<p>The team had two hours to make a plan.</p>
<p>Four Franklin FFA wildlife members were dropped into a wooded area in Maine, asked to write a plan to expel an animal that is considered a pest and to increase some bird and other wildlife activity in the area.</p>
<p>What the four teens came up with earned them a national title.</p>[sc:text-divider text-divider-title="Story continues below gallery" ]Click here to purchase photos from this gallery
<p>The Franklin FFA Wildlife team won the national title in July for the project, after almost a year of studying wildlife and conservation efforts around Indiana. The team is made up of Brody Wade, Cameron Carmack, Sam Bordenkecher, all recent graduates of Franklin Community High School, and Taylor Drake, a senior.</p>
<p>Their work is more than just a national title. The demand for the skills of the work they did is growing in the county as more rural residents seek ways to manage their properties for the type of wildlife they want to see or decrease, especially hunters who may want to beef up the population of their hunted animal onto their property, FFA adviser Kaitlyn Pearce said.</p>
<p>“We have a lot of kids that really enjoy hunting. Part of hunting is conserving or managing your properties for this,” she said.</p>
<p>Wildlife teams study the terrain of the land they are trying to manage. They study bushes, trees, types of grass and bodies of water for the land. They also must keep up working knowledge for hundreds of species of wildlife, including birds, rabbits, coyotes and other mammals.</p>
<p>Their job is to know what to plant to attract certain species or what plants to remove to naturally repel pest species, Pearce said.</p>
<p>“They are trained to be conservationists really,” she said.</p>
<p>The wildlife team was taken to a few acres in Maine where they were asked to write a plan to attract a few species of birds and small game mammals and to repel fishers. Fishers are a pest animal in Maine that are kind of like small bears, Carmack said.</p>
<p>The team decided that land needed to be cleared of some non-native tress and grasses and to plant natives bushes and trees that would help attract the desired wildlife. They decided those movements would also naturally repel fishers, he said.</p>
<p>They also suggested that they do not add water as the species desired would not want it and that the fishers would require that water, Carmack said.</p>
<p>Part of the national title is having a working knowledge of hundreds of species of animals and pet life. A quiz that tested this knowledge was part of their score at the national competition, Pearce said.</p>
<p>Team members spent a year studying the species, including working with a Franklin College science professor, coach Levi Coons said.</p>
<p>“They have spent a lot of hours preparing,” he said.</p>
<p>They then studied the terrain and locations around the county to practice a few days a week. The team had to place in the top two at regional to earn a bid to state, Coons said.</p>
<p>The skills they now have to manage property will be directly applicable to county residents, Carmack said.</p>
<p>For example, if property owners wants to attract deer to hunt or to get rid of coyotes naturally, team members can offer tips.</p>
<p>“I can use this experience for my own property,” Carmack said.</p>
