Otto Eldred to Represent McKean County at the PA State Envirothon

The Otto Eldred team of five students, consisting of Jared Dickerson, Aaron Howard, Zach Mead, Adam Wolf and Noah Jordan took first place overall at the “Wild” Envirothon held on Tuesday, May 8 at the Keating Sportsmen’s Club in Smethport. This team will now go on to represent McKean County at the PA Envirothon being held at the University of Pittsburgh Johnstown on May 22 and 23.

This exciting academic event pit teams from McKean and Cameron County School Districts of ninth to twelfth-grade students against each other in outdoor situations that test their knowledge of the natural world. The event was sponsored by the McKean and Cameron County Conservation Districts, Upper Allegheny Watershed Association, Lafayette Township Supervisors, the Keating Sportsman’s Club, Bells Meat Market, G.L. Carlson, Embassy Pressed Metals

During this hands-on competition, students may be asked to measure a tree…analyze water from a stream…or feel handfuls of earth to identify the type soil. They work as a 5-member team to answer questions of fact, and use their critical thinking to find solutions to reality-based situations, such as how to balance the use and protection of our natural resources through 5 stations.

 The stations included: Forestry, manned by Stan Hess, DCNR Bureau of Forestry; Wildlife, manned by Len Groshek, Tom Sabolicik and Wayne Hunt from the PA Game Commission; Soil and Land Use, manned by Carol Riedmiller, McKean County Conservation District and Dave Stratton from the Farm Service Agency; Aquatics, manned by Heather McKean, McKean County Conservation District and Todd Delucia, Cameron County Conservation District and the Current Event, Non-Point Source Pollution/Low Impact Development, manned by Jim Clark, Penn State Cooperative Extension and Joan Biehler from the McKean County Planning Commission.

“Wild” Envirothon Winners from Otto-Eldred with advisor Boyd Fitzsimmons.