Tucson School Wins Arizona Envirothon

April 7, 2025 - Arizona high schoolers demonstrated their mastery of environmental principles and problem solving at the 2025 Arizona Envirothon competition.  A team from Basis Tucson North took top honors.  Red Mountain High School (Mesa) and Arizona Agribusiness and Equine Center – Paradise Valley earned silver and bronze.  

Fifteen Arizona high school teams met at Tonto Creek Camp (Tontozona) on Friday to test their field skills in aquatic ecology, water quality, forestry and wildlife management, soil science, land use and agriculture.  On Saturday, teams presented to judges their recommended strategies for forest management along the Mogollon Rim considering climate change driven temperature increases and changing precipitation patterns.  Students studied the values of forest products and ecosystems to Native Americans and suggested ways to learn from indigenous forest management, and to bring tribal involvement into landscape-level forest management.  

The top students’ recommendations considered diverse aspects of forest management, from microbial soil health and changing plant and wildlife communities to socioeconomics and legislative needs for addressing sustainable forest management.  They identified future desirable forests types and conditions, and appropriate thinning and controlled burns to achieve healthy forests and local natural resource based economies.  

The Basis Tucson North champions will represent Arizona at the international NCF Envirothon, at Mount Royal University in Calgary, Alberta, Canada in July 20 - 26.  Team members include Celine Liu, Jimmy Kwon, Eddie Tsai, Sabine Barbour, Andrew Wu, and Coach John-Paul Mann.  

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