The twenty-third annual New Jersey Envirothon will take place on Saturday, May 13, 2017 at Schooley’s Mountain Park in Morris County. The Envirothon is a national environmental education competition directed towards high school students.
The purpose of the Envirothon is to provide hands-on training for students and their advisors in the area of natural resource conservation. When teams register for this event they receive an extensive study packet focusing on five natural resource areas including aquatics, soils, forestry, wildlife and this year’s current environmental issue, which is “Agricultural Soil and Water Stewardship.” Students are encouraged to study these materials throughout the year. In March and April, hands-on training sessions will begin where all registered students and their advisors will be invited to a park or nature center to review the material with natural resource professionals.
In May, the actual Envirothon competition takes place in a natural setting where teams of students will spend 30 minutes at each of the six testing stations exercising their knowledge on natural resources. The winner of this event receives travel expenses and free registration at the North American Envirothon in Emmitsburg, Maryland where they will compete with students from all over the United States and Canada to win scholarships and recognition for their school and state.
To heighten this educational experience, Schooley’s Mountain Park has agreed to provide an area for tent camping at no cost for each school registering for the 2017 Envirothon.
Schools can contact the New Jersey Envirothon Coordinator at (609) 633-2549 or mail to the State Soil Conservation Committee, N.J. Department of Agriculture, PO Box 330, Room 204, Trenton, NJ 08625 to reserve your team’s space.
Registration for the event and overnight accommodations must be completed before March 3, 2017.
The program is sponsored by the N.J. State Association of Conservation Districts; the N.J. Department of Agriculture; New Jersey’s 15 soil conservation districts; the N.J. Soil Conservation District Employees Association; the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service; the N.J. Department of Environmental Protection; and Rutgers Cooperative Extension.
Additional information is available online.