Decorah High School’s Envirothon teams delivered outstanding performances at the 2025 Iowa Envirothon State Competition, held April 28 at the Jester Park Nature Center and Outdoor Recreation and Wellness Center.

Envirothon is an annual environmental and natural resources competition that challenges high school students to apply science, problem-solving, and teamwork to real-world ecological issues. Students rotate through hands-on stations focused on aquatics, forestry/prairie, soils, and wildlife, and present solutions to a current environmental issue—in 2025, “Roots and Resiliency: Fostering Forest Stewardship in a Canopy of Change.”

The team Load of Carp—Hannah Arendt, Mason Myers, Lily Sandhorst, Amelia Wadsworth, and Margret Zook—claimed first place with a score of 450 points. As state champions, they will represent Iowa at the National Conservation Foundation’s international Envirothon competition, taking place July 20–26 at Mount Royal University in Calgary, Alberta.

Decorah’s second team Duff & Duffer also excelled, earning third place with 432 points—just one point behind second-place Marshalltown. Members include Reid Berns, Riley Berns, Carson Bohner, Reid Kuehner, and Grant Zilka. Together, Decorah’s teams dominated the competition, winning five of six event categories. Load of Carp took top honors in aquatics and wildlife, while Duff & Duffer led in soils, current issue, and oral presentation.

Advisor Larry Berland said, “In the fall of 2024, eighty students signed up to get a better understanding of their environment by taking part in Envirothon. Throughout the course of the year, Envirothon students have supported each other as they spent hours after school and on the weekends. The parents, teachers, and the Decorah community itself should all take pride in the students’ accomplishments, including at the recent regional and state competitions.”

The Iowa Envirothon program is sponsored by the Conservation Districts of Iowa, with support from partners including the Iowa Department of Natural Resources, Iowa Conservation Education Coalition, Soil and Water Conservation Districts, the Iowa Department of Agriculture, and other conservation professionals.

To learn more about Iowa Envirothon, visit: https://www.cdiowa.org/get-involved/envirothon/ or https://iowaee.org/ee-science-in-iowa/envirothon/.

Load of Carp at Victory Bell: Lily Sandhorst, Margret Zook, Hannah Arendt, Amelia Wadsworth, and Mason Myers

Load of Carp at competition completing the wildlife test: Hannah Arendt, Lily Sandhorst, Amelia Wadsworth, Margret Zook, and Mason Myers

Duff and Duffer at Victory Bell: Grant Zilka, Reid Berns, Reid Kuehner, Carson Bohner, and Riley Berns.

Duff and Duffer at competition completing the forestry test: Reid Berns, Reid Kuehner, Grant Zilka, Riley Berns, and Carson Bohner.