Webinar: Hinton Owls JFW and 2025 NCF Envirothon
Join us on Thursday, Dec. 11, 2025 to learn about two FRIAA-funded education and outreach initiatives: hosting the 2025 international NCF-Envirothon and restoring the Hinton Owls Junior Forest Wardens Club site. Both programs support hands-on, land-based learning for youth.
When:
NEW DATE Thursday, Dec. 11, 2025; 12:00–1:00 pm MST
What to Expect:
Lunch & Learn Program: Quick Refresher
Presentation from Chantelle Bambrick, President of Alberta Envirothon Association and volunteer with Hinton Owls Junior Forest Wardens
Live, interactive Q&A session
About our Presenter:
Chantelle Bambrick is a Registered Professional Forest Technologist in Alberta and CIF Gold Medal recipient who has spent her entire professional career at fRI Research. Her career highlights include winning three Alberta Emerald Awards for excellence in environmental stewardship, being honored in a blanketing ceremony, and co-managing the Caribou Patrol Program with the Aseniwuche Winewak Nation. She is the President of the Alberta Envirothon Association and was the Chair of the Alberta Host Committee for the 2025 international NCF-Envirothon. For decades, she has fundraised to provide opportunities for children and youth to experience landbased learning. She values honesty, integrity and perseverance and can often be found exploring in the woods, hiking in the Canadian Rockies, or volunteering her time with several local non-profit organizations such as the Hinton Owls Junior Forest Wardens.
Abstract:
Inspiring curiosity and care for our forests begins with creating opportunities for youth to learn and explore. This webinar will highlight two initiatives that connect youth and their families with nature and Alberta’s forests through hands-on education.
The first project focuses on the restoration of the Hinton Owls Junior Forest Wardens (JFW) Club site, the first JFW club established in Alberta in 1958, which had sat vacant for several years after disbanding around 2015. Beginning in 2022, this project began restoring indoor classroom facilities and completing general maintenance of the lease site to reintroduce educational programming and community events focused on forestry, ecology, outdoor skills, and leadership.
The second project will share insights from the National Conservation Foundation’s (NCF) Envirothon, an academic environmental education competition that challenges high school students from Canada, the United States, China, and Singapore to solve complex environmental problems through teamwork. Top teams advanced to represent their state, province, or country at the NCF annual International Envirothon competition held in Alberta in 2025. The 2025 theme, Roots and Resiliency: Fostering Forest Stewardship in a Canopy of Change, encouraged students to explore forest ecosystems, climate impacts and sustainable management and incorporated Indigenous Knowledge Systems.
This session will share highlights from both initiatives and how they are inspiring forest stewardship across Alberta.