Penn Wildlife Habitat Evaluation team qualifies for state finals

Penn High School students Isaac Loutzenhizer, Kyle Burke, Elena Effertz, Alex Moore and Jason Jaworski qualified for the state championships of the Indiana Wildlife Habitat Evaluation Program.

Loutzenhizer led Penn’s effort at the regional, scoring second highest out of 72 students.

The state championship will be at Purdue University's Wright Center, which is located in the Martell Forest.

Penn High School Agriculture instructor Mel Lenig said that this season’s Penn team is the first from the school to qualify for the state finals in five years.

“This year we turned some heads!” Lenig said.

At the state championships, Penn’s students have to master how to identify 54 species of Indiana mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians, and fish.

“In addition to being able to identify them by picture, skeleton, pelage, and scat, the team must be able to match them to their foods and habitat needs,” Lenig explained about the competition. “These are animals that are commonly encountered in the Eastern Deciduous Forests, Wetlands, and Urban habitats of the United States east of the Mississippi River.”

According to Lenig, state qualifiers will face the challenge of walking the assigned forest area and assessing its characteristics. Then, the teams will have to select the best wildlife management practices to use to improve the site for the target animal species. The team will have to develop a two-page management plan for eight species of wildlife on a 150-acre tract of land.

Lenig’s Penn team won the state championship 10 years ago.