Forestry

Plant communities shape our world. Forests comprise 30.8 percent of global land area while grasslands and rangelands make up approximately 50 percent of Earth’s terrestrial surface. Humans rely on the biodiversity of forests for many services, including timber for homes, wood pulp for paper, biochemical models for future medications, recreation, aesthetic beauty, and countless others. Grasslands and rangelands are home to unique species such as bison and prairie dogs, and they provide fertile land to grow our crops and to raise livestock that are critical to feeding the world’s human population. A good understanding of plant biology, forest and grassland ecology, and human impacts to these ecosystems will help to inform good management practices to conserve these areas for future generations.

In this study, students will develop an understanding of forest and plant based ecosystems, learn forest management techniques, species identification and more.

Learning Objectives

Each area of study is divided into several different key topics, which vary from subject to subject. Underneath these key topics, you will find relevant learning objectives applicable to that topic for the level of testing expected at the NCF-Envirothon annual international competition-level testing.

Please Note:
1) In an effort to make the Learning Objectives as comprehensive as possible, the overall number of items for each area of study may be quite long! It is important to note, that not every learning objective listed will be used for every competition. These Learning Objectives serve as an overview of the types of knowledge and skills expected of students at the international level of competition. Please refer to the subject area resources for this year’s competition (typically posted in May of the competition year) for specific relevant topics.

2) If you are a new Envirothon team or Advisor (who has never trained or competed before), please check with your local State or Provincial Envirothon Program representative before you begin team trainings based on these Learning Objectives. Your local program may have their own learning objectives that students are expected to know that differ from those listed below. Every team that competes at the NCF-Envirothon annual international competition has to FIRST qualify by winning their local state, provincial or partner nation Envirothon competition, so team training should focus on information, resources and/or learning objectives developed for that competition-level.

View the Forestry Learning Objectives below: