The Minnesota Association of Soil and Water Conservation Districts (SWCD)supports a youth-focused environmental education competition every year called the Minnesota Envirothon. A key aspect of the competition is delivering an oral presentation in response to an “issue scenario,” which is focused on an important environmental topic. Hundreds of students from high schools across Minnesota compete as teams.
Retired Stevens SWCD education coordinator, Judy Johnston, provided organizational leadership to the 2025 statewide competition and collaborated with environmental professionals to craft the issue scenario over many years.
“For the past three years we have worked with the UMN Morris Office of Sustainability to help us write the statewide issue scenario. UMN Morris is recognized as a sustainability leader in Minnesota. In 2024, the topic was sustainable energy and adaptation. This year the topic was about forest stewardship and resiliency. This was the first time our Minnesota students placed in the national competition!”
The 2025 Minnesota Envirothon was held at Wolf Ridge Environmental Learning Center in Finland, Minnesota. About 25+ teams participated. The team from Minnetonka High School was selected to attend the national competition in Alberta, Canada. In July 2025, Minnetonka’s team placed in the top ten competitors in the United States, and placed first in the oral presentation competition.
UMN Morris sustainability director, Troy Goodnough, shared, “This year students had an opportunity to think deeply about changing forest conditions in Minnesota. The issue scenario also explored how traditional ecological knowledge intersects with past and present forestry practices in Minnesota and beyond. Students also learned about the new Minnesota CliMAT tool, created by the UMN Climate Adaptation Partnership, which allowed them to examine a range of climate projections for Minnesota in the years ahead. The University of Minnesota, including the Cloquet Forestry Center, were key aspects of the issue scenario this year.”