WNMF Regional
Science Fair Award

The Western Newfoundland Model Forest offers an annual award for regional science fair winners in Newfoundland and Labrador.

The award consists of one cash prize and plaque per student, and a cash prize for the winning student’s school to purchase resources such as books, equipment or software for its science program.

The focus of the award is Sustainable Forest Practices. The project that best exemplifies the principle of sustainable development applied to resource management (not necessarily timber management) should be nominated for this award at the regional science fair.

Students describe their projects to science fair judges. WNMF photo.

When presenting the opportunity to compete for this award to students, it would be helpful to review the concept of Sustainable Forest Management with them. When talking about forests, we refer to everything that lives or grows in the forest, not just trees. Possible projects might deal with:

• wildlife
• birds and insects
• plants that live in the forest
• changes that might affect the forest (such as climate change or air pollution)

Forest management is also concerned with the full range of activities that take place in the forest, not just logging. Any projects dealing with forest based activities could be included, such as:

• hunting and fishing
• hiking or canoeing
• tourism
• wilderness and protected area

Any project relating to biotechnology such as tree improvement; genetic engineering for pest resistance; “natural” pesticides; the use of electronic/computer technology in forest management; harvesting; monitoring; soils projects; comparing soil fauna (numbers, diversity) in clear-cut areas vs. uncut areas; or rate of decomposition of various materials (natural and man made) in soil are topics students might explore.