March 12, 2018, at the Elaine Langone Center, 2nd Floor, Bucknell University, Lewisburg, PA (snow date March 15).

Click here to register and for more information.

$99,000 in Mini-grant Funds Available for Conservation Districts

Through a grant from the PA Department of Environmental Protection (DEP), each Pennsylvania conservation district is eligible for a mini-grant (up to $1,500 initially per district) to hold local Manure Management Manual and/or Agricultural Erosion & Sedimentation Plan workshops. These sessions would assist farmers in understanding compliance requirements and lead to development of a complete manure management plan and/or agricultural erosion & sedimentation plan.

Applications will be approved on an ongoing basis. Applicants should hear back within a week if their project is okay or if it needs fine tuning. These are non-competitive grants — we have $1,500 earmarked for each district. Grants pay for eligible expenses on a reimbursement basis.

The mini-grant application and guidelines are available here. The deadline to apply is January 26, 2018. Mini-grant activities must be completed, and final reports must be submitted, by May 25, 2018. No extensions will be granted. Contact Shannon Wehinger with questions.

Three free trainings on the Manure Management Manual will be held this winter. These “train the trainer” events are for new conservation district staff or those who attended this training in previous years and want a refresher. Click here or see the article below for more information. 

Financial support for this project is provided by the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection through the Chesapeake Bay Implementation Grant, the Clean Water Fund, and the Chesapeake Bay Regulatory and Accountability Program (CBRAP).

 

 

 

The 2018 Chesapeake Bay Program Conservation District and PA Agency Staff Meeting will be held on Monday, March 12, 2018 at the Elaine Langone Center, 2nd Floor, Bucknell University, Lewisburg, PA. Please add this meeting to your calendar now and plan to attend. The snow date is March 15. Registration and a draft agenda will follow when available.  

PACD in conjunction with the award sponsor, the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (DEP), presented the operators of five farms with the Clean Water Farm Award during its annual conference on July 12, 2017 in Harrisburg, PA. The honor is awarded annually to farmers who manage their daily farm operations in an environmentally conscious manner that helps to protect Pennsylvania’s water quality.

DEP has sponsored this award for the past thirty-one years. Recipients receive a certificate signed by the DEP Secretary and a large Clean Water Farm Award sign to erect on their property.

The 2017 Clean Water Farm Award Recipients are:

• Billy Porter (Armstrong County)
• BAD Farm (Berks County)
• Mark & Beth Steck of Green Valley Farm (Franklin County)
• Claude Bennett (Susquehanna County)
• Luke & Julie Hess (Tioga County)
  

Click here to read a press release on the recipients and here to see photos of the award recipients.

The Clean Water Farm Award Program recognizes Pennsylvania farmers whose exemplary farm management practices result in improved local and downstream water quality. Pennsylvania’s conservation districts may submit a nomination for a farm in their county. One award will be given in each of PACD’s six regions.

Each district that submits a complete nomination will be entered into a drawing to win a $100 pizza party for their office! Deadline: April 30, 2017.

Award recipients receive a large Clean Water Farm Award sign to hang at their farm, a signed certificate, and an invitation to the PACD/SCC Awards Luncheon in July.

Financial support for this award is provided by the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection through the Chesapeake Bay Regulatory and Accountability Program and the Pennsylvania Chesapeake Bay Education Office (administered by the Pennsylvania Association of Conservation Districts, Inc.).

Click here to read more. 

The 2017 Chesapeake Bay Program Conservation District and PA Agency Staff Meeting was held on Monday, March 13, 2017 at Bucknell University in Lewisburg, PA. Over one-hundred, seventy-five people attended the meeting to hear about current topics related to the Bay and to network with colleagues.

Presenters from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, PA Department of Environmental Protection (DEP), and various conservation districts, discussed topics such as best management practice (BMP) verification, the Phase III Watershed Implementation Plan, and PracticeKeeper software. A lot of discussion focused on the current farm inspections with an open forum session that encouraged questions on the topic. Three conservation districts also shared their experiences and lessons learned about the farm inspection. Maybe the most popular session, however, was one that provided a completely different perspective on some of the topics. During this session, three farmers from Bradford County talked about how they view the inspections and what district and DEP support would be helpful to them.

The 2017 Chesapeake Bay Program Conservation District and PA Agency Staff Meeting will be held on March 13, 2017 at the Elaine Langone Center, 2^nd Floor, Bucknell University, Lewisburg, PA (snow date March 16). To view the day’s schedule, agenda, and to register click here or go to the “Events” tab at www.pacd.org.

Staff from PA state agencies, USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service, conservation districts, and other organizations working within the Chesapeake Bay are invited to attend. There is no cost to attend, but registration is required. Breakfast, break, and lunch are included and will provide ample time to network with other Bay professionals. See the agenda for a complete listing of sessions and topics to be covered.

Contact Terry Fisher at tfisher@pacd.org with any questions.

Pennsylvania’s conservation districts voiced their concerns about the Chesapeake Bay “reboot strategy” during the Chesapeake Bay Program’s Citizens’ Advisory Committee (CAC) to the Chesapeake Executive Council. The CAC held their quarterly meeting on September 8, 2016 in Lancaster, PA. Lancaster County Conservation District Manager Christopher Thompson addressed the Committee on behalf of the Pennsylvania Association of Conservation Districts. Thompson briefed attendees on the issues conservation districts are now facing as a result of the reboot strategy. Conservation districts have had meetings with the DEP in regards to the farm inspections conservation districts have been asked to conduct. This has been a step forward since many concerns the conservation districts have were addressed by DEP. “Although many of the conservation districts’ concerns have already been adequately addressed by DEP, there are still two outstanding issues – the discrepancies between the Statement of Policy, the inspection form, and the contract, and privacy concerns when a district employee obtains information generated by federal entities,” said Thompson. Click here to read the full testimony and here to read the press release.

Conservation district staff in the Chesapeake Bay Watershed who will perform agricultural inspections, and their managers, are invited to attend a training session on Agricultural Inspection Standard Operating Procedures. Registration will open at 9:30am. The session will start at 10:00am and conclude by 3:00pm. There is no cost to attend. Lunch will be provided.

• July 13, 2016, Best Western Country Cupboard Inn, Lewisburg, PA
• July 19, 2016, The Woodlands Inn, Wilkes-Barre, PA
• July 26, 2016, The Inn at Leola Village, Lancaster, PA
• July 29, 2016, Shippensburg University, Shippensburg, PA

Click here to register. Contact PA Department of Environmental Protection’s Veronica Kasi with questions at 717-772-4053 or vbkasi@pa.gov.