Team members (l to r): Michelle Henry, Vic Janmey, Aimee Davis, Teresa Slifer, and Emily Moberg. Advisors not pictured: Mark Samilenko and Chrissa Kuntz.

The Penncrest High School Envirothon Team from Delaware County took second place honors at the 2006 Cannon Envirothon competition in Winnipeg, Canada last weekend.

Team members included: Michelle Henry, Vic Janmey, Aimee Davis, Teresa Slifer, and Emily Moberg and advisors Mark Samilenko and Chrissa Kuntz.

More than 250 teenagers from 44 U.S. states and eight Canadian provinces studied environmental issues and resource conservation, while competing for a share of more than $90,000 in college scholarships and prizes.

The Pennsylvania team will receive a total of $20,000 in scholarships along with canon photo equipment.

A team from Virginia took top honors, with Texas coming in third, California fourth and Ohio fifth.

Organized in cooperation with the National Association of Conservation Districts in the U.S. and The Canadian Forestry Association, the Canon Envirothon tests teams on their knowledge of soil/land use, forestry, aquatic ecology, wildlife and natural resources, among other topics.

The theme of this year’s competition was Water Stewardship in a Changing Climate, and focused on the role water plays in our lives now and in the future, including aspects such as water quality, supply, use and allocation, and conservation and management.

The 23rd Annual 2006 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.

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, Game Commission, 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.

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.

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

NewsClip: PA Team Comes in Second in National Envirothon Competition

Session Schedule

The Senate returns to session September 19 and the House on September 25.

On the Hill

· Ross Bill Requires Collection, Recycling of Electronic Devices

Other News

· Bay Foundation Promotes Tax Credits to Help Farmers Protect Water Quality

· Conservation Districts Support Tax Credit Proposal, Give Out Awards

· Mifflin’s Dan Dunmire Receives Regional Conservation District Honor

· Job Not Done to Reauthorize Federal Abandoned Mine Reclamation Fee

· Environmental Organizations, Local Artists, Host the First “Anthrascapes Art Show”

· Rising Nation River Journey 2006 Moves Down the Delaware August 4 to 17

· Dents Run Renewal Celebration Set for August 9 in Elk County

· NRCS Now Accepting Changes to Conservation Security Contracts

· Registration Open for First Annual Chesapeake Watershed Forum

· Workshop Set on Using Compost as Low Cost Fertilizer

· York to Host Live-Demonstration Recycling Trade Show

· 132,000 Volunteers Collected 6.7 Million Pounds of Trash During Great PA Cleanup

· DEP Accepting Nominations for Governor’s Award for Environmental Excellence

· EPA Awards Grant to Reduce Environmental Footprint of Hospitals in Southeast

· Susquehanna Health System Joins Healthy Environment Program

· Pennsylvania Brownfields Conference September 21 & 22

· DCNR to Develop Carbon Management Plan, Update Greenhouse Gas Inventory

· Pennsylvania College Students to Build Solar Array at Bucknell University

· PJM Set Third Record for Electricity Use This Summer

· PPL Proposes Transition Plan for End of Electric Price Rate Caps in 2010

· Preliminary Results Show No Tritium Leaks at Exelon Nuclear Plants

· PUC Releases Summer Issue of Keystone Connection Newsletter

· Rabies Vaccination of Wildlife in Western Pennsylvania Beginning

· Rendell Nominates Erie County Resident to Game Commission

· Help Wanted: Western Pennsylvania Conservancy

See & Hear

· Where the Rubber Makes the Road, Recycling Waste Tires in a New Way

Opinion

· Comments on DEP Proposal to Regulate Mercury from Power Plants, by Robert Ashbaugh Business Representative Local 459, International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers

Go To: PA Environment Digest Calendar Page

8/4/2006