Have you seen our new video?

 

Please join us at Alden Research Laboratories in Holden MA on Saturday April 7 for our spring workshop.

Registration opens at 8:45.

Concurrent sessions with ample time for hands-on learning at all 4 station areas: Wildlife, Water, Soil and Forestry as well as the 2018 Current Issue: Partnering with Nature in Watersheds.

2018_Alden_workshop Final Agenda

9:00 – Welcome

9:15-10:25 Concurrent Session 1

10:30-11:40 Concurrent Session 2

11:45-12:15 Lunch – Bring your own lunch

12:15-12:55 Keynote in Auditorium

1-3:30 Mini-Envirothon

Curious about what to expect on competition day? Want to try out some questions to see if you’re ready? Teams will visit 4 stations for 25 minutes each. Short hands-on tests will be administered and then discussed at Forest, Water, Wildlife and Soil.  The Current Issue station will get teams to review their research so far and think about what it will take to make an effective presentation.

To Register, send an email to massenvirothon@gmail.com with a list of student names. Final numbers must be received by Wednesday March 28.

We had 71 students and 19 coaches from 12 teams attend the Feb 9 workshop. Maggie Payne taught the soils sessions, Pam Landry taught teams how to use a field guide and how to determine wildlife habitat from aerial photographs, Kelley Freda did water quality and a special session on how to design a rain garden,  Joe Perry’s crews were (of course) loudly enthusiastic identifying and measuring trees, and many folks had fun working with the stream table with Christine Hatch from UMass Extension. MWCC staff were welcoming and easy to work with- a big thanks to Mt Wachusett Community College for hosting us!

Agenda

https://www.flickr.com/photos/maenvirothon/albums/72157688138402390

Please join us Friday February 9, 2018 at Mt Wachusett Community College in Gardner.

Registration opens at 8.

Concurrent sessions with ample time for hands-on learning at all 4 station areas: Wildlife, Water, Soil and Forestry as well as the 2018 Current Issue: Partnering with Nature in Watersheds.

Full Agenda

8:40 – Welcome

8:50-10:20 Concurrent Session 1

10:25-11:50 Concurrent Session 2

11:50-12:25 Lunch – Bring your own or try the Cafeteria line- lots of great choices!

12:30-2:00 Concurrent Session 3

To Register, send an email to massenvirothon@gmail.com with a list of student names. Final numbers must be received by Monday January 29.

Directions to Mt Wachusett Community College

Park in Lot C  (parking lot map)

Enter into the South Cafeteria

Fall Workshop for Coaches and Teams

UMass Amherst Campus Center

Wednesday, November 15, 2017

Link to UMass article

Kick off the 2017-2018 Envirothon year with this introductory workshop.

• Learn about this year’s current issue: Partnering with Nature in Watersheds
• Get started on ecostation topics: soil, water, wildlife, and forest
• Bond with your teammates and meet other students and coaches from across the state
• Have fun and check out UMass Amherst!

UMass.17.18 Final Agenda

8:30 Registration opens, teams are paired with UMass students for a welcome as they arrive.

9 – 2:15 Introduction followed by four concurrent sessions with a lunch break.

Current Issue topics and speakers:

• Getting Started on your Community Research – Will Snyder (UMass Extension)
• Forests -The Living Filter – Paul Barten  (UMass Department of Environ. Conservation)
• Forest patches in a developing landscape: structure, function, importance (Field session) – Lena Fletcher (UMass Dept. of Environ. Conservation)
• Managing runoff and water quality with a green-infrastructure, a landscape approach – Jack Ahern  (UMass Landscape Architecture and Regional Planning)
• Wetland Functions & Wetland Soils – Deborah Henson (UMass Environmental Science Program)
• Climate change, flooding and Riversmart Communities – Christine E. Hatch ( UMass Dept of Geosciences)
• Natural Remedies for Pollution in Massachusetts Watersheds – Paula Rees (UMass College of Engineering)
• Green Infrastructure:  Cleansing and Managing Stormwater – Mark Lindhult (UMass Landscape Architecture and Regional Planning)
• How Climate Change and Land Use are Affecting Watershed Systems – Timothy Randhir  (Department of Environ. Conservation)
• Dams, Urbanization, Climate Change, and Fish – Rebecca Quiñones, Ph.D. (MassWildlife Rivers and Streams Project Leader)
• Thinking Globally and Acting Locally:  The Role of Conservation Commissions in Protecting Wetlands, Open Space and Water Resources – Dorothy A. McGlincy, Executive Director  & Michèle A. Girard, Associate Director and Education Coordinator, Massachusetts Association of Conservation Commissions
• Effective Community Advocacy 101 & Maximizing Ecosystem Services: Watershed Scale Conservation – Stefanie Covino, Coordinator of Shaping the Future of Your Community Program, Mass Audubon
• Citizen Watershed Groups – Jennifer Bowman, Connecticut River Conservancy
• Study tour of Morrill Courtyard- C. Kim Jaworski-Bruschi, (UMass Facilities)
• Green Roof Tour of Integrated Learning Center- Lauren Healey, (student,  UMass Department of Environmental Conservation)
• Study Tour of the UMass John W. Olver Design Building – Stormwater Management Infrastructure- Paul Barten (UMass Department of Environmental Conservation)Sara Lawler (UMass Dept of Landscape Architecture and Regional Planning), &
  Peggi Clouston, (UMass Department of Environmental Conservation)

And introductory workshops by Envirothon curriculum leaders:

Forest: Joe Perry, Mass Department of Conservation & Recreation (Forestry)

Wildlife:  Pam Landry, MassWildlife

Water:  Kelley Freda, Mass Department of Conservation & Recreation (Water Supply Protection)

Soil:  Al Averill, USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service

 

This workshop is free for registered teams. All other schools need to pay $10 per participant- these fees will be deducted from your annual program registration.  Contact Brita Dempsey, Mass Envirothon Coordinator, for details. massenvirothon@gmail.com. Students should bring a lunch or plan on purchasing one at one of many UMass eateries. Parking is available at a small cost at the UMass parking garage. School buses and vehicles with state plates park for free – call for specific parking information.

Download the sign up form: UMass workshop mini agenda17.1

Join Kelley Freda, Environmental Analyst with the DCR-Division of Water Supply Protection for a tour and discussion of several structural best management practices (BMPs) around the Wachusett Reservoir watershed.  We will visit several raingardens, an infiltration basin, a large bioretention area, and gravel wetland.  This will be a great introduction to this year’s current issue topic on the use of green infrastructure and environmental engineering!  Although the tour will be fairly informal, Kelley will talk about how each works, why they were constructed, some design considerations, the differences between them, and of course, some water quality.  We will need to drive to a couple of close by locations as not all are within walking distance.

You are all welcome to stay and explore and observe the watershed after the tour. We have a bog (Poutwater Pond), beaver ponds, streams, wetlands and historical areas.

Meet at DCR Main office, 180 Beaman Street, West Boylston at the flagpole entrance parking lot.

Three tour dates are offered:

Sunday, October 8, 2017 1:30-4 Columbus Day weekend (The Wachusett Reservoir Dam located in Clinton is also open to the public to walk across the top on this day from 10-1. It only happens 2 times a year! Bring your cameras if you plan on staying)

Thursday, October 12, 2017 4-6pm

Saturday, October 14, 2017 10-12am

Tours are free, but you MUST register in advance, at least 3 days before the tour.

Five members of the Lexington High School Envirothon team traveled to Maryland with their coach to represent Massachusetts at the 2017 NCF Envirothon.  They had a great time and came in 15^th place overall.  Here is a video they put together describing their year and the competition:

Congratulations, Lexington!

LINCOLN, Mass., May 18, 2017 – The message from teenagers who participated in this year’s Massachusetts Envirothon environmental education program was clear: local agriculture is booming in Massachusetts. For the past school year, they’ve been researching farming in their communities – from urban community gardens to rural orchards and pastures, from row crops to working forests – and assessing its benefits and its effects on local land and water resources, ecosystems and biodiversity.

Those 250 students from nearly 40 Massachusetts communities converged on Mass Audubon’s Drumlin Farm Wildlife Sanctuary in Lincoln, Mass. on Thursday, May 18^th to compete in the 30th annual Massachusetts Envirothon. At the event, they presented what they’ve learned about agricultural soil and water conservation, and tested their knowledge of the area’s soils, forests, water, and wildlife.

At the outdoor field competition event, teams rotated through four “ecostations” where they answered written questions and engaged in hands-on activities such as soil analysis, wildlife habitat assessment, tree identification, and water quality measures. Each team had up to 10 participants and split into specialized sub-teams during the competition, each focusing their efforts at different ecostations.

At the fifth station, the Current Issue, each team gave a 15 minute presentation to a panel of judges about their research into “Agricultural Soil and Water Conservation” in their own community.  Each panel of judges included concerned citizens and environmental professionals from government agencies, non-profit organizations, academia and private industry. Teams were asked to assess the potential for producing local food, given the soil, water, and people resources in their community, and to recommend what might be done to protect and enhance soil health and water quality at the same time.

This year’s top scoring teams are:

Overall Score

1st place	Lexington High School
2nd place	Newton South High School
3rd place	Newton North High School

Current Issue Presentation

1st place	Newton North High School
2nd place	Lexington High School
3rd place (tie)	Leicester High School Brockton High School / Wildland Trust
4th place	Shepherd Hill Regional High School
5th place	Dighton Rehoboth Regional High School

 Forestry Ecostation

1st place	Lexington High School
2nd place	Newton North High School
3rd place	Newton South High School
4th place	Essex Technical High School
5th place	Bristol County Agricultural High School

Wildlife Ecostation

1st place	Lexington High School
2nd place (tie)	Newton South High School Acton-Boxborough Regional High School
3rd place	Newton North High School
4th place	Essex Technical High School
5th place	Pioneer Valley Regional High School

Water Ecostation

1st place	Newton South High School
2nd place	Essex Technical High School
3rd place	Lexington High School
4th place	Newton North High School
5th place (tie)	Rockland High School Innovation Academy Charter School

Soils Ecostation

1st place	Newton South High School
2nd place	Deerfield Academy
3rd place	Lexington High School
4th place	Doherty Memorial High School
5th place	Worcester Technical High School

“For years, the Envirothon has been challenging Massachusetts students in an effort to educate and prepare solutions for environmental,” said Energy and Environmental Affairs Secretary Matthew Beaton. “By engaging today’s youth on subjects such as farming, we are ensuring the next generation will have the passion, dedication, and desire to ensure Massachusetts’ agricultural sector continues to thrive in every region of the state.”

“These teams work hard getting to know their local ecosystems and how their communities depend on them. We test their scientific knowledge, but we also like to hear their stories about how they have gotten muddy, cold, and tired, and otherwise had fun and fallen in love with nature in their neighborhood. The best hope for the future comes from engaged, scientifically literate citizens who care about their communities and the environment,” said Massachusetts Envirothon Steering Committee Chair Will Snyder of the University of Massachusetts Center for Agriculture, Food and the Environment.

“Envirothon makes environment science relevant to students’ lives by connecting them to real places, real environmental issues, and real people who are working to protect the environment. It demonstrates how scientific understanding of how natural systems work can inform and inspire solutions to the environmental challenges we face today and in the future,” said Kris Scopinich, Director of Education, Mass Audubon. “We could not be more thrilled to have hosted the next generation of conservation leaders at Mass Audubon’s Drumlin Farm. These students inspire all of us and keep us hopeful for our future.”

“The Envirothon is more than just a competition about environmental knowledge.  Many teams have taken what they’ve learned and put it to work in an action/service project in their community.  The program aims to prepare the next generation for the stewardship work that needs to be done,” said Snyder. “And this annual competition actually becomes a festive gathering of the environmental community of Massachusetts. At informal lunchtime roundtables after the competition, teams will share stories from their EnviroTreks – places they visited, people they talked to, outdoor experiences, and service projects – during the past year.”

The 2017 Massachusetts Envirothon was made possible through the contributions of partnering agencies and organizations, including financial support from the Massachusetts Executive Office of Energy & Environmental Affairs, the U.S. Forest Service, the Massachusetts Grange, Environmental Business Council of New England, Wegman’s supermarkets and local conservation districts.

Fifteen federal and state environmental agencies, conservation districts, non-profit organizations, higher educational institutions, and businesses provide expertise and help organize the event. Dozens of volunteers were also on hand to handle all the event logistics from setting up tents, tables and chairs, checking-in teams, serving food, scoring tests and cleaning up.

For more information on the Massachusetts Envirothon visit www.massenvirothon.org.