Recently, the Lancaster County Conservation District celebrated its 71st Annual Banquet, honoring conservation efforts in Lancaster County. Recipients were recognized for their contributions to conserving natural resources. The event also included an auction that directly supports the district’s Ann Brown Scholarship for high school seniors. PACD Executive Director Brenda Shambaugh attended the event.

Award recipients included:

• Watershed Project Award Recipients: Donegal Trout Unlimited, Alliance for the Chesapeake Bay, Unique Excavating, and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
• Building Industry Resource Conservation Award Recipients: Kinsley Construction, RETTEW, and High Associates
• Conservation School Service Award: Frank Wasco

Click here to read a press release on the banquet. 

For the fourth year, the Elk County Conservation District is challenging fellow PA conservation districts to pick up trash throughout April and May.

The district that picks up the most trash in their county is the winner. First, track the number of bags and weight of trash (if possible). Then, share your district’s photos and results on Facebook using the hashtags #ConservationCallout and #DistrictTrashTalking.

The winning district will be recognized during the July PACD/SCC Joint Annual Conference and receive the trash talker award (pictured) for the year. Washington County currently holds the trophy, which will be passed on to the 2024 winner.

Conservation District Week (April 28-May 4) is all about promoting conservation districts’ work across the Commonwealth. New for 2024, PACD is hosting an Instagram Photo Contest. 

How to participate:

• Must post and select only one photo of conservation district staff at work each weekday during Conservation District Week: Monday, April 29; Tuesday, April 30; Wednesday, May 1; Thursday, May 2; and Friday, May 3. A different photo must be posted and tagged each day.
• Must post photos on an official PA Conservation District Instagram account
• Must use #CDWeek and tag @PAConservation in each post
• By entering the contest, conservation districts are giving PACD permission to repost and use the photo entries
• Winner will be the district with the most likes on their tagged photos – a total of all five photos posted for the contest April 29-May 3
• The winning conservation district will receive a trophy (and bragging rights) at the PACD/SCC Joint Annual Conference in July

This contest is not sponsored, endorsed, administered by, or associated with Instagram.

Questions should be directed to PACD Director of Communications & Education Shannon Wehinger at swehinger@pacd.org.

 

Nominations are now being accepted for the PACD Conservation Awards. New for 2024, the award nominations have been simplified and streamlined with an online nomination form. Nominations must be received by April 30, 2024.

The awards are:

• Ann Rudd Saxman Conservation District Director or Associate Director Excellence Award
• Conservation District Employee Excellence Award
• Legislator Recognition Award
• Maurice K. Goddard Award for Excellence in Environmental Recreation

Click here for information on the awards program. Contact Roxanne Dohner at rdohner@pacd.org or 717-794-6108 with any questions.

Two conservation district and PACD staff members were nominated for performance awards from the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service. They are:

Mike Schlauch – Conservation Specialist, Luzerne Conservation District – PACD’s Conservation District Umbrella Program

During Fiscal Year 2023, Mike wrote 232 acres of EQIP/CTA/CREP conservation plans for seven producers. Mike has been prompt in completing all Highly Erodible Land determinations assigned to him, 40 in total. Throughout the year, Mike has either assisted the engineering staff with, or completed on his own, eight Inventory and Evaluations and five surveys/designs.. Due to staff turnover, Mike has been critical in achieving the agency’s mission within Luzerne County.

Andy Wodehouse – PACD TAG Program

Andy Wodehouse was asked to prepare for a training event and deliver that training to all new Civil Engineering Technicians and Soil Conservation Technicians in the entire North East area. The Training Topic was “Basic Surveying.” He put together an excellent training event. This training was to teach new employees entry-level surveying techniques and how to use survey equipment. The training was hands-on and delivered very effectively. He did a fantastic job putting this training event together. This training will decrease assistance needed by the technical office, increase productivity, get more practices built, assist with construction inspection, and start earning Job Approval for each employee. This task is not normally assigned and is in addition to yearly assigned performance goals.

Congratulations to Mike and Andy for their exceptional work!

Cliff Lane, McKean County Conservation District Secretary/Treasurer, PACD North West Region Director & National Association of Conservation Districts (NACD) North East Region Representative, was presented with the National Association of Conservation District Employees Outstanding Conservation District Board Member Award. The award was presented during the NACD annual meeting in San Diego earlier this month. Congratulations Cliff!

Two Pennsylvania posters placed in the National Association of Conservation Districts (NACD) contest!

• Evelyn Warner from Cambria County won 2nd place in the 10-12th grade category.
• Cora Petrunak, from Lehigh County, won 3rd place in the 2-3 grade category.

The winners are posted on the NACD Flickr account. 

Congratulations to the students and the Cambria and Lehigh County Conservation Districts for the national win!

 

The 4^th Annual Conservation District Video Awards were presented on Thursday, February 15. The 1st place CONDIVA trophy for the highest-scoring video of 2023 was awarded to Monroe County Conservation District for Maple Sugaring. Two runner-up entries tied for 2^nd place: Living in Our Waters: The Wonders of Macroinvertebrates, submitted by Beaver County Conservation District, and iMap Invasives Scavenger Hunt, submitted by Pike County Conservation District. Visit Building for Tomorrow for links to the video of the presentation and all the 2023 entries.

Financial and other support for the Building for Tomorrow Leadership Development Program is provided through a grant from the Pennsylvania State Conservation Commission. Guidance for the Program is provided through the Pennsylvania Conservation Partnership’s Leadership Development Committee.

The submission deadline for the 2024 National Association of Conservation Districts (NACD) Poster Contest is June 30, 2024. The theme is “May the Forest Be with You Always.”

New for this year are four categories.

• Hand Drawn Poster – NACD welcomes students from kindergarten to 12th grade to unleash their artistic talents. You can create posters using traditional hand-drawn methods to illustrate the NACD contest theme beautifully. What’s important is that your artwork is entirely your creation – no team efforts! Size requirements: While we prefer posters to be 11 x 17 inches as they work well for future advertisements, we’ll happily accept posters of all sizes!
• Braille Poster – New to 2024! Introducing the NACD Braille Poster Contest. This inclusive competition invites blind and low-vision students in grades K-12 to participate, using braille to create posters championing natural resource conservation.
• Additional Assist Poster – Introducing the NACD Inclusive Poster Contest, which is open to all students who may benefit from extra assistance completing their posters. This contest promotes accessibility and embraces diversity by providing a platform for students of varying abilities to express their creativity and advocate for natural resource conservation. Participants are encouraged to create posters that celebrate inclusivity and the beauty of our environment.
• Digital Poster – NACD’s Digital Poster Contest for 7th-12th grades welcomes digital artistry. Use graphic arts programs to create posters featuring the NACD contest theme, but remember, no copyrighted content outside of the NACD logo.

NACD just announced the new categories, and PACD decided to include them in the 2024 contest, so districts are aware of the change and can plan accordingly for next year if they’d like to participate.

Please note that there is no longer a size requirement because the posters are submitted electronically.

Click here for the poster contest flyer and here for the entry forms. Contact Roxanne at rdohner@pacd.org with questions.

Nominations are now being accepted for the PACD Conservation Awards. New for 2024, the award nominations have been simplified and streamlined with an online nomination form. Nominations must be received by April 30, 2024.

The awards are:

• Ann Rudd Saxman Conservation District Director or Associate Director Excellence Award
• Conservation District Employee Excellence Award
• Legislator Recognition Award
• Maurice K. Goddard Award for Excellence in Environmental Recreation

Contact Roxanne Dohner at rdohner@pacd.org or 717-794-6108 with any questions.