Earth Day News: Maryland Teens Get Back to Nature to Prepare for First Round of Environmental Education Competitions

ANNAPOLIS, MD – Hundreds of Maryland’s brightest high school students are leaving the classroom and heading for the hills, streams, woods and fields of Maryland’s countryside to compete in the first round of qualifying heats leading up to the 2015 North American Envirothon, the largest natural resources competition for high school students in North America, with 10 Canadian Provinces and more than 45 states participating.

“Over the past 25 years, more than 20,000 students have competed in the Maryland Envirothon,” said Maryland Agriculture Secretary Joe Bartenfelder. “This program provides teens with an exceptional opportunity to work with environmental experts in the field to better understand complex environmental issues facing our state and planet. Teens competing in the Envirothon represent the future of Maryland agriculture and our natural resources protection efforts.”

Students participating in the Envirothon have been studying the state’s natural resources since the beginning of the school year. As part of their extracurricular training, teenagers identify and categorize living resources, perform soil surveys, estimate wood yield from trees, and solve other complex natural resource issues. They receive hands-on instruction from soil scientists, wildlife specialists, foresters and environmental engineers from local, state and federal agencies as well as private environmental organizations. As part of their training, students focus on a special environmental issue that changes from year to year. This year’s environmental issue is “urban forestry.”

Teams compete by applying their knowledge and problem-solving skills in aquatics, forestry, wildlife, soils and environmental issues. The county team with the highest cumulative total wins the local or regional competition and advances to the Maryland Envirothon scheduled for June 17 and 18, at St. Mary’s College in Southern Maryland.  The winner of the Maryland Envirothon will represent the state later this summer at the 2015 North American Envirothon scheduled for July 27-August 2 at Missouri State University. More than 250 teenagers from the United States and Canada are expected to compete for $100,000 in scholarships and prizes.

The Envirothon is sponsored by Maryland’s soil conservation districts and the State Soil Conservation Committee and supported by a range of state and federal programs.

Click here for the dates and contacts for upcoming county Envirothon competitions.

Facebook.com/MDEnvirothon

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