​Four hundred high school students will converge at the Honda of America Manufacturing East Liberty Plant in Logan County for the 2009 Southwest Ohio Area IV Envirothon Competition on May 5, 2009. Seventy five teams of students will be competing from 18 counties in southwest Ohio. The Envirothon is a team competition designed to stimulate, reinforce and enhance interest in the environment and natural resources. This outdoor team event for high school students offers a unique learning experience. The event tests students’ knowledge of soils, forestry, wildlife, aquatic ecology and current environmental issues while encouraging cooperative decision-making and team building. The 2009 current environmental issues theme is “biodiversity in a changing world.” Biodiversity is the variety of life and its processes. It includes the variety of living organisms, the genetic differences among them, and the communities and ecosystems in which they occur. The Honda of America Manufacturing site provides an excellent setting to experience biodiversity in our changing world. Honda of America has been proactive in providing habitat and protecting water quality in the areas surrounding their manufacturing plants. Their 8,200 acre complex includes 830 acres of wetlands. Of this 830 acres of wetland; 658 acres are natural and 172 acres are constructed wetlands. This is just one example of the many conservation practices that they have incorporated at their complex. Five area-wide competitions are held annually in Ohio. The top four teams from each area progress to the Ohio Envirothon in June at Kenyon College in Knox County. The top scoring team in the Ohio Envirothon is then eligible to compete at the Canon (national) Envirothon competition at the University of North Carolina. The Area IV Envirothon event is organized by the Southwest Ohio Soil and Water Conservation Districts and is sponsored by Honda of America Manufacturing, Cargill, and the Southwest Ohio Soil and Water Conservation Districts. More information about the Envirothon may be obtained by visiting their website at www.areaivenvirothon.org; calling the Logan Soil and Water Conservation District office at (937) 593-2946 or emailing barb.kuck@oh.nacdnet.net. For More Information Contact: Barb Kuck, Logan SWCD Education Coordinator (937) 593-2946; barb.kuck@oh.nacdnet.net Terri Gravatt, Union SWCD District Administrator (937) 642-5871; terri.gravatt@oh.nacdnet.net