Students from four area schools tested their knowledge of natural resources Friday during an Envirothon competition at Two Mile Run County Park, rotating through five hands-on stations in warm, sunny conditions.<\/p>\n
Ten teams representing school science and conservation clubs and totaling more than 50 students put their knowledge to the test in categories including aquatic ecology, current environmental issues, forestry, soils and land use, and wildlife knowledge and identification.<\/p>\n
Teams had 30 minutes to complete each station before moving on, with their scores being tallied against one another to determine a winner.<\/p>\n
The event was organized by the Venango Conservation District, which has hosted the competition at the park for decades. Watershed specialist and education coordinator Rebecca Fagley coordinated the event for the first time this year with assistance from district manager Lisette Lane.<\/p>\n
First-place winners will advance to the state competition on May 20 at Camp Mount Luther in Mifflinburg.<\/p>\n
This year\u2019s current issue topic was: \u201cNon-Point Source Pollution: It Begins at Home,\u201d focusing on pollution originating from a variety of everyday sources.<\/p>\n
Cooperators staffing the stations included the USDA\u2019s Natural Resources Conservation Service, the Pennsylvania Game Commission, the Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission, and the Department of Conservation and Natural Resources, along with volunteer Jill Rhods, a retired education coordinator and watershed specialist with the Mercer County Conservation District.<\/p>\n
Organizers were stationed at pavilions near the park office to oversee each testing area.<\/p>\n
Rhods, who has participated in the event for nearly two decades, said the favorable weather was a welcome change.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is wonderful,\u201d she said. \u201cI remember when we had rain or sleet because they\u2019re always in April.\u201d<\/p>\n
Katie Fraser, a natural resource specialist with the USDA\u2019s Natural Resources Conservation Service, said the soils and land use station used a web-based soil survey to challenge students to identify soil types and evaluate areas most susceptible to pesticide leaching.<\/p>\n
Tests are redesigned each year to keep the competition fresh for returning participants, and many students described the section as one of the most difficult.<\/p>\n
Fraser added that much of the data used in the exercise has practical applications in agriculture, particularly for farmers.<\/p>\n
Among the returning competitors were three Cranberry High School students \u2014 Mariner Perry, Jayden Shumaker and Dalton Wenner \u2014 who were part of last year\u2019s \u201cTunnel Rats\u201d team that won the local competition and went on to place 10th at the state level.<\/p>\n
The trio competed again this year alongside new members, sophomores Meica Burneisen and Darien Wenner.<\/p>\n
According to Two Mile Run County Park Director Kara Kauffman, the \u201cTunnel Rats\u201d team took first place again this year.<\/p>\n
Ty Ryen, a service forester for the DCNR who has assisted with the Envirothon for 20 years, said last year marked the first time a Venango County team placed in the top 10 at the state competition.<\/p>\n
For some students, the event offered both a challenge and a break from the classroom.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s a day out of school, even if it\u2019s a testing day,\u201d said Cranberry senior Mariner Perry, who plans to enter the Air Force after graduating this spring.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s outdoors, and I like seeing how much I know.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Students from four area schools tested their knowledge of natural resources Friday during an Envirothon competition at Two…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":592334,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[47],"tags":[25679,192,79],"class_list":["post-592333","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-environment","tag-centerpiece","tag-environment","tag-science"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/592333","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=592333"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/592333\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/592334"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=592333"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=592333"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=592333"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}