What is an Envirothon?
What is an Envirothon?
The Envirothon is a hands-on environmental problem-solving competition for high school-aged students in the United States and Canada. Participating teams complete training and testing in five natural resource categories including: soils/land use, aquatic ecology, forestry, wildlife, and current environmental issues.
The Envirothon works in partnership with local conservation districts, forestry associations, educators, and cooperating natural resource agencies to organize and conduct competitions on the local, regional, state, and/or provincial level. Winning teams from each state and province advance to the North American Envirothon for an opportunity to compete for recognition, scholarships, and prizes.
As stated above, the competition is centered on five universal testing categories:
AQUATIC ECOLOGY - Water ecology, water chemistry, plants and animals living in or around water, water quality, water conservation, etc.
CURRENT ENVIRONMENTAL ISSUE - A topic selected annually by the regional or state or Envirothon planning committees. Most years the regional and Florida Envirothon committees select the same topic as the national committee.
FORESTRY - Forest ecology, tree identification, insects, diseases, timber measurements, forest management, urban forestry, forest economics, etc.
SOIL & LAND USE - Classification, soil formation, basic chemical and physical properties, profiles, soil characteristics, soil surveys, site suitability, erosion, land use, conservation practices, etc.
WILDLIFE - Identification, habitat, foods, diseases, rules and regulations, management, invasives, etc.
The Envirothon program is an effective educational tool, capable of supplementing environmental education both inside and outside the classroom. Led by a volunteer advisor, teams usually meet from late Autumn until Spring. Teams work collaboratively to develop their knowledge of ecology and natural resource management and to practice their environmental problem-solving skills in preparation for Envirothon competitions.
In order to get to the National Competition, teams have to win first their regional competition and then the state competition. To find your regional competition, please begin by finding your local team.