Students on 40 teams from schools around the county are getting ready for Friday's 33rd annual Schuylkill County Envirothon.
The teams, gathering for the event at the Schuylkill County Fairgrounds and Environmental Education Center in Summit Station, will hail from the Blue Mountain, Saint Clair Area, Pine Grove Area, Mahanoy Area, North Schuylkill, Tamaqua, Tri-Valley and Pottsville Area school districts as well as Assumption BVM and St. Ambrose School
"The Envirothon is coordinated by the Schuylkill Conservation District and tests teams about their knowledge of the environment and is designed to increase their awareness of interrelationships that exist in the world," Patrick "Porcupine Pat" McKinney, environmental education coordinator for the conservation district, said Tuesday.
During the Envirothon, three tiers of competition will be held for the different grade levels competing. "Snoops" are teams in elementary grades, "investigators" are middle school students and "scientists" are high school students.
The winner of the "scientists" category will represent the county at the state competition in May. The state winner goes to the national competition later this summer.
The topics in the competition will revolve around five environmental categories including aquatics, forestry, soils, wildlife and a current environmental issue.
The 2012 current issue will be nonpoint source pollution and low impact development.
Nonpoint source pollution is water and air pollution from diffuse sources, while low impact development is an approach to land development or re-development that works with nature to manage stormwater as close to its source as possible.
Local representatives of the state Game Commission, state Fish and Boat Commission, DCNR Bureau of Forestry, Natural Resources Conservation Service, Chesapeake Bay Program, Department of Environmental Protection and the Schuylkill Conservation District will provide technical assistance.
"We also thank our generous sponsor, the Schuylkill County Municipal Authority, for their continued support of the Schuylkill County Envirothon." McKinney said. "Water quality and water conservation are issues that are of prime importance for both the authority and the conservation district."