FLAGSTAFF’S SINAGUA HIGH SCHOOL WINS ARIZONA ENVIROTHON

Will Represent State at North American Competition

Five Sinagua High School seniors returned the Arizona Envirothon championship crown to Flagstaff at the conclusion of the statewide environmental competition Saturday at Roper Lake State Park and Discovery Park near Safford, Arizona.  The Sinagua students and coaches will receive an expense-paid trip to represent Arizona against other state and Canadian provincial champions at the Canon Envirothon at University of North Carolina in Asheville, August 2-8. 

Second place honors went to Tucson’s University High School and Gilbert’s Highland High School placed third.  A total of 10 teams from Vail, Tucson, Mesa, Phoenix, Flagstaff and Gilbert participated in the two-day event. 

Teams tested their skills in water quality assessment, hydrology, forest management, wildlife identification and ecology, agriculture, soil sciences, and waste management along the banks of Discovery Park pond and a downstream riparian forest.  They were then assigned a real-world environmental challenge – developing a restoration plan for a large area that had burned along the San Pedro River – focusing on this year’s theme of biodiversity in a changing world.  Each team presented its plan for restoring the working landscape to a panel of natural resource professionals and responded to judges’ questions. 

Sinagua High School teachers Kathy Flaccus and Julie Vlieg coached the winning seniors Dustin Hamilton, Natalie Lucas, Jackson Parnell, Austin Johnson and Greg Porter.  The team will continue its weekly preparation sessions for the Canon Envirothon, focusing on the biodiversity of the Appalachian region and the effects of dam building, a wildfire, oil spills, forest cutting and climate change. 

Sinagua team captain Greg Porter emphasizes that in developing community-based solutions to environmental issues “different stakeholders each want their own justice.  But we need to find a zone of agreement to move forward to solve problems and allow everyone to leave the table satisfied.”  He added “to be successful, we need to make sure no one is left out on the front porch.” 

Invited competition judge, Jay Howe, Gila Watershed Partnership chairman, said “[s]eeing these presentations renewed my faith in this generation as being competent stewards of the environment for the future.  I’ve never seen the interest level, the sincerity and the genuine desire to do something with the environment that these kids came up with.  They were very creative and resourceful.”

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Note to Editors:  Photo support is available by contacting Jeff Humphrey (602-242-0210 x 222).

Student quotes and team coach contact information are attached. 

News media are invited to contact team coaches in their area to cover event participation.

 Student and judge quotes regarding the Arizona Envirothon and 2009 biodiversity theme: 

“Biodiversity – I had to think about what it meant the first time I heard it.  It’s the different species in an area.”  “We can’t have everything looking like a city – we need places with the original species.”

Jesus Lopez, Red Mountain High School (Mesa, Ariz.), sophomore

“If we had to put a price on it, we’d realize that biodiversity is priceless.”  “Biodiversity is the various creatures that have the adaptations to be all together in one place.”

Ian Yares – Gateway Early College (Phoenix, Ariz)

“In preparation for Envirothon, we worked with Willow Bend Nature Center to learn water testing, and professors and guest speakers helped in soil identification and forest studies.

Jenna Dobrick– Flagstaff High School

“Studying outdoors allowed us to learn real-world applications.”

Elias Tooh – Flagstaff High School

 “Diverse wildlife is an indicator of whether our environment is stable.”

Jeffrey Rojo – Highland High School (Mesa, Ariz.)

“Biodiversity is all of the desert animals, plants and even insects in our area.”  “We should each do our part to preserve biodiversity by becoming involved in service projects, like buffel grass removal and invasive species control.”

Ross Ferguson – Cienega High School (Vail, Ariz.), junior

In developing a plan for environmental restoration, “we identified labor-intensive, shovel-ready projects.  Volunteer and community support to monitor revegetation and song bird diversity is essential to long-term restoration success.”

Carter Smith – University High School (Tucson, Ariz.)

“Our team members are city people, hunters and wildlife rehabilitators.  We were a great balance and we’ll be back next year.”

Emma Holland – Arizona Agribusiness & Equine Center (Phoenix, Ariz.), sophomore

In Envirothon, everything is done as a team unit.  We learned to break apart difficult problems and really solve them as a team.”

Samantha Bushong – Gilbert High School, senior

“Different stakeholders each want their own justice.  But we need to find a zone of agreement to move forward to solve problems and allow everyone to leave the table satisfied.”  “To be successful, we need to make sure no one is left out on the front porch.”

Greg Porter – Sinagua High School (Flagstaff, Ariz.), senior

“Seeing these presentations renewed my faith in this generation as being competent stewards of the environment for the future.  I’ve been involved with educational outreach at the schools and I’ve never seen the interest level, the sincerity and the genuine desire to do something with the environment that these kids came up with.  They were very creative and resourceful.”

Jay Howe, Chairman – Gila Watershed Partnership

Arizona Envirothon is an environmental education program, leading to an annual competition for high school students. In the field, students are challenged to work as a team to answer written questions and conduct hands-on projects focusing on environmental issues.  Students from across Arizona join together to explore the environment in five disciplines: Forestry, Wildlife, Aquatics, Soils and a current environmental issue.

The winning team from the Arizona Envirothon goes on to the national Canon Envirothon competition, where students can win college scholarships and numerous Canon products. Envirothon helps students become more involved in conserving our natural resources, thus helping to preserve our environment in the future.

Biodiversity in a Changing World

By: Linda Dee Diamantides

The 2009 focus issue is “Biodiversity in a Changing World.”  This is an issue that certainly merits exploration.  First, let’s define biodiversity.  According to the dictionary, it is the variety and abundance of species, genetic composition, and the natural communities, ecosystems and landscapes in which they occur.

Scientists say that there are anywhere from 15-100 million
species in the world.  This figure takes into account the
diversity of microscopic organisms that have yet to be explored. 

The Benefits
So why is biodiversity so important?  First of all, it benefits us in so many ways.  Biodiversity gives us food, fuel, medicines and countless products!  And if that weren’t enough, there is also what scientists refer to as ‘nature services’ …services that benefit mankind as well.  Consider trees that clean our air; wetlands that act as nature’s clean water filters; the sun that drives the food web; nutrient cycling (i.e., nitrogen, phosphorus); the water cycle that purifies fresh water; the oxygen cycle interconnected to  plants and animals; waste decomposition for soil generation, and more

A loss of biodiversity lessens the capacity of nature cycles to generate ecosystem services.  The ecosystem as a whole becomes less effective and is more vulnerable to extreme conditions (i.e., droughts, floods) 

The Challenges
So what are some of the factors that lessen biodiversity?  Let’s consider the following:               

·         Explosive population growth

·         Insatiable resource consumption

·         Notable climate change

·         Dramatic habitat loss

·         Expanding invasive species

·         Ongoing environmental degradation 

                                                                                                                                                                           Reference: Biodiversity Project