Kids give alien invaders the boot

GEOFF LEE WRITER

Bishop Lloyd Middle School students have found a way to give invasive plant species in our area the brush off.

Grade 9 whiz kids

Emmett Sherbinin and Cassy Setter are the creators of the Brush Off Invaders boot cleaning station with signage to be installed at various locations in the area.

The class project earned them first place at this year’s Caring For Our Watersheds competition, which engages students in preserving and improving their local watersheds through student-led solutions.

The victorious local team topped 275 other judged proposals from Alberta in Wetaskiwin recently.

Emmett described the challenge and their solution for the media last Thursday.

“In our watershed, a big problem is invasive species, and by installing these boot brush stations, people can give their boots and shoes a brush off before entering a park area,” he said.

The youth says the brush station attached to a podium helps to slow the spread of invasive species.

Some of the invasive species on their list include spotted knapweed, orange hawkweed, flowering rush and oxeye daisy.

“Emmett did most of the looking into what they were and we had looked up how we can help with that, which is brushing them off,” said Cassy.

“About one per cent of invasive species hitchhike off people’s shoes.”

Mud and seeds carry invasive plants. Use the boot brush under this sign to clean off before and after hiking, instructs their stand poster.

The information includes three easy ways to prevent the spread of harmful plants and defines what are invasive species.

All of that caught the attention of the competition judges who counted down the top 10 projects leaving the champs in shock and awe.

“For a second I did think we got skipped over because it went down from 10. It was kind of shocking. I didn’t think we’d get first,” said Cassy.

For finishing first, they won $1,000 of spending money to split between them and another $1,000 for the school, which will likely go toward an upcoming canoe trip to Meadow Lake.

A second Bishop Lloyd team finished in the top 30 with a total of 10 school projects entered into the event.

It’s all part of a landbased cultural leadership program taught by Derek Highland that combines social studies, science and English for the Caring For Our Watersheds competition.

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Meet the environmental champs. Bishop Lloyd Middle School Grade 8 students Emmett Sherbinin, left, and Cassy Setter came up with a winning competition solution to protect our watersheds from invasive plant species by creating this Brush Off Invaders boot cleaning station, to be installed in several park settings in the area.