Youth Education

We teach and inspire Wisconsin’s youth to be the next generation of environmental stewards through engaging education programs.

Wisconsin Envirothon

Wisconsin Envirothon is our state’s ultimate middle and high school environmental science challenge. Teams of four or five students participate in hands-on, outdoor field challenges designed by natural resource professionals and educators. The winning high school team moves on to represent Wisconsin at the National Conservation Foundation Envirothon.

Poster & Speaking Contest

Students compete in county and area competitions with the winners moving on to compete at the state competition at our Annual Conference. The first-place posters from the state competition represent Wisconsin in the National Association of Conservation Districts’ national competition.

Conservation Camps

Our conservation camps provide positive educational outdoor experiences, foster an appreciation for nature, and introduce a variety of careers in natural resources. Professionals from various agencies present programs on topics like wildlife, habitat water quality, fisheries, forestry, orienteering and canoeing.

While COVID continued to impact us in 2021, our Youth Education Committee worked hard to restructure our programs so students had the opportunity to participate in a few of our core youth conservation programs.

We were disappointed that our two Conservation Camps had to be canceled for the second year in a row, but we were fortunate that students were able to participate in the 64th Annual Conservation Awareness Poster and Speaking Contests and the WI Envirothon.

When the annual conference was moved to a virtual platform, the Youth Education Committee worked hard to figure out how to hold a virtual Poster and Speaking contest. With so many events canceled during COVID, students and teachers were excited to have an opportunity to participate.

As we looked toward organizing the Envirothon, we knew we didn’t want to cancel again so the Youth Education Committee began revamping the program. With the support of our donors and NCF-Envirothon our committee worked hard to put together a virtual Envirothon. And as other states followed a virtual format, so did the NCF-Envirothon.

The 2021 Envirothon was made possible by the generous support from our sponsors:

Outdoor Heritage Education Center

• The Robert W. and Susan T. Brown Family Foundation

• Cellcom

• Smithfield Foods, Inc.

• Wisconsin County Forests Assoc, Inc.

• Advanced Disposal

• WI Farm Bureau Foundation

• Petenwell & Castle Rock Stewards

• Pheasants Forever, Inc. - Outagamie Chapter

• Lands’ End

• Wisconsin Potato & Vegetable Growers Association

• Southern Land+Water Area Association

• Lake Winnebago Land+Water Area Association

• North Central Land+Water Area Association

13 students sent videos of their conservation topic to be judged in the virtual Conservation Awareness Speaking Contest

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14 teams across the state participated in the virtual WI Envirothon posters were submitted in the virtual Conservation Awareness Poster Contest