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2025 Texas Envirothon

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Richmond
April 5–7, 2025

Results

Results

  • 1st Place: South Texas ISD Science Academy, Green Dragons
  • 2nd Place: Academy of Science and Technology, Esperanzas
  • 3rd Place: Academy of Science and Technology, Spiny Lizards
Area of Study Top Score School, Team
Aquatics 86/100 South Texas ISD Science Academy, Black Dragons
Forestry 88/100 South Texas ISD Science Academy, Green Dragons
Soils 82/100 South Texas ISD Science Academy, Green Dragons
Wildlife 72/100 South Texas ISD Science Academy, Green Dragons
Current Issue 82/100 Academy of Science and Technology, Spiny Lizards
Presentation 190/200 Fulshear High School, Sandy Loam
Sponsors

Sponsors

Pileated Woodpecker

CenterPoint Foundation logo

 

Scissor-tailed Flycatcher

 

Native Plant Society Clear Lake Chapter logo

Montgomery County Soil & Water Conservation District #452 Logo

Red-winged Blackbird

Texas Association of Environmental Professionals LogoTexas Association of Environmental Professionals

Coastal Plains Soil and Water Conservation District

Snowy Egret

Harris County Soil and Water Conservation District

Texas State Soil and Water Conservation Board

Participating Schools

Participating Schools

Thirteen teams representing six Texas high schools participated in the three-day competition.

  • Academy of Science and Technology, The Woodlands
  • Berkner High School, Richardson
  • Carroll Senior High School, Southlake
  • Fulshear High School, Fulshear
  • South Texas ISD Science Academy, Mercedes
  • Stuart Career Technical High School, Baytown
NCF-Envirothon

NCF-Envirothon

Coming soon

Final ScoresPress Release Photo Gallery

Roots and Resiliency: Fostering Forest Stewardship in a Canopy of Change

As the world studies climate change, the significance of the forests becomes even more pronounced. Worldwide, forests are experiencing impacts from extreme weather events due to a changing climate, which will result in changes to individual species and the ecosystem as a whole. To understand long-term impacts, we must understand the roots of forest systems to anticipate how forests may respond to changes and how we can help these ecosystems remain sustainable.

Fostering Forest Stewardship in a Canopy of Change is a call to action that calls on us to examine current forest practices, identify where vulnerabilities may lie, and identify necessary adaptations. In every rustle of the leaves and whisper of the wind, there lies an opportunity to create a harmonious partnership with the natural environment and original stewardship practices. To create viable solutions for future resilient forests, one will have to examine traditional ways and knowledge of stewardship, as well as scientific innovations and techniques.

2025 Current Issue Study Guide (NCF-Envirothon)

Key Topics & Learning Objectives

  • Key Topic 1: Climate Change Projections
    1. Describe the causes of climate change, including the greenhouse effect.
    2. Explain the impacts of climate change on the environment, as well as social and economic impacts both locally and globally.
    3. Explain the concept of Canada’s Representative Concentration Pathway models and what they imply for the future climate.
    4. Differentiate types of climate models and the various components that enable models to project future conditions.
  • Key Topic 2: Forest Health in a Changing Climate
    1. Explain how globalization has enabled the spread of invasive insect species and impacted the world’s forests.
    2. Describe how wildfire impacts the hydrology, wildlife, and soils of forest communities.
    3. Describe the conditions of drought as it relates to forest ecosystems, and identify how increasing drought severity and frequency impacts global forests.
    4. Explain the biology and impacts of typical forest insect pests such as Mountain pine beetle, Spruce beetle, Spruce budworm, Forest tent caterpillar, Emerald ash borer,  and Asian longhorn beetle.
    5. Describe biology and impacts of typical forest diseases such as Western gall rust, Armillaria root rot, needle casts and needle rusts.
    6. Describe how the prevalence and spread of forest pests and diseases are expected to shift with climate change.
  • Key Topic 3: Inherent Rights of Indigenous Peoples to Land Stewardship
    1. Identify differences between Indigenous worldviews and Western worldviews regarding land stewardship.
    2. Identify and summarize the core themes within the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP).
    3. Explain why some countries did not sign on to the original adoption of UNDRIP in 2007 and why some of those countries joined UNDRIP later.
    4. Describe how land-based learning and Traditional Knowledge systems can contribute to improved land use, forest management, and mitigation strategies.
    5. Describe how Indigenous stewardship and traditional ecological knowledge could help meet global conservation goals.
  • Key Topic 4: Vulnerability Assessments and Adaptation Strategies
    1. Describe a forest vulnerability assessment, including its purpose and steps.
    2. Assess forest conditions and apply climate change adaptation strategies to support sustainable forest management.
    3. Analyze the benefits and drawbacks of various climate change adaptation strategies for forests, including assisted species migration, selective breeding, and /or afforestation.
    4. Define adaptive capacity in relation to vulnerable flora and fauna of forest communities.
    5. Distinguish how various ecozones face differing levels of vulnerability and explain which ecological factors drive this vulnerability.
  • Key Topic 5: Legislation and Regulations
    1. Describe how governments determine if forest harvesting levels will be sustainable in the future with climate change.
    2. Explain how natural disturbances such as wildfires, windstorms, droughts, and hail storms impact the forest industry’s total annual harvest quota.
    3. Describe how forest certification can be used as a global tool to manage forests sustainably.
    4. Identify key takeaways of the 2015 Paris Agreement and how the commitments made influence forest sustainability.
    5. Explain the main goals of the 2022 Kunming-Montreal Protocol and the positive impacts this agreement could have on forest sustainability.
  • Key Topic 6: The Boreal Forest
    1. Describe an ecozone or ecological land classification,  and identify how different types are anticipated to shift based on climate change projections.
    2. Identify ecosystem services provided by boreal forest ecosystems, including environmental, economic, social, and cultural values.
    3. Differentiate the types of wetlands found in the boreal forest, explain their importance, and describe the anticipated effects from a changing climate on these ecosystems.
    4. Identify boreal forest-dependent species, and explain how climate change may threaten their populations.
    5. Analyze the wildfire regime in the boreal forest and describe how it is changing in response to climatic shifts.

 Current Issue: Recommended Resources (Texas)

Teacher Workshop Materials

Presentation

Northern Bobwhite Biology

WATCH: Northern Bobwhite Biology
PPT: Northern Bobwhite Biology
James Page, Project Coordinator, Texas A&M Natural Resources Institute

Knowledge and Skills for the Forestry Field Test
Sam Hill, Woodland Ecologist, Texas A&M Forest Service
Jaden Kelly, Program Specialist II, Texas A & M Forest Service

PPT - Tree Biology
PPT - Field Skills

Additional Forestry Resources

2025 Texas Envirothon Soils & Land Use

WATCH: 2025 Texas Envirothon Soils & Land Use
PPT: 2025 Texas Envirothon Soils & Land Use
Isaiah Jaramillo, Resource Soil Scientist, Natural Resources Conservation Service
Cole Patton, Resource Soil Scientist, Natural Resources Conservation Service

Climate Change and Aquatic Ecosystems

WATCH: Climate Change and Aquatic Ecosystems
PPT: Climate Change and Aquatic Ecosystems
Dr. George Guillen, University of Houston-Clear Lake

Conservation of Southeast Texas’ Natural Landscapes in a Changing Climate

WATCH: Conservation of Southeast Texas’ Natural Landscapes in a Changing Climate
PPT: Conservation of Southeast Texas’ Natural Landscapes in a Changing Climate
Andy Sipocz, Regional Natural Resources Coordinator, TPWD

 

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