The Envirothon is a competitive national program for high school students, administered through local soil conservation districts. Students are trained and tested in five natural resource fields: soils, forestry, wildlife, aquatics, and a current environmental issue that changes annually. They compete progressively at the county, state, and international levels. The teams work together with natural resource professionals such as biologists, foresters, and soil scientists to train for the local, state and international contests. Most of the training is conducted outdoors in natural settings where they get hands-on experiences. The program develops students’ critical thinking, problem solving, communication, team-building and decision making skills using real life local environmental issues.

The Montgomery Soil Conservation District has been involved with this program for more than 16 years. On average about 15 teams from several Montgomery County High Schools participate in the program. In recent years, teams from Montgomery County have won the state competition and participated in the international event. This program provides assistance to another generation in learning how to protect our natural resources. For information on the Envirothon program contact David Plummer at 301-590-2855.