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Arlington High Wins International Envirothon!
For the first time in 22 years, California’s team has won the North American Envirothon. Riverside’s Arlington High School team, the American Lions, demonstrated their environmental science knowledge, competing against teams from 45 states and nine Canadian provinces.
The American Lions team won the statewide competition in April, 2010, which qualified them to represent California in the international competition. The American Lions team includes Elizabeth Murry, Elijah Kenan, Kristen Treat, Cory Davis, captain Alexis Wood, and alternate Ashley Pham. Their award-winning science teacher is Sherri Harris. Their advisors include Vice-principal Brian Frost and parent Diane Stephens.
The North American Canon Envirothon was held in California August 1-6, 2010 at Cal State University Fresno and Reedley College. The Canon Envirothon is North America's largest high school environmental education competition. 270 teenagers participated in the hands-on competition which was created to help high school students learn about natural resource management. Working as a team, students devise solutions for environmental problems in the fields of aquatics ecology, forestry, soils and land use, wildlife, and a specially selected topic. The 2010 topic was Protection of Groundwater Through Urban, Agricultural and Environmental Planning.
The Riverside-Corona Resource Conservation District sponsored its local teams, including the American Lions, and coordinated training by resource professionals. We would like to thank the resource professionals who gave of their time and expertise to help train the local and winning teams:
| Soils: |
Peter Fahnestock, Soil Scientist for the Natural Resources Conservation Service |
| Wildlife: |
James Bryant, Curator of Natural History at the Riverside Metropolitan Museum |
| Forestry: |
John Gomez, Forester with US Forest Service |
Aquatics:
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Erin Snyder, Outreach and Volunteer Coordinator, Riverside-Corona Resource Conservation District |
| Current Issue: |
Bill Rice, Engineering Geologist from the Santa Ana Regional Water Quality Control Board
Greg Woodside, Orange County Water District |
In addition to learning about environmental issues affecting our natural resources, teams competed for a share of more than $125,000 in educational scholarships as well as Canon products.
The competition is sponsored by CANON, USA, and was organized by the National Association of Conservation Districts, the United States Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) and Forest Service, and by the Provincial Forestry Associations in Canada. The California Envirothon Committee, the California Association of Resource Conservation Districts, and NRCS coordinated the international event in Fresno. Many community members donated funds to support the team’s travel expenses.
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