On Saturday, May 10, 2025, 56 4-H youth gathered at Jones Lake State Park in Bladen County for the 2025 Wildlife Habitat Education Program (WHEP) state contest. Nine counties put forth three Senior Division teams and ten Junior Division teams. In addition, six individuals and four Cloverbuds participated in the contest. The contest consisted of wildlife identification and general wildlife knowledge, wildlife foods identification, aerial photo interpretation, and on-site wildlife habitat recommendations.

Alexander county posted the highest scoring Senior Division team, and will have the opportunity to represent North Carolina at the National 4-H WHEP Invitational this July in Crossville, Tenneessee. Members of the Alexander County team are Weston Brown, Selah Sigmon, Pita Ortiz, and Lucas Hardin. Alexander County 4-H agent, D.J. Salyer, is the coach for the team. In the Junior Division, Henderson county JR Team A placed first. Avery Powers, a member of the Henderson county team, had the contest’s overall highest score. A full list of team rankings can be found on Extension Forestry's 4-H Program webpage.

Teams traveled from across the state to participate in the state contest at Jones Lake State Park.  Counties represented included Alexander, Cabarrus, Davidson, Edgecombe, Forsyth, Henderson, Rutherford, Wake, and Wilson. Over 70 youth registered for the event.

WHEP is a 4-H program that helps youth explore native wildlife and habitat management.  Extension Forestry, within North Carolina State University’s College of Natural Resources, supports and promotes the WHEP program in North Carolina with funding support from the Renewable Resources Extension Act (RREA) project award 7009029 from the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National Institute of Food and Agriculture.