What is the Envirothon?

The Envirothon is a hands-on outdoor environmental competition that tests the natural resources knowledge of high school students. Teams consist of five students from the same school competing against other schools in five areas: forestry, wildlife, aquatics, soils and a current environmental issue. 

Natural resource and environmental professionals from a variety of agencies, organizations, colleges, universities, park districts and businesses prepare the test questions and staff the testing stations.

The Envirothon encourages cooperative decision making, team building, and problem solving.  Students who participate gain a greater awareness of natural resources and environmental issues.  They also meet a wide range of professionals and are exposed to various points of view on environmental issues, while learning about the diversity of natural resources and environmental career opportunities.

Ohio holds five area competitions that are rotated to different counties and coordinated by Ohio's 88 Soil and Water Conservation Districts. As many as 250 to 300 total teams compete in each area event.

The top twenty teams advance to the state-level Ohio Envirothon, held at a different college or univeristy each year.  At the state competition, students are again tested in the five resource areas and are also given a current issue scenario that they must work on together to prepare a proposed plan and present in front of a panel of judges. 

The winning team from the Ohio Envirothon advances to the NCF-Envirothon, where they compete against the top teams from across the United States, Canada, and China for scholarships and awards.  The NCF-Envirothon is held in a different state/province each year.  

2025 Envirothon Competitions

Area 3 Envirothon - April 23 - Shadow Lake Park and Campground, Monroe County

Ohio Envirothon - June 2nd through 4th - Wilmington College

NCF-Envirothon - July 20th through 26th - Mount Royal University, Calgary, Alberta, Canada

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