ENVIR THON MASSACHUSETTS Thursday, May 16, 2013 , NorthENV EastonIR Mass.THON

Welcome!Whatever the weather, we accept the Envirothon challenge!

Every year, the Envirothon is a chance to test our knowledge and skills in the real world, outdoors.

We hold the Envirothon in a Massachusetts State Park to give you a chance to explore a landscape that we the people of Massachusetts have set aside to be protected and enjoyed by all. What state park or forest is in your neighborhood? The mansion at Borderland State Park On the day of the Envirothon you will find that you are a part of a larger This Year’s Registered Teams community – of young people and adults, Teams marked with an asterisk participated in this year’s program but are not competing today. from across our Commonwealth – who • 4H Envirothon Club • Rockport Environmental Action Team are ready to step up to improve the • Acton-Boxborough Regional High • Somerset Berkley Regional High environment in their community. It’s School School a good place to make new friends and • Bedford High School * • South Hadley High School connections. We’ve got lots of work to do. • Boston College High School • Southeastern Regional School District Thank you all for making this a great • Bristol County Agricultural High • Springfield Central High School year for Mass. Envirothon. Now: enjoy School * • Sutton High School the day. Push yourself to do your best. • David Prouty High School • Taconic High School * And take time to enjoy the people and park • Doherty Memorial High School • Tantasqua High School around you. • Greater New Bedford Regional Vo- • TechBoston Academy Tech High School Have a great day! • Weston/Land’s Sake • Greenfield High School • Worcester South Community High • Hopkinton High School • Worcester Technical High School Chair • Leicester High School Mass. Envirothon Steering Committee • Lexington High School Inside • Millbury Jr. Sr. High School Schedule...... 2 • Monson Environmental Action Team Steering Committee...... 2 2013 Current Issue • New Mission Academy Station Coordinators...... 2 Trees, Forests, and • Newton North High School What Happens at an Ecostation? ... 2 • Nipmuc Meet Our Host Site ...... 3 Sustainability Roundtables...... 3 • Oliver Ames High School 2013 Current Issue...... 4 • Pioneer Valley Regional School Current Issue Presentation Judges... 5 • Quabbin Regional High School Volunteers...... 6 • R.C. Mahar Regional High School Site Map...... 7 Sponsors...... 8 • Reading Memorial High School 2013 Massachusetts Envirothon Schedule Massachusetts Envirothon Steering Committee Will Snyder Chair, Massachusetts Envirothon Committee 7:30 - 8:30 Registration for volunteers University of Massachusetts Center for Agriculture/Extension and judges Susan Sacco Vice Chair, Massachusetts Envirothon Committee Registration for teams. Massachusetts Division of Fisheries and Wildlife (MassWildlife) Teams will be assigned Doris Wood Treasurer/Secretary, Massachusetts Envirothon Committee to their stations and presentation time. Tom Anderson Massachusetts Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs Team pictures Joe Perry Massachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation Clif Read Massachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation 8:00 Orientation for volunteers George Zoto Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection and judges Matthew Goode Suffolk County Conservation District 8:30 - 8:45 WELCOME and announcements Non-voting Steering Committee Members 9:00 - 10:05 First period Al Averill USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service 10:15 - 11:20 Second period Meg Colclough Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs Bill Dunham Belmont Enterprises 11:30 -12:35 Third period Kelley Freda Massachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation 12:35 - 2:00 LUNCH Dan Giza Alden Research Laboratory, Inc. 12:45 - 1:45 Roundtable discussions Pam Landry Massachusetts Division of Fisheries and Wildlife (MassWildlife) Stations and exhibits open Julie Martin Massachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation Liz McGuire Middlesex Conservation District Visit the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Dominique Pahlavan Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs Service’s Watershed on Wheels Diane Baedeker Petit USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service Visit the Student Conservation Association Brita Dempsey Massachusetts Envirothon Coordinator information table 1:45 Group photo ...... Evaluation surveys Station Coordinators/Curriculum Specialists 2:00 Announcement of Al Averill USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service Community Awards, Kelley Freda Massachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation Current Issue winners and Pam Landry Massachusetts Division of Fisheries and Wildlife (MassWildlife) partial station results Dominique Pahlavan Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs Joe Perry Massachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation Clif Read Massachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation Will Snyder University of Massachusetts Center for Agriculture/Extension George Zoto Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection

What happens at an Ecostation? At the Massachusetts Envirothon, The ecostations generally incorporate teams rotate through four ecostations, questions that are: in addition to giving their Current Issue presentation. Each ecostation has a • Written - multiple choice, true or false, different emphasis: forestry, soil, water or fill-in-the-blank. and wildlife. • Practical - This may include species When students arrive at each ecostation, identification, questions that relate to www.facebook.com/maenvirothon the examiners instruct them to get into the soils or habitat surrounding the their distinct teams. Teams listen to station, and hands-on activities. examiners for a brief time to become familiar with that station, its questions and any other special instructions. It’s then up to the team to determine their strategy in taking the exam. They can break up and use individual strengths (for example, one or two people focus on species ID, while the others do the written section), or go through the exam as a team.

2 www.maenvirothon.org 2013 Massachusetts Envirothon Meet Our Host Site Roundtables

When the testing is over, everyone is Borderland State Park invited to unwind, meet new friends from across the state, and share community and environmental connections at the Roundtable discussions. Roundtables are freewheeling, small-group discussions about a place, a question, or an idea of your choice. Every team is invited to bring their presentation materials and start a conversation about what they have found in their communities. Community Award teams are especially encouraged to offer a roundtable. Leach Pond Here’s how it works: • For each team that wants to offer orderland State Park is one of the most Pud’s Pond was created by the Ames a roundtable, two or three “home historically significant tracts of publicly family in 1906 and named after Blanche’s B team” members share their team’s owned land in the Commonwealth. Created father. When walking next to the spillway topic with three or four visitors. in the early 1900s by artist and suffragist you can see the white roads inlaid in the Blanche Ames and her botanist husband dam when it was repaired in 1926. Upper • The place buzzes with ideas, opinions, Oakes, Borderland offers many of the same Leach Pond was created in 1939 for wildlife and concerns as each home team pleasures that the Ames family enjoyed: habitat and recreation. presents their topic and visitors offer walking and horseback riding on woodland The glaciated cliffs and outcroppings their own questions and views. trails, fishing and canoeing in the ponds, make the geology of Borderland unusually • Every 5-10 minutes, visitors leave one or, in winter, ice-skating and sledding. interesting. Throughout the park are table, move on to another, and the In 1906, Oakes and Blanche Ames examples of glacial “erratics,” granite process begins again. Team members purchased land on the border of Sharon boulders that were torn loose from the take turns sitting at the home table and Easton. The country estate they named bedrock and deposited some distance away. “Borderland” remained in the family for Glacial riverbeds are strewn with a multitude and visiting other tables. 65 years. In 1971, two years after the death of boulders and stones. These areas are EVERYONE is welcome to visit the evidence of the ferocious energy produced by of Blanche Ames, the Commonwealth of roundtables! Massachusetts acquired the estate and the run-off from melting glaciers. opened it as a state park. Much of the “natural” beauty of The family’s home, a three-storey stone Borderland is, in fact, the result of human mansion built in 1910, still stands. Its 20 activity. The ponds, fields, stone walls, rooms are furnished much as they were and pathways reflect a long history of when the Ameses lived here; many of agricultural and industrial use. Without Blanche Ames’ paintings grace the walls. continued management, the fields would return to forests and the ponds would Borderland encompasses 1773 acres become marshes and swamps. of woodlands, fields, ponds and unique geological formations. The park lies Borderland’s earliest human inhabitants between gradually rising hills to the north were Native Americans. The park’s land and much flatter land to the south. The marked the territorial boundary between result is a mix of habitats, supporting a the Massachusetts and Wampanoag tribes, rich variety of wildlife. giving added significance to the name Borderland. Both tribes hunted and fished There are three major ponds at here before the first white settlers arrived in Borderland and several smaller bodies of the 1690s. water. Lower Leach is 100 acres in size, created in 1825 to create water power for Throughout the nineteenth century, an iron works further downstream on the farming was the main activity at Poquanticut Brook. Borderland. Stone walls, now enveloped by The park has large glacially transported woods, once divided cleared fields. S boulders weighing over a million pounds. www.maenvirothon.org 3 2013 Massachusetts Envirothon 2013 Current Issue Trees, Forests, and Sustainability

e live in the forest. The WMassachusetts landscape has been dominated by forests since soon after the last ice age. Even today, land left open soon reverts to forest. Can you find a view in your community that does not include a tree? Forests are the predominant ecological community in our part of the continent. If you just leave land alone almost anywhere Massachusetts, the result will be forest. Massachusetts forests vary in species composition, age, and extent. Some are tree-lined streets and landscaped parks in cities and towns. Some are urban wilds. Others are large unbroken stretches of People have been making changes in woodland where human habitation is Forests are communities Massachusetts forests since the last ice age. sparse. They are complex ecological systems, Many of us are familiar with the cycles of We depend on trees and forests for our and we have only partial understanding of clearing and reforestation since European well-being. The benefits we receive include all the processes at work within them. We settlement, but Native Americans also not only timber and pulp and fuel wood, have come to understand that even cities altered the forest for centuries before this, but also processes like water purification, are ecological spaces, packed with trees, often with fire, to improve conditions for pollution sequestration, and climate vegetation, and wildlife, connected to the hunting and foraging. Climate change regulation, and also less tangible cultural, ecosystems of suburban and rural areas. presents a new and severe threat to forests because the scale and speed of change may spiritual, and recreational benefits. Forests’ ecological diversity is overwhelm forests’ capacity to adjust. The term “ecosystem services” has compounded by the many edges they share emerged in recent years as a helpful way to with paved and built areas, agricultural Conservation is critical understand and describe benefits derived fields, bodies of water, and tended lawns. from forests. Ecosystem services include The concept of ecosystem services links for sustainability traditional natural resources but also human well-being to the functioning of What does “sustainability” mean for include natural functions that have value these ecosystems. In a very real sense, we forest ecosystems in Massachusetts? As to us – like soil formation, flood control, are members of the forest community. human activity strains natural resource carbon sequestration, waste treatment. limits, and particularly as climate change Forests change transforms our world, we need new Forests are living things. They grow and knowledge and skills and commitment to Community Awards evolve. They renew themselves over time. treat this home well. When they are healthy, they are resilient – Teams work hard to prepare for their able to resist damage and recover quickly. How it works Massachusetts Envirothon Current Scientists have come to understand Teams make their presentations to a Issue presentations and they deserve that change – in response to human panel of about eight judges. The judge’s recognition for this work! disturbance (such as clearing or selective job is to listen, ask good questions, assess the team’s work, and give feedback on The Community Awards are presented cutting or high-impact recreation) or natural disturbances (such as hurricane their research, their proposal, and their to teams who do thorough and wide- or wildfire or insect infestation) – is the presentation. ranging Current Issue research and normal state for Massachusetts forests. Teams have 15 minutes for their teams that take action in a service presentation, followed by 10 minutes project based on what they learn. Simply leaving forest land alone also results in change: succession happens, when the judges can ask questions. Five The Community Awards provide trees grow, species composition changes of the judges will give the team a number important visibility for teams, schools (and sometimes invasive species come to score, while the others focus on providing and communities. These awards are dominate), and wildlife habitat changes. written comments. An average score will be generated for the competition. S optional and noncompetitive.

4 www.maenvirothon.org 2013 Massachusetts Envirothon Current Issue Presentation Judges

Paul Barten, Ph.D., UMass Dept. of Judges as of May 14, 2013 Colleen O’Donnell, Zoo New England Environmental Conservation Gerry Palano, Mass. Dept. of Agricultural Kathleen Baskin, P.E., Executive Office of Resources Energy & Environmental Affairs Melissa Patterson, Student Conservation Whitney Beals, New England Forestry Assoc. - Massachusetts Foundation Jane Pfister, Executive Office of Energy & Linda Benevides, Executive Office of Environmental Affairs Energy & Environmental Affairs Anne Phelps, Newton Planning Dept. Jani Benoit, Ph.D., Wheaton College - Bill Pula, Mass. Dept. of Conservation & Chemistry Recreation Kim Bent, Catch The Science Bug Vandana M. Rao, Ph.D., Executive George Buckley, DCE - Harvard Office of Energy & Environmental Affairs University Ken Gooch, Mass. Dept. of Conservation Heidi Ricci, Mass. Audubon Society Lisa Capone, Mass. Dept. of Energy & Recreation - Forest Health Kevin Scherer, City of Worcester Resources Dolores Alleyne Goode, Ph.D., Lesley Robert W. Schrader, UMass Center for Jennifer Carlino, Town of Norton University Agriculture Wendell Cerne, Mass. Science Education Steven D. Goodwin, Dean, UMass Glenn Stanisewski, USDA Natural Leadership Assoc. College of Natural Sciences Resources Conservation Service Warren Chamberlain, State Commission Michele Grzenda, Mass. Assoc. of Richard Starkey, Westbrook Farm, for Conservation of Soil, Water, & Related Conservation Commissions Greenfield Resources Christine Hatch, Ph.D., UMass Dept. of Marcia Starkey, Tower Hill Consultants Priscilla Chapman, Mass. Audubon Geosciences Paul Starratt, Town of Westford Society John Hayes, Ph.D., Salem State Rick Sullivan, Secretary, Energy & Peter Church, Mass. Dept. of University - Geography Environmental Affairs Conservation & Recreation William Hill , Mass. Dept. of Conservation Christopher Szkutak, Dan Clark, Mass. DCR - Division of Water & Recreation - Bureau of Forestry Supply Protection Ellie Horwitz, MassWildlife - retired Carol Szocik, Mass. Dept. of Agricultural Resources Michael Clark, Satuit Consulting, Inc. Erin Jacque, BSC Group Dawn Travalini, National Grid Neil Clark, The Writing Company Vanessa K. Johnson, Essex County Mary Trudeau, Wetland Scientist Christine Clarke, State Conservationist, Greenbelt Assoc. USDA Natural Resources Conservation Gerard Kennedy, Mass. Dept. of Russ Waldron, Applied Ecological Service Agricultural Resources Sciences (AES) Susan Cox, USDA Forest Service Kenneth Kimmel, Commissioner, Mass. Johanna Zabriskie, Mass. Dept. of Fish & Game Nina Danforth, Dept. of Environmental Protection Tara Zadeh, Mass. Dept. of Agricultural Paula Davison, Mass. Dept. of Elizabeth Kotowski, Mass. Dept. of Resources Conservation & Recreation Environmental Protection Sally Zielinski, Ph.D., Mass. Assoc. of MaryAnn DiPinto, Mass. Dept. of Jeff LaFleur, Mass. Assoc. of Conservation Commissions Environmental Protection, Wetland Program Conservation Districts Joel Zimmerman, Mass. Dept. of Christy Edwards, Mass. Dept. of Fish & Andrea Langhauser, Mass. DEP Conservation & Recreation - Water Supply Game Waterways Regulation Protection Linde Eyster, Mass. Assoc. of Science Mark S. Lindhult, FASLA, UMass Dept. Teachers of Landscape Architecture & Regional Nancy M. Eyster-Smith, Ph.D., Bentley Planning University Paul Lyons, Mass. Dept. of Conservation Christy Foote-Smith, Mass. Audubon - & Recreation - Water Supply Protection Drumlin Farm Wildlife Sanctuary Clint McFarland, USDA Animal and Priscilla Geigis, Director, Mass. Dept. of Plant Health Inspection Service Conservation & Recreation - State Parks & Ray McKinnon, Mass. Dept. of Recreation Conservation & Recreation - Blue Hills Michele Girard, Mass. Assoc. of Reservation Conservation Commissions Carl Melberg, U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service Ann Gisinger, Environmental Business Colin M. J. Novick, Greater Worcester Council of New England Land Trust Harrison Goldspiel, Brandeis University Robert O’Connor, Executive Office of Energy & Environmental Affairs www.maenvirothon.org 5 2013 Massachusetts Envirothon Volunteers

Amie Humphrey Facendola, Alden Gini Traub, Mass. Dept. of Conservation Research Laboratory, Inc. and Recreation Susan Ingalls, Mass. Wildlife Lisa Trotto, Worcester County Jack Jackson, Haverhill Conservation District Melanie Joe, Mass. Dept. of Conservation Catherine Ulitsky, USDA Natural and Recreation Resources Conservation Service Jim Lafley, Mass. Dept. of Conservation Rich Valcourt, Phillipston and Recreation Rich Valcourt, Jr., Consulting Forester Jim Lagacy, Mass. Wildlife Amanda Walker, U.S. Fish & Wildlife Lou Adams, ALB Cooperative Service, Watershed on Wheels Eradication Program Carolyn LaMarre, Watershed Alliance Kristina Wiley, USDA Natural Resources John Aldridge, Student Conservation Conservation Service Association Andrea Langhauser, Mass. Dept. of Environmental Protection Dave Williams, Middlesex County Dan Beard, ALB Cooperative Eradication Conservation District Program Nancy Lebedzinski, ALB Cooperative Eradication Program Amy Wilmot, Mass. Dept. of Joan Boegel, Reading Rick LeBlanc, Mass. Dept. of Conservation and Recreation Andrew Buckley, Mass. Dept. of Agricultural Resources Dean Withrow, Friends of Disc Golf at Conservation and Recreation Sean Libby, Mass. Dept. of Conservation Borderland Barbara Buls, Mass. Dept. of and Recreation Jan Wright, Friends of Conservation and Recreation Sean Mahoney, Mass. Dept. of NWR and Friends of Oxbow NWR Deb Cary, Mass Audubon Conservation and Recreation Sara Wyatt, Student Conservation John Clement, Middleboro Austin Mason, Consulting Forester Association Paul Clifford, Mass. Dept. of Pete Mirick, Mass. Wildlife Conservation and Recreation Dan Moon, Environmental Business Mike Downey, Mass. Dept. of Council of New England Conservation and Recreation Susan Moore, Mass. Audubon Society Patricia Doyle, Needham Brooke Mueller, Student Conservation Bill Dunham, Belmont Enterprises Association Shawn Finn, USDA Natural Resources Laura Muller, Wheaton College Conservation Service Paula Packard, Mass. Dept. of Alynda Foreman, The Louis Berger Conservation and Recreation Group, Inc. Michelle Padula, Mass. Dept. of Norma Forgione, Mass. Dept. of Agricultural Resources Conservation and Recreation Ryan Pennesi, Student Conservation Student Volunteers Justin Gonsor, Mass. Dept. of Association Millbury Junior/Senior High School Conservation and Recreation Chuck Pernaa, Ashby David Greene, Mass. Dept. of Meg Andresano Robert Johnson Les Perry, Mass. Dept. of Conservation Conservation and Recreation Kim Aurelio Evelyn Joyce and Recreation Terry Hamilton, Millbury Jr./Sr. High Marissa Belaska Shannon Latour School Kyle Plummer, Student Conservation Association Tiana Benton Kati LeClaire Stephen Herbert, UMass Center for Tim Bernard Mark LeClaire Agriculture Judy Reilly, Bristol-Myers Squibb Susan Reyes, Science and Sustainability Taylor Caforio Hannah Lynch Sean Hersey, Tempe, AZ Education for Everyone Nicole Chionchio Ben Miles Lynn Hildenbrand, Mass. Dept. of Glenn Rosenholm, U.S. Forest Service Conservation and Recreation Gina Chionchio Allison Murray Mike Sawyers, Mass. Wildlife Russ Holden, Project Green Schools Heather Daly Ryan Pelchat Allyson Schaeffer, Student Conservation Doug Hutcheson, Mass. Dept. of Renee Francolini Alex Peterson Association Conservation and Recreation Merrie Gardner Victoria Prominski Jennifer Schafer, Mass. Dept. of Conservation and Recreation Rebecca Haynes Kristina Pulaski Ellenor Simmons, Mass. Dept. of Khanh Huynh Courtney Schultz Conservation and Recreation Liz Irr Nicky Wright Dwight Sipler, owner, Small Farm Joe Smith, Mass. State Comm. for the While you’re here... Conservation of Soil, Water, & Related Be sure to visit the U.S. Fish & Resources Wildlife Service’s Watershed on Jennifer Soper, Mass. Dept. of Wheels, a.k.a. the WOW Express! Conservation and Recreation 6 www.maenvirothon.org 2013 Massachusetts Envirothon Site Map | Borderland State Park

www.maenvirothon.org 7 2013 Massachusetts Envirothon Thank you to our sponsors! Borderland State Park Host of the 2013 Massachusetts Envirothon Ellenor Simmons, Park Supervisor and thanks to all the Massachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation staff who made this event possible.

The Massachusetts Envirothon is a program of the Massachusetts State Commission for Conservation of Soil, Water & Related Resources. Our work would not be possible without contributions of time, resources and funding from a variety of donors, including:

Alden Research Laboratory, Inc. Berkshire Conservation District Big Y Foods, Inc. Cape Cod Conservation District Environmental Business Council of New England Hannaford Supermarkets Massachusetts Association of Conservation Districts Massachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection Massachusetts Division of Fisheries and Wildlife (MassWildlife) Massachusetts Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs Middlesex Conservation District Mrs. Penny Holmes Museum of Science, Boston New England Aquarium U.S. Forest Service/Massachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation University of Massachusetts Amherst, College of Natural Sciences University of Massachusetts Center for Agriculture/Extension USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service Wegmans Wheaton College Worcester County Conservation District Worcester Technical High School Individual teams received sponsorship from many community sources including:

Baystate-Springfield Educational Partnership, Monson PTSA, & the Norcross Wildlife Sanctuary

A special thank you to the committee, judges, volunteers, coaches, agencies, organizations, schools, parents and all whose hard work and support make the Massachusetts Envirothon possible!

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