Alabama 4-H’ers Successfully Defend National Title

A team of Coosa County 4-H’ers defended the state’s national title at the National Wildlife Evaluation Contest, beating Utah 4-H’ers on their home turf. Anna Vines, Treavor Abrams, Elijah Phillips and Samuel Cordner won the contest held recently in Cedar City, Utah.

Pictured left to right are Roger Vines, coach; team members Treavor Abrams, Anna Vines, Samuel Cordner and Elijah Philllips

No state has won the national title more times than Alabama. The state’s wildlife teams have won top honors eight times in the contest’s 18-year history.

Team members also earned individual honors. Anna Vines was the overall high scoring individual. Teammates Ellijah Phillips and Samuel Cordner placed fourth and ninth respectively.

“We are thrilled that our young people won the national title for a second straight year,” said Dr. Emily Kling, a 4-H youth development specialist with the Alabama Cooperative Extension System. “But this program is more than about winning. It offers young people the chance to develop skills they will use as adults. Some former participants now work in natural resources while others use what they learned to better manage their own woodland property.”

Roger Vines, Coosa County Extension coordinator and a team coach, says the competition was challenging.

“Our team members had to study really hard to learn an entirely new habitat that is so different from Alabama,” says Vines. “The Utah and Texas teams, which placed second and third, had the advantage of being on familiar ground. I’m incredibly proud of the time and effort the team put into preparing for both the state and national contests.”

Vines was joined by Kristy Abrams in coaching and preparing the team for both the state and national contest.

In the National 4-H Wildlife Habitat Evaluation Program, youth learn the feeding habits and habitats of a variety of animals. They also learned to identify different wildlife foods and determined which animals prefer which foods.
Young people must read aerial photographs and rate the photos as the best habitat for different species.

Young people interested in learning more about the Alabama 4-H Wildlife Habitat Evaluation program can contact their county Extension office for additional information.

Posted by at August 3, 2007 10:30 AM | TrackBack