On March 19, students from area high schools will be at the Westmoreland Conservation District, questioning the experts, analyzing natural history items, and otherwise taking in all the information they can to prepare themselves for the 2008 Envirothon, which is just six short weeks away.

This high-energy “training event” is designed to give the students a preview of the kinds of questions they’ll face in the actual environmental-based competition, where they’ll be asked to answer questions on forestry, soil, wildlife, aquatic environments, and an annual challenge subject, which this year is “Recreational Impacts on the Natural Environment.”

The training event begins at 5 p.m. with dinner, followed by the training, which should start about 6 p.m. and continue for the next several hours.

Fourteen Westmoreland County schools are planning to send teams to the Envirothon competition, which this year will be held on May 5 at Twin Lakes Park.

As of March 12, Derry Area Senior High School, Greensburg Central Catholic High School, and the Westmoreland Enrichment Classes are planning to send their student teams to the training event. The teacher/advisor for The Kiski School team also is planning to attend. It is likely that other schools will register for the training as well.

An average of 70 students participate in the Envirothon each year. The Westmoreland Conservation District has sponsored this academic event for the past 22 years.

A number of cooperating agencies assist the Westmoreland Conservation District in hosting the county Envirothon, including: The Game Commission, the DCNR Bureau of Forestry, the Natural Resources Conservation Service, the Westmoreland County Bureau of Parks and Recreation, Carnegie Museum of Natural History’s Powdermill Nature Reserve, and Penn State Cooperative Extension Westmoreland County.

3/14/2008