Cree students Kristopher Neeposh and Rory Henry-Felstead won first place at the 2024 Quebec Indigenous Science Fair for their project looking at natural fire retardants in the boreal forest. They turned to Cree knowledge keepers for much advice.
GATINEAU, Que.—If plants can start fires, can they also stop them?
That was the question two Cree community students started wondering about. And it was the title the two students, Kristopher Neeposh and Rory Henry-Felstead, from Nemaska, Quebec, used for the project they entered in the 2024 Quebec Indigenous Science Fair earlier this year.
And by exploring that question, their project ended up winning first place.
The project was birthed as a result of forest fires their community has faced. "We want to find a more natural and biochemical way to stop [forest fires]," 16-year-old Neeposh told reporter Vanna Blacksmith from CBC News. The two young men began to wonder if some boreal extracts derived from Eeyou Istchee may be natural fire retardants that could slow the spread of forest fires.
To conduct their research, Neeposh and Henry-Felstead studied and experimented with trees and shrubs commonly found across Eeyou Istchee, such as jack pine, Labrador tea, black spruce and white spruce. They also read articles and interviewed Cree knowledge keepers. They learned interesting facts from elders-including the information that pine cones actually release seeds during forest fires.
They started experimenting with extracts derived from boreal plants they harvested from the land. The most important thing they learned in experiments is that jack pine extract, when applied to different materials, seemed to slow the spread of flames. It worked better, even, than ammonium sulfate, which is available commercially as a fire retardant.
Not only did the boys tackle creative ideas way above many adults' heads, but they also were creative with their equipment. Henry-Felstead noted the difficulty of doing experiments without the proper equipment accessible by students in larger communities. Neeposh and Henry-Felstead used material available, such as butane stoves, beakers, a coffee grinder, digital scale and lighter. "It is a bit harder up here because our lab isn't as equipped as some schools would be down south or in the bigger cities," Henry-Felstead told CBC news.
Henry-Felstead's mother, Shannon Henry, who is also the head of special education for Nemaska's Cree School Board, told CBC, "When we bring our students to provincials, you can definitely see the student projects that have more creativity labs, STEM workshops and may have access to a variety of equipment that we just don't," she said.
She said the Cree nation has many naturally gifted students, and added, "If we can open doors to more opportunities and access tools for science, technology, engineering, and math, I think it would be really impressive to see what our students could come up with,"
The young men plan to compete again next year. When CBC asked about their message for other students, they replied with words of encouragement.
"You'll fail sometimes. But if you work hard enough and try it enough times, one day you will succeed in whatever field you choose, whether it be engineering, science, or really anything," Henry-Felstead told Blacksmith.
"Your mind is going to be exhausted, but once that hard work is done, you'll enjoy the reward at the end of it," Neeposh added.
