2017 Learning Objectives – Coastal Prairie Management, Conservation, and Restoration

What is Envirothon?Envirothon is North America's largest and most academically challenging high school environmental competition. The goal of Envirothon is to enhance students' environmental literacy and enable them to make informed decisions regarding the environment. Envirothon is a TEAM competition. Through several months of study, teams of five students prepare themselves for testing in wildlife biology, forestry, aquatics, soil science, and a current environmental issue. At Envirothon, teams must work together to answer knowledge-based questions in outdoor field-testing stations and also apply that knowledge to solve a real-life situation in the form of a professional presentation.

You will need to know for the field test:Wildlife – native wildlife, invasives for that area, symbiosis, habitat, biomes in area, general climateSoil – local soil characteristics, erosion, land use, conservation, and how to use a survey bookAquatics – water use, conservation, water sources, aquatic habitat, pollution, macroinvert indicator species, water testing, riparian areas, ecological services, watersheds, and water cycleForestry – native trees to area, habitat, cutting methods, prescribe burn, ecological services, forestry measuring tools, and successionCurrent Issue –You focus on the idea and how the topics above relate as well as social, economic, and heath relationships.

All these topics interact and relate and will carry over into the presentation. Each member on the team will be the chief informant for either, Soil, Aquatics, Forestry, Wildlife, or Prairies. You will apply all topics to the Houston Metroplex Area (This is Harris Country. Look at google maps. Notice the geography, topography, vegetation, land use, human population, roads, proximity to water, and climate zones.

Key Topics

Once the most productive grassland in North America, the native Coastal Prairie has essentially vanished. Restoration often means starting over from scratch. Occasionally a miracle of favorable weather, diligent manpower, specialized equipment all come together with Mother Nature resulting in a resilient abundance. Incredible native diversity is now available to land stewards interested in wildlife habitat improvement, sustainable grazing and prairie conservation.

Ultimately, survival of native wildlife species such as the endangered Atwater Prairie Chicken depends on people like you to re-create and protect healthy, diverse habitat. From the smallest urban "pocket prairie garden", to the larger 15,000 acre old farm field restoration, all of us will play an increasingly important role in what future world the next generations will inherit. If you know of native prairie remnants suitable for large-scale harvest, please advise. We appreciate your interest in our work.

A local resident gained a parcel of land through inheritance, after being passed down for 3 generations. Since the family purchased the 15,000 acre (23 mi2) plot Houston’s population has gone from 79,000 in 1910 to near 2.2 million people in 2017. Over time several parcels of the land that surround the remaining acreage, have been sold and used for rice and soy bean farming, for a chemical production plant, and for some residential divisions. Now the majority of the farm land has been converted to residential use. What remains is 45 acres. The owner is trying to decide what to do with the final plot.

The land quality is high and workable, therefore, expensive. Should he sell for future home development or reduce the price ($250,000) and designate it as a land trust for prairie conservation? The land has been historically mowed to short stubble, there are numerous Chinese tallow, live oaks and a dense grove of Chinese privet randomly dispersed. This property buts up against South Atlantic Petroleum and 20 acres of open property but with an 8 foot perimeter fence. Both continuous properties are uneven with natural undisturbed soil. Your goal is to find funding for the land trust and to convince S. Atlantic to “allow” their land to be used additionally. How would your conservation group convince both partners to entrust you with your mission statement? How would you convince the city that it is their best interest to entrust you as well?

https://goo.gl/2zSvrk map link

The other property choice is a set of two side by side superfund sites with a recent completion clean-up date. The Dixie Oil Processing Plant (27 acres) and The Brio Refining Plant (58 Acres). This property is double in size, very low quality, nearly free, but comes with federal regulations and monitoring. You must also convince the city that your restoration has greater benefits to the surrounding community than a proposed strip mall.

Once you get the property, what is your plan to reclaim the land and restore it back to historical coastal prairie quality? Where will you get the funds, who will do the work, how will you take care of unwanted vegetation, what is your time frame, what will you plant and why, what are some secondary benefits from the prairie restoration that you would expect?

https://goo.gl/E3eDTe map link

Read the judging rubric. You NEED to cite at LEAST 10 sources. Your presentation max time is 20 minutes, with a 5 and 1 min warning. After 20 you will be stopped. Then we will have a max of 5 minutes for Q/A. You will get 4 white poster boards, 25 notecards, you can only use red, blue, green, and black markers, and pencil for the posters. You can use any sources for research. The REAL competition you can only use your brains and info given in packet and you only have three hours to develop entire presentation. Watch winning presentation on class web page for an example.

Envirothon tips and ideas to keep in mind

Native/non-native species Invasive speciesPros and conshabitat fragmentation / corridors Pollution effects / solutionsImpact on surroundings class notes on forestry, aquaticsmicroclimatebiomeseconomicstopographyenvironment beyond city limits1acre = 1 football fieldlink categories--> soil to water,posters detailed but not too much,erosionput focus on info vs. grader staring at youthose not talking still engaged to fellow presenter and judges CITE resources2 sided posters unless they bleed (they usually do)handwriting Ecological service