Slippery Rock High School had the winning team Tuesday at the annual Butler County Envirothon at Alameda Park. Team members, front from left, are Grascen Shidemantle, Hannah Schmidt, Morgan Siebka and Jake Heasley. Rear, from left, are Chip Brunst of the Pennsylvania Game Commission, Slippery Rock teacher Tony Consbruck; Ryan Harr, watershed specialist for the Butler County Conservation District; and Sheryl Kelly, Butler County recycling coordinator.

A team of students from Slippery Rock High School won the annual Butler County Envirothon Tuesday at Alameda Park. A total of 26 teams participated.

Members of the Slippery Rock team are Grascen Shidemantle, Hannah Schmidt, Morgan Siebka and Jake Heasley. Their teacher is Tony Consbruck.

The Envirothon is designed to give students the opportunity to acquire and demonstrate their knowledge of environmental resources and the interactive relationships between resources and human activities.

The goal of the Envirothon program is to help students become environmentally knowledgeable citizens who are willing to work toward achieving and maintaining an equilibrium between the quality of life and quality of the environment.

The program emphasizes the importance of environmental sensitivity while stressing a need to achieve a social, ecological and economic balance.

The students were challenged in forestry, aquatics, wildlife, soil and the current events issue was grazing land and pasture management.

Tests were conducted by personnel from the Bureau of Forestry, Pennsylvania Game Commission, the Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission, Butler County Recycling Department and the Butler County Conservation District and Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Resources.

The state Envirothon competition will be held at Juniata College May 21 and 22.

Ron Fodor is manager of the Butler County Conservation District.