Oklahoma Envirothon 2011 State Champions Named

by Karla Beatty, OCC Education Coordinator

Estuaries — what’s an estuary and do we even have such things in landlocked Oklahoma?  The Lawton FFA Envirothon Team found out at the 2011 Oklahoma Envirothon Competition where they earned the title of State Champion Team. The event occurred on April 5, 2011, at Keystone State Park, near Sand Springs, Oklahoma.  The special topic for this year’s competition was “Saltwater and Freshwater Estuaries.” The team will represent Oklahoma at the Canon Envirothon competition on July 24-29, 2011, at Mount Allison University in Sackville, New Brunswick, Canada.  

Eight teams competed at the 2011 Oklahoma Envirothon competition. The teams and their sponsors were the following:

• Bethel FFA sponsored by Shawnee Conservation District, 
• Fort Supply FFA sponsored by Woodward County Conservation District, 
• Lawton FFA sponsored by Comanche County Conservation District, 
• Miami High School sponsored by Ottawa County Conservation District, 
• Ninnekah High School sponsored by Grady County Conservation District, 
• Owasso High School and sponsored by Tulsa County Conservation District
• Tulsa Memorial High School sponsored by Tulsa County Conservation District
• Stratford FFA sponsored by Garvin Conservation District.  

The 40 team members were accompanied by 12 team advisors.  An additional 23 volunteers served as team walking leaders, station captains, and oral presentation judges.  These volunteers represented state agencies as well as local conservation districts including Great Plains Resource Conservation and Development Council, Oklahoma Conservation Commission, Oklahoma Department of Wildlife Conservation, Oklahoma Forestry Services, Oklahoma Water Resources Board, OSU Student Chapter of Soil and Water Conservation Society, USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service, Dewey County Conservation District, Kay County Conservation District, North Fork of Red River Conservation District, Ottawa County Conservation District, Payne County Conservation District, Rogers County Conservation District, Tulsa County Conservation District and Woodward County Conservation District.

The Oklahoma Envirothon is part of a national program for high school students designed to educate and challenge young people in the environmental sciences. It is an exciting, fun way for students to learn about the environment and the issues facing this and future generations. Combining in-class curriculum with hands-on field experiences, Envirothon demonstrates the role people have in important environmental issues such as forestry, wildlife management, water quality and soil erosion.

Envirothon is a team-based program. All teams must be sponsored by their local conservation district. Teams are formed in the fall and begin studying resource materials to learn the fundamentals of natural resources management in five areas of study:  aquatic ecology, forestry, soils/land use, wildlife and a special topic.

The statewide competition takes place in the spring of each year.  The competition includes written exams on each subject area and an oral presentation. Written exams are administered in the field at four or five test stations.  Each station is staffed with a natural resource professional who is a specialist in one of the subject areas. Teams also prepare a presentation on the special topic for that year.

For more information on the Oklahoma Envirothon visit the website at www.envirothonok.com.