NEWS FROM THE DELAWARE DEPARTMENT OF NATURAL RESOURCES AND ENVIRONMENTAL CONTROL.

Sept. 11, 2009
Vol. 39, No. 372

For more information, contact Michelle Jacobs, Community Relations Officer, 302-535-7627, or Joanna Wilson, DNREC Public Affairs, 302-739-9902.

Preparations for the 15th Annual Delaware Envirothon are under way

The 15th season of the Delaware Envirothon, sponsored by the Delaware Association of Conservation Districts, begins with its first training workshop from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 17, at Blackbird State Forest, just north of Smyrna. The second and final training workshop will be held Saturday, Nov. 14, at the University of Delaware Cooperative Extension Service (Paradee Building), in Dover.

The Delaware Envirothon provides challenging environmental education and hands-on instruction, correlated to state education standards, to participating teams of high school age students. Throughout the year students learn about resource topics of Aquatic Ecology, Forestry, Soils/Land Use, Wildlife, and a fifth topic that changes each year. The new topic for 2010 is “Protection of Groundwater through Urban, Agricultural and Environmental Planning.” 

During the spring competition, slated April 29, 2010 in Sussex County, students will be tested on their knowledge of the natural resource topics.  Additionally students must prepare an oral presentation to provide an answer for the given scenario based on the resource topics. Teams will be competing in the Delaware Envirothon to receive college scholarships and to represent Delaware at the 2010 Canon Envirothon next summer in Merced, Calif. 
 
The 2009 Delaware State Champions, representing the Charter School of Wilmington, recently returned from the Canon Envirothon competition where they took fourth place out of teams from 45 other states and seven Canadian provinces. “We’re really excited to begin preparations for the 2010 competition,” said Michelle Jacobs, Chair of the Delaware Envirothon planning committee. “We are also looking for additional adults and students from across the state interested in environmental education and stewardship and becoming involved with the Delaware Envirothon.”

To register for the workshops or to receive more information about the program, contact Kerin Hume at 302-741-2600.  More information about the Delaware Envirothon can be found at www.delawareenvirothon.org.