High school agriculture students from across Colorado competed this fall in five Range Judging and Plant Identification contests. The events were held Sept. 21 in Alamosa, Sept. 28 in La Junta, Sept. 29 in New Raymer, Oct. 7 in Craig, and Oct. 12 in Seibert. These youth educational events were sponsored by the Colorado Section of the Society for Range Management as part of their youth activities program. Other sponsors were the Colorado State Land Board and most of the conservation districts throughout eastern Colorado. 

The Range Judging Contest is one of many Career Development Events agriculture students can participate in to test their skills and knowledge learned through their agricultural education classes. Through the Range Judging Contest students are tested on their plant identification skills and reading the landscape to determine the ecological site, condition of the rangeland, amount of usable forage, and number of animals that can be supported on the land.

For all five events there were a total of 550 agriculture students representing 40 FFA chapters from all across Colorado who participated in these events. Students were divided into three groups to identify 30 to 50 range plant species and two ecological sites. During the plant identification portion students had 60 seconds to identify the plant before moving on to the next plant. At the two ecological sites students had 45 minutes to complete a rangeland inventory to determine the ecological site, range condition of the site, and a recommend the best range management improvement practice based on a livestock grazing scenario that was provided. Judging the two ecological sites also tested the students plant identification skills.

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Thank you to all the FFA advisors, bus drivers, local conservation districts, the Colorado State Land Board and the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service for helping make these educational youth events a success for all the participating high school agriculture students.