Root

UTS Competes at
the North American
Envirothon
In the (fictional) town of Cloverdale,
Ontario, a difficult fiscal year has
put urban tree maintenance at risk.
As a member of the Urban Forest
Advisory Committee, you are
tasked with providing direction and
recommendations to the municipality
on how to handle the care and planting
of trees and the urban forest, in both
the older downtown area and newer
outlying developments. That’s the gist
of just one of the challenges faced by
the UTS Envirothon team at the Ontario
competition last year. And armed with
paper, pens, and flip chart, the group
was sequestered for several hours in
order to devise a plan that they then
presented to a team of experts.
The mission of the North American
Envirothon – an annual competition
that takes place all over the USA and
Canada – is to develop in young people
an understanding of the principles
of natural resource management and
ecology, as well as provide practice
in dealing with complex resourcemanagement
decisions. During the
competition, which begins at a regional
level and escalates to an international
event, teams of five students compete
in written and practical tests of
environmental knowledge and skills.
All have general ecology knowledge,
but each team member also specializes
in one of five areas: wildlife, aquatics,
forestry, and soils, plus a “special” topic
each year. In 2015, the special topic was
urban forestry.
UTS teams have participated in the
Envirothon for over 14 years, and have
earned the Ontario championship title
in four of the last six years. Students
start training as early October of their
F2 (grade 8) year, although joining in
M4 (grade 10) is more common. Weekly
meetings, in which experienced students
serve as leaders to new participants,
have students learning new content
and practical skills (soil analysis, bird
identification, forestry measurements
and management decisions) that go
far beyond the regular curriculum. In
the Toronto East regional competition
this spring (2015), the UTS A and B
teams won first and second places
respectively. This qualified Team A for
provincials in Lindsay and, from there,
the international competition.
The Envirothon is generously
supported by regional hosts and
partners – locally, this is Forests
Ontario – who take turns hosting the
international event. In July 2015, with
financial assistance from UTSPA, UTSAA,
Forests Ontario, and individual donors,
the UTS team – accompanied by UTS
science teachers Elizabeth Straszynski
Photo by Theresa Dunlap, Envirothon Missouri Host Group
Top: Members of the UTS Envirothon team at the international competition in Missouri, July 2015.
L-R: Fariba Ishrar, UTS teachers Elizabeth Straszynski and Daniel Genesee, Olivia Anderson-Clarke,
Christina Brinza, Daniele Privé, and Kuhan Jeyapragasan. Bottom: Prepping at UTS. L-R: Chris Wai
of Forests Ontario, Daniele, Fariba, Elizabeth Straszynski, Christina, and Kuhan.
and Daniel Genesee – traveled to
steamy Springfield, Missouri to pit their
ecological wits against 53 other teams in
the international final. Identifying species
and interpreting habitats and issues in
Missouri – a very different ecosystem
from Ontario – proved particularly
challenging. Nevertheless, and despite
a relatively young team, UTS finished
as the top-performing Canadian team
and 14th overall. This success and the
learning experiences gained – not to
mention the home field advantage –
augur well for the future: next year’s
international final will be hosted by
Trent University in Peterborough, ON. n
THE UTS ALUMNI MAGAZINE
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