SUNBURY – About 200 high school students from the five county area are learning about the environment at the annual Susquehanna Valley Envirothon. The Envirothon is held at the Shikellamy State Park Overlook and is an environmental education competition. Students from grades 9 to 12 are tested at five separate stations on categories including aquatics, forestry, wildlife, soils and a current issue, which is “Urban and Community Forestry.”
Mary Wagner is district manager for the Columbia County Conservation District, “It’s a competition and we have 42 teams here today. Each team has five students on a team. It enables them to generate fun activities with the different students from different schools. It is a competition but they still are learning too.”
Van Wagner, a teacher from the Lewisburg School District talked to the students about a legend of how the Danville Ironmen got their school colors, “One legend of how Danville got it’s colors is based on this rock that I’m holding. It’s a purple sandstone, and if it’s really high in iron, it oxidizes and you get orange rust…so orange and purple.”
The competition is sponsored by the local county conservation districts and local businesses in the five county area. Representatives from the state Fish and Boat Commission, the Game Commission, the Bureau of Forestry, the USDA Natural Conservation Service and the Bureau of State Parks conduct testing at each station. The DEP also assists at the event. (Ali Stevens)