Call to Action Combating
Nonpoint Source and Stormwater Pollution
Sponsor Tomorrow's Environmental Stewards
For 2026, Envirothon has chosen the environmental issue: Non-Point Source Pollution: it begins at home! Students will learn about NPS pollution and identify its origins in both urban and rural settings. They will conduct their own NPS surveys in their community and watershed. Additionally, they will research NPS mitigation strategies, which encompass actions at both the individual level - such as conservation, recycling, and responsible consumption - and the community level, including watershed planning, best management practices, nature-based solutions, water quality testing, and litter prevention initiatives.
Sponsors are critical every year to keep this program available so that teams of 5 high school students with a teacher/coach can compete regionally in the areas of aquatics, forestry, soils, wildlife and a current issue in natural resources. If your mission includes pollution prevention, our Sponsorship Form is available now for 2026!
The Envirothon objectives are threefold:
- to test environmental knowledge and understanding of natural resource issues of today and into the future
- to cultivate future careers in environmental fields
- to hone team building and enhance communications skills
Top-scoring regional winners receive awards. They then advance to state, and state winners to the national competition. Scholarships are awarded to the winners of the North American competition which for 2026 will be hosted by Mississippi State University!
The Northeastern Illinois Envirothon is organized by local soil and water conservation districts for high schools in Boone, Cook, DeKalb, DuPage, Kane, Lake, McHenry, Will and Winnebago counties. See link below to find your regional SWCD.
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