LOCAL HIGH SCHOOLERS COMPETE IN NATURAL RESOURCES COMPETITION PUT ON BY NATURAL RESOURCES DISTRICTS (NRDs)

The Upper Loup NRD would like to congratulate Mullen High School’s Envirothon Team on qualifying for the state competition. This is Mullen’s first appearance at the State Envirothon. Members include Liddy Vinton, Brittney Emerson, Brodie Baum, Morgan Rice, and Jessica Starr. Team members have interests in soils, range, and aquatics. The team is made up of Mullen FFA members that have experience competing in Agronomy and Range Judging. Good luck Mullen Envirothon Team!

(Scottsbluff, NE) Seventy high school students from across Nebraska are preparing to compete in the 25th annual Nebraska Envirothon on Wednesday, April 26th at the Wildcat Hills State Recreation Area in Gering, NE. Media is welcome to attend.

The natural resources competition tests high school students’ knowledge of Nebraska’s natural resources on topics of soil, aquatics, forestry, wildlife, range and policy. The competition also gives students an opportunity to create a proactive plan to solve an agricultural soil and water problem in Nebraska.

The Nebraska Envirothon demonstrates that no matter how young or old you may be, you can always make a difference in protecting people’s lives, property and the future of Nebraska’s natural resources.

“I’m always impressed with the knowledge and insight these students bring to this competition,” said Jim Johnson, Information and Education Committee chairman of the Nebraska Association of Resources Districts (NARD) Board of Directors. “It’s students like these that will make a positive impact in this world as we continue to conserve our natural resources.”

Teams consist of five members. Each team first competed in one of seven regional contests around the state. The winners of each region and the next seven overall highest scoring wildcard teams get the opportunity to compete at the state level. Test questions are not only written, but many require hands-on observations, measurements and calculations at the test sites.

This year there will be 12 schools and 14 teams competing at the State Envirothon. High schools participating are: Southern Valley, Sumner-Eddyville-Miller (SEM), Sidney, Norris, Ord, Concordia Team 1 and Team 2, Pender, St. Paul, Mullen, Burwell, Millard South, Aurora and Arapahoe High School.

The winning team will receive recognition from the NARD Foundation. They will then compete in the NCF Envirothon in July in Emmitsburg, Maryland.

The NARD is the annual sponsor of the Nebraska

Envirothon. The winning team receives $1,500 to go to their Envirothon program, second place receives $1,000 and third place receives $500. Each team member on the winning team is also awarded a $500 scholarship by the University of Nebraska-Lincoln to be used towards a major in the College of Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources at the university.

Other sponsors and supporters for this year’s Envirothon include: Smithfields Foods’ Omaha, Lincoln and Crete campuses, FYRA Engineering, Natural Resources Conservation Services (NRCS), Midwest Laboratories, Nebraska Forest Service, Farm Credit Services of America, Platte River Recovery Implementation Program, HDR, Olsson Associates, Nebraska Game and Parks Commission, FFA Foundation and University of Nebraska-Lincoln School of Natural Resources.

Please call Jeanne Dryburgh’s cell or Dave Wolf’s cell on April 26 and April 27 as she won’t be in the office those days. She’ll be at Wildcat Hills Recreation Area at 210615 NE-71, Gering, NE 69341. Again, her cell number is 402-416-5245. Or you can contact Dave Wolf, Public Relations Specialist for the North

Platte Natural Resources District at 308-660-5830.

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The Nebraska Association of Resources Districts (NARD), the trade association for Nebraska's 23 natural resources districts, works with individual NRDs to protect lives, protect property, and protect the future of Nebraska’s natural resources. These districts are unique to Nebraska. NRD’s are local government entities with broad responsibilities to protect our natural resources. Major Nebraska river basins form the boundaries of the 23 NRDs, enabling districts to respond best to local conservation and resource management needs. To learn more about Nebraska’s NRDs visit www.nrdnet.org. Or you can head to the Natural Resources Districts’ Facebook page at www.facebook.com or follow NARD’s Twitter page at www.twitter.com @nebnrd. NARD is located at 601 S. 12th St. Suite 201, Lincoln, Nebraska 68508. Email NARD at nard@nrdnet.org or call NARD at (402) 471-7670.