The Tri-County Envirothon was held on Tuesday, May 1, 2018.  This year’s event was held at the Jefferson County Fairgrounds in Brookville and was sponsored by the Clarion County Conservation District (CCCD), Forest County Conservation District (FCCD) and Jefferson County Conservation District (JCCD) .

We had high schools from three different counties participating in our Envirothon.

The schools at this year's Envirothon included:

       Clarion County:  Clarion-Limestone, Keystone, North Clarion and Redbank High Schools  

       Forest County:  East Forest and West Forest High Schools

       Jefferson:  Brockway, Brookville and Punxsutawney High Schools

  Presenters at this year’s event were:

      Forestry Station - John Brundege, DCNR-Bureau of Forestry

      Aquatics Station - Dana Grabowski, JCCD

      Wildlife Station - Jonathan Smith, Roger Hartless, Mike Girosky and Jesse Bish, PA Game Commission

      Soils Station - Suzanne Klinger, NRCS and Megan Whitlatch, JCCD

      Benefits of Grassland and Pasture Management - Shaun Wessell, JCCD

Melissa Buck, JCCD, plans this event each year for students in grade 9-12.  Donna Zofcin, FCCD, and Trudy Alexander, CCCD, also assisted at the event.  Students use study materials provided by the Pennsylvania Envirothon to prepare for the event as well as the "PAEnvirothon2" App.  Students can download the app to their smart phones or tablets.  This enables them to study for the Envirothon on the go!

The day of the event, tests were completed and scored at each of the 5 stations listed above. At the Forestry station, they identified and measured different kinds of trees and shrubs and answered various questions relating to our forests.  The soils station required the students to use a Soil Survey and the ability to identify different kinds of soil.  The students were quizzed in the Aquatics station on their knowledge of fish and aquatic life.  The Wildlife Station tested the students on identifying wildlife and bird calls.  Benefits of Grassland and Pasture Management was the special station for this year’s Envirothon.  This station tested a student’s knowledge of handling grazing and browsing animals to manage grasses and forbs on pastures and other crop fields.

The overall winner of this year’s Envirothon was Clarion-Limestone – Team A with a score of 335.   Team members received a gold medallion as well as the traveling trophy.  The team included:  Samurah Curry, Charisma Ferringer, Ian McNaughton, Sierra Brown and Holden Linnan.  Advisor - Chris Linnan

West Forest - Team A was second place with a score of 297.  They received Silver medallions.  Team members include: Chris Pederson, Bryant Niederriter, Steven Barnett, Stephen Culver and Daniel Schwab.  Advisor - Valerie Watson 

Keystone - Team A was third place with a score of 284.  They received Bronze medallions.  Members include:  Hunter Fescenmyer, Conrad Lloyd, Elijah Williams, Abbey Henry and Corinne Lloyd.  Advisor - Pam Warner

The highest scoring team in the Aquatics Station for each county received a subscription to Pennsylvania Angler & Boater Magazine.  Clarion-Limestone Team A was the top team for Clarion County, West Forest Team A was the top team for Forest County and Brookville Team A was the top for Jefferson County.

In the Wildlife Station, the highest scoring team for each county received patches from the PA Game Commission. Keystone Team A was the top team for Clarion County, West Forest Team B was the top team for Forest County and Brockway Team B was the top team for Jefferson County.

Top overall team in Forestry was West Forest Team A.  Top overall team in Soils was Keystone Team A.  Top overall team in Benefits of Grassland and Pasture Management was Keystone Team A.

The top team in each county is eligible to attend the Pennsylvania Envirothon on May 22 & 23 at Susquehanna University and Camp Mount Luther.  The top team from Clarion County was Team A from Clarion-Limestone High School.  The top team from Forest County was Team A from West Forest High School.  The top team from Jefferson County was Team A from Brockway High School.