Montgomery County Conservation District holds Annual Envirothon Event

The Collegeville-based Montgomery County Conservation District held its annual Envirothon May 1 – 3, which featured student teams from several of the county’s elementary, middle and high schools; 18 schools in all.

The Envirothon, which started state-wide in 1976, is designed to expose youth to nature through which they can relate how humans impact the natural world, while providing invaluable lessons for understanding ecosystems and our environment, according to the Envirothon website.

Montgomery County’s Conservation District has three versions of the Envirothon, one for each school level.

As previously reported on Patch, at the high school level, teams of students worked together to test their knowledge in the following areas:

• Soils and Land Use

• Aquatic Ecology

• Forestry

• Wildlife

• A current Environmental Topic – this year's topic was “Grazing livestock for improving herd health and land management.”

This year, six high school teams participated in the Envirothon, which took place outdoors at the Lower Perkiomen Valley Park in Oaks, whose tests were facilitated by various local, state and federal environmentally based agencies.

The six participating Montgomery County High School teams were:

• Abington High School
• Norristown Area High School
• Lower Moreland High School
• Upper Merion High School
• Perkiomen Valley High School
• Lower Merion High School

Norristown Area High School earned a third-place finish, while Perkiomen Valley High School took third and Lower Merion High School was this year’s county champion.

The high school teams winning at the county level go on to the state Envirothon, where over $10,000 in scholarships and prizes are awarded. Winners at the state level then may compete in the North American Enviorthon, which includes high school teams from Canada.

According to Kristina Henderson, Conservation District program specialist, Lower Merion High school left for the state-level Envirothon on May 21.

At the Middle School level, five teams of the county's students competed on the second day of the Envirothon and included:

• Spring-Ford 7th Grade Center
• Pennbrook Middle School
• Abington Junior High School
• Penndale Middle School
• Souderton Charter School Collaborative

While the middle-school level Envirothon does not advance a champion team to a state-level, recognitions at the county level are provided. This year, Spring-Ford 7th-Grade Center took third, Abington Jr. High School took second and Souderton Charter School Collaborative earned a first-place finish.

The 2013 Envirothon opened on May 1 with an elementary version of the event, which was more of a science field day than a competition, with seven schools participating:

• EMC
• West  Broad St. Elementary
• Franconia Elementary
• Lower Salford Elementary       
• Vernfield Elementary
• Oak Ridge Elementary
• Souderton Charter School Collaborative

For more information visit www.montgomeryconservation.org/envirothon.htm or www.envirothonpa.org.