Two Envirothon teams from Decorah High School headed to state

"Fungus Amongus" team members (l-r): Natalie Tapscott, Josie Kleckner, Sydney Landstrom, Rachel Bower, and Owen Burgdorf-Hibbs

It is on to state for two Envirothon teams from Decorah.  They finished in the top 15 teams out of 59 teams competing from across Iowa after the regional scores were tabulated. They earned the right to continue on to the state contest on April 8th at Jester State Park in Polk County.  The winning team at this year's state contest will represent Iowa at the International Envirothon Contest to be held July 28th through August 2nd at the University of North Carolina in Raleigh.

Decorah was again well represented this year as 40 high school students participated in the Envirothon regional competition held on the Kirkwood College campus in Iowa City.  Team "Fungus Amongus" finished 2nd in the contest and earned the eighth highest overall score.  Team members include Rachel Bower, Josie Kleckner, Sydney Landstrom, Natalie Tapscott, and Owen Burgdorf-Hibbs.  Decorah's other qualifying team, "Team 99" with members Lauren Myli, Meg Sessions, Helen Weis, Edwin Holyoake, and Noah Lovelace finished 4th in the regional contest and 15th overall.

The Envirothon is a team competition for high school students testing their knowledge of natural resources. In the field and classroom, teams of five students are challenged to use their knowledge and critical thinking skills to conduct hands-on investigations, solve real-life scenarios, and answer written questions covering five categories: Aquatics, Forestry, Soils, Wildlife and Current Environmental Issues.

The Iowa Envirothon is sponsored by Conservation Districts of Iowa, with generous support from IDALS-DSCWQ, Griggs Environmental Strategies, Iowa Department of Natural Resources, Iowa Farm Bureau Federation, Iowa FFA Association, Iowa Pork Producers Association, Iowa Soil and Water Conservation Society, Iowa Soybean Association, Natural Resources Conservation Service, Smithfield Foods, Winneshiek SWCD, Many Soil and Water Conservation Districts, Dallas SWCD, Denise Forret, Eldon Weber, Jake Hansen, Jim Gillespie, Judie Krebsbach, Pat Schlarbaum, Robert Lynch, and Wayne Petersen. Special thanks to Barb Schroeder and the Winneshiek County Conservation Board for their continued support of the school's participation in the Envirothon program.  This year's Decorah Envirothon teams are being coached by Larry Berland and John Kraus.

"Team 99" team members (l-r): Noah Lovelace, Helen Weis, Edwin Holyoake, Lauren Myli, and Meg Sessions