A team of students from Seneca Valley High School placed first at this year's Butler County Envirothon. Students from Karns City High School placed second and students from Slippery Rock High School placed third.

The annual county event took place May 4 at Jennings Environmental Center, with 23 junior and senior high teams from Seneca Valley, Moniteau, Knoch, Karns City and Slippery Rock participating. A total of 120 students were tested on their knowledge of the environment. The Envirothon is designed to give students and opportunity to acquire and demonstrate their knowledge of environmental resources and interactive relationships between resources and human activities.

The students were challenged in the areas of forestry, aquatics, soils, wildlife and natural resources management in an urban environment. Tests were conducted by personnel from the Bureau of Forestry, Pennsylvania Game Commission, Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission, Natural Resources Conservation Services (USDA), Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Resources, and Butler County Conservation District.

Under the leadership of Bob Harsh, an ecology teacher at Seneca Valley, students were awarded top honors.

Seneca Valley students will represent Butler County in the annual State Envirothon competition held May 24 and 25 at the University of Pittsburgh-Johnstown campus.

Ron Fodor is district manager of the Butler County Conservation District.