Canon Envirothon spans the length and breadth of North America – from the deserts of the southwestern U.S. to the frozen tundra near the Arctic Circle in Canada: from the Everglades to the Olympic peninsula. It’s a lot of territory – with many different habitats and remarkable biological and cultural diversity.

These Curriculum Guidelines have been developed to accommodate as much educational diversity as possible. They are not meant to replace any state or provincial Envirothon curriculum, but rather to provide a standard framework for students and advisors headed to the Canon Envirothon. These guidelines cover the four major Canon Envirothon  topic areas – Soils and Land Use; Aquatic Ecology; Forestry; and Wildlife. Additionally, Energy and Solid Waste components have been added to each of the four major topics to make them even more comprehensive.

Included herein are Key Points with which students should be familiar; Suggested Core Activities to help prepare students; Top Resources for each content subject; Extended Studies where students can expand their natural resource knowledge and hands-on involvement; Assessment Guidelines for the Oral (Team) Presentation Component of Canon Envirothon; and Assessment Guidance for student preparedness for the overall program.

Our Goals in preparing these guidelines:
• To develop a teacher friendly, hands-on natural resources curriculum.
• To provide activities and lessons for teams new to the Envirothon, while challenging experienced teams.

Use of these materials will result in:
• Increased Envirothon participation at the local, regional, and State/Provincial levels.
• Increased team scores at the Canon Envirothon Competition in the four natural resource categories: soils and land use, aquatic ecology, forestry, and wildlife.

We hope you find this tool helpful in your preparations for and participation in the Canon Envirothon…and Good Luck at the competition!