On Saturday, May 2, 2026, 71 4-H youth gathered at the Eno River Association’s Confluence Natural Area in Orange County for the 2026 4-H Wildlife Habitat Education Program (WHEP) state contest. Nine counties put forth seven Senior Division teams and eight Junior Division teams. In addition, three individuals and ten 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.

Forsyth 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 outside of Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. Members of the top scoring Forsyth County Senior Division team are Calloway Mehaffey, Lucy Mehaffey, Maggie Mehaffey, and JohnTyler. 4-H Volunteers Carla Arrowood and Margaret Mehaffey coach the team with support from Natural Resource Agent Rebecca Craps.

In the Junior Division, Forsyth County JR Team A placed first. Jonathan So, a member of the Forsyth 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 the Confluence Natural Area. Counties represented included Alexander, Alleghany, Cabarrus, Caswell, Davidson, Edgecombe, Forsyth, Henderson, and Wilson. 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.