The champions of the 23rd Annual State Envirothon were crowned this week and first place went to the Penncrest High School in Delaware County, second to students from Carmichaels Area High School in Greene County and third to Northern High School in York County.

Teams finishing out the top five were Blue Mountain High School in Schuylkill County and Bald Eagle Area High School in Centre County.

The 23rd Pennsylvania State Envirothon was held at Penn State Mont Alto, near Chambersburg in Franklin County on May 22 and 23. High school students from 64 Pennsylvania counties participated in this year’s event.

The Envirothon is designed to give students an opportunity to acquire and demonstrate their knowledge of environmental resources and their connection toeach other and human activities. The students are challenged in the areas of aquatic ecology, forestry, soil / land use, wildlife, and a current environmental issue. The 2006 current environmental issue was water stewardship in a changing climate.

Teams participating represent the best and the brightest of the thousands of high school teens who have competed in local Envirothons sponsored by county conservation districts across the state.

At the state level, the Envirothon is sponsored by Pennsylvania’s sixty-six conservation districts, the State Conservation Commission, and the Pennsylvania Association of Conservation Districts.

The program is managed by a board of directors representing those sponsors. Technical expertise is provided by the following agency partners: Department of Environmental Protection, Department of Conservation and Natural Resources, PA Game Commission, PA Fish& Boat Commission, and the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service.

Financial sponsors of the 2006 Envirothon are Air Products and Chemicals, PPL Corporation, PA Outdoor Writers Association, Nestle Water North America, the PA Department of Education, the PA Fish and Boat Commission, PA DCNR Bureau of Forestry, and the PA Growing Greener Program.

In 2006, The Hershey Company, Dwight Lewis Lumber, Lewis Lumber Products, and Cargill joined the Envirothon as Corporate Station Sponsors.

The 2006 Pennsylvania Envirothon champions will represent the Commonwealth at the 19th Canon Envirothon North American competition planned for mid-July at the University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada.

Pennsylvania has won the North American event in 1988, 1989, 1990, 1991, 1994, 1997, 2000, 2001, 2003 and 2005. More than 45 states and seven Canadian provinces have initiated Envirothon contests based on the program that was originally developed by Pennsylvania’s conservation districts.

The PA Envirothon awarded scholarships to the first, second, and third place teams. The scholarships were sponsored by the Department of Agriculture in cooperation with the State Conservation Commission.

An oral component event was held on the Monday before the testing event. The oral component consists of a team presentation to a panel of judge staking part in a question/answer session based on the current issue theme. A timed event, the competition tests a team’s ability to consider an environmental issue, discuss its likely ramifications and effects, develop possible solutions, and then make a presentation before a group of judges and answer their questions. This year’s oral component scenario was based on water stewardship and a changing climate.

Participation was mandatory and was not included in the overall competition score. Listed below are the top five teams in the oral component: First Place –Bedford County; Second Place –Delaware County; Third Place – Beaver County; Fourth Place – Chester County; and Fifth Place – Warren County.

For more information on the Envirothon program, contact your local county conservation district or contact the Pennsylvania Envirothon by phone 814-623-7900 ext. 111 or send email to: paenvirothon@pennswoods.net .

5/26/2006