Christina Tran, Jai Mashru, Jennifer Allen, Zachary Savage and Dion Desserre warm up after a long, rainy day of work at Blue Lake.

Five students from Dryden High School took part in the Regional Envirothon on Friday, April 8.  Up against two other teams from Kenora, the Dryden students took first place as well as the opportunity to advance to the Provincial Envirothon in St. George, ON May 4 to 7.Christina Tran, Jai Mashru, Jennifer Allen, Zachary Savage and Dion Desserre travelled to Blue Lake to compete in the five different categories including Soils, Forestry, Wildlife, Aquatics and the special category of Fresh and Salt Water Estuaries.Kathy Boone, Environmental Education Curriculum Special Assignment Teacher for Keewatin-Patricial District School Board (KPDSB) says, “Envirothon is a program sponsored by the Ontario Forestry Association, is an international program that involves high school students.  The intent is to introduce students to the environment, different aspects of the environment, and to environmental professionals and careers.”Each member of the five-person team becomes an expert in one of the five areas, and the group spends the year preparing before competition in the regional level.  “There’s also an oral presentation part where they get a chance to take information from all the different areas of expertise and pull it together to show that they see the relationships between it all.  The oral presentation is always something to do with the special topic,” said Boone.Jill Van Walleghem, Biologist from the Ministry of Natural Resources (MNR) says in the Aquatics category, the students were tested on hydro-electric advantages and disadvantages, identifying different fish species, different impacts on the aquatic environment, and basic species.Dorothy Bruner, the acting area Biologist for the Dryden MNR explained the soil category as soils testing, PH levels, soil ribboning, textures, and drawing horizons of the soil pit.Boone says at the wildlife station, the students were to identify a variety of Boreal wildlife species including birds and animals, as well as being tested on a variety of forest and resource management strategies that would benefit wildlife.“The intent is that they understand how humans can exist and use the forest and at the same time ensure that wildlife habitat is maintained and improved in many cases,” said Boone.Penny Ratushniak, Forester from Domtar explains the Forestry category as forest management planning, measuring trees in the forest, taking measurements of heights, ages and diameters of trees, the species of trees of the Boreal Forest, the type of forestry that takes place in the Boreal Forest and third party certification.More information can be found about the Provincial Envirothon at www.ontarioenvirothon.ca.

By Ally Dunham