Area II Environthon

High school students from a 12-county area demonstrated their knowledge of Minnesota's natural resources at the annual Area II Envirothon, held May 2 at the Prairie Wetlands Learning Center near Fergus Falls.

The Douglas Soil and Water Conservation District (SWCD) assisted with the organization of the event.

The Envirothon is a hands-on outdoor competition for high school students.  Students attended four learning stations covering soils, wetlands/aquatics, wildlife and forestry, along with a 5th learning station where the topic changes annually and also requires students to give an oral presentation.

This year's topic was "Water Stewardship in a Changing Climate."  Professionals from SWCD, DNR, U.S. Fish and Wildlife, Board of Water & Soil Resources and Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) gave presentations at each station and used the outdoors to test the student's knowledge of the natural world.

Each team of four to five students worked together to answer questions presented in the tests.  Scores were tallied and the three highest scoring teams advance to the State Envirothon held at Lake Bronson State Park on May 17.

The Osakis team members were Ryan Wielenberg, Matt Barsness, Heather Cowdery, Tim Larson, Sarah Repp, Angie Dirkes, and Kathy Emard.  Team coach was teach Emily Wolf.