Vermont Envirothon May 17, 2010

The Vermont Envirothon is a natural resource competition between Vermont high schools. Throughout the school year, students study basic concepts in four areas: Soils, Forestry, Wildlife, and Aquatics. There is always a fifth area called “environmental issues” or “challenges.” This is usually a hot-button issue that is being faced by many natural resource or land management agencies and groups. In 2010, the 5th issue was “Protection of Groundwater.”

As part of their study of the 5th issue, students complete a community-based project around the groundwater issues they found locally. They will defend their community recommendations in front of a panel of judges during the Envirothon event. These presentation will go on from 9 AM until 1:30 PM.

Around 2:00 PM, the awards will be given for the best team in each of the five areas studied. Next the teams who scored the top three places will be awarded. The team that places first will represent Vermont at the North American Canon Envirothon which will be held in San Jose, California in August. This competition challenges high schools from 45 of the United States and most Provinces of Canada. If the Vermont team won the North American Envirothon, they would all earn full scholarships to any college or university.

The Vermont Envirothon is one of the most successful partnerships in Vermont. The Vermont Association of Conservation Districts sponsors the yearly event with the following partners: the Natural Resource Conservation Service, Forest Service, the Environmental Protection Agency, Vermont Agency of Natural Resources, Vermont Forests and Parks, Vermont Fish & Wildlife, and several environmental groups such as Vermont Recyclers and Audubon.
Farm & Wilderness Camp is just outside Plymouth, Vermont on Route 100 between Plymouth and West Bridgewater. The Envirothon event will be at the Tamarack Farm (look for cars).
For further information, please call Kathleen Diehl, Conservation Education Coordinator, Green Mountain National Forest, 802-747-6709. E-mail is [email protected].