place – Sault Area High School, Team Envirothugs
Sam Strahl, Emily Gadzinski, Megan Stan, Laura Gamble, Alex Pink, Kaleb Kotsko, Alex Zimmerman and Alex Boyer. Their team advisors are Johanna Nugent and Amanda Bosak.

Project Name: Going Green: Starting a High School Plastic Recycling Program

The purpose of the project was to start a plastic recycling program at Sault Area High School. Rather than throwing away plastic products, Team Envirothugs wanted to demonstrate to the staff and approximately 1000 students that recycling is a better alternative.

The team took several steps to establish the recycling program at Sault Area High School including collecting data through a survey of students to find out how much plastic waste the school was generating. They asked - how often they purchased plastic containers; what they did with them after they were done. 

They received the following answers:

• Fifty-four percent of the 227 people surveyed bought a plastic bottle/container from school each day. 
• An additional 16% bought at least one a week.  That’s about 2500 plastic items purchased at the school each week. 
• Most students (90%) who use plastic containers do not reuse or recycle them (at home). 
• Approximately 70% of students said they would recycle at school if the facilities were available.

After the survey results were tallied, the team began to implement the recycling program.  They met with the principal and he agreed that the school needs to recycle plastic. The team met with the school’s head of maintenance to plan out how to collect the bottles and transport them to the local recycling center. The team also helped the school obtain recycling bins and decide where to place bins around the school. Finally, they raised awareness for the plastic recycling program through posters and the school’s daily announcements.

Twelve bins were purchased and the bins are emptied by team members at the end of each week. Waste Management which collects the trash for the school now collects the recycling as well at no cost to the school. The custodial staff has agreed to continue to maintain the plastic recycling bins if the team disbands some day.

Team Envirothugs reported: “Plastics are a huge part of day to day life, and schools are no exception.  Our hope is that we can help reduce the school’s waste through our plastic recycling program, as well as work to protect and improve our environment.  We hope this program can be sustained for many years to come, as we hope our environment can be.