PACD has $55,000 available in the current Lawn Conversion Grant.

This grant is first-come, first-served. The grant round will stay open until funds are expended or June 30, 2028, whichever comes first. Funding is to be used on shovel-ready projects converting presently maintained lawn to actively managed upland forest or perennial native meadow.

All applications and supporting documents should be emailed to swehinger@pacd.org. There is no online application. Applications will be approved on a rolling basis.

Thanks to conservation district staff, these programs have been incredibly successful in completing smaller-scale lawn conversion buffer projects across Pennsylvania.

Click here for more information or email Shannon Wehinger swehinger@pacd.org.

Financial and other support for this project is provided by the Pennsylvania Association of Conservation Districts, Inc. through a grant from the Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources, Bureau of Recreation and Conservation.

 

Delaware County Conservation District helped convert one acre of maintained lawn in Rose Tree Park into a native meadow with a mini-grant provided by PACD’s Lawn Conversion Program for Conservation Districts. The project used $2,653 in grant funding.

The Lawn Conversion Program for Conservation Districts is partially financed by a grant from the Community Conservation Partnerships Program, Environmental Stewardship fund, under the administration of the Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources, Bureau of Recreation and Conservation.

PACD was awarded a $200,000 Community Conservation Partnerships Program (C2P2) grant from the PA Department of Conservation and Natural Resources to continue to offer both programs to conservation districts. This round of grants will have three categories of funding you may apply for:

• Installation of lawn conversion and/or riparian buffer projects with a maximum of $25,000
• Post-planting establishment for DCNR or non-DCNR funded projects with a maximum of $5,000
• Education & Outreach events with a maximum of $1,000

The grant also includes training for conservation district staff. Once again, the Alliance for the Chesapeake Bay has partnered with us to offer lawn conversion and riparian buffer training. Please stay tuned for future training events!

Please visit our website here to find program information such as guidelines, applications, planting & maintenance plan templates, mid-term & final report templates, resources, etc. 

All applications and supporting documents should be emailed to hmiller@pacd.org. There is no online application. Applications will be approved on a rolling basis until funds are expended.

Thanks to conservation district staff, these programs have been incredibly successful in completing smaller-scale lawn conversion and riparian buffer projects across Pennsylvania. During the last round, conservation district projects covered almost 18 acres of lawn conversion and almost 12 acres of riparian forest buffer. Since 2018, conservation districts have installed nearly 150 acres of riparian forest buffers across PA!

Please get in touch with Holly Miller at hmiller@pacd.org with questions.

Columbia County Conservation District helped convert 0.5 acres of maintained lawn in Catawissa, PA, into a native meadow with a mini-grant provided by PACD’s Lawn Conversion Program for Conservation Districts. The project used $2,355 in grant funding.

The Lawn Conversion Program for Conservation Districts is partially financed by a grant from the Community Conservation Partnerships Program, Environmental Stewardship fund, under the administration of the Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources, Bureau of Recreation and Conservation.

Columbia County Conservation District helped convert 1.5 acres of maintained lawn in Nescopeck, PA, into native meadow and upland forest with a mini-grant provided by PACD through the PACD Lawn Conversion Program for Conservation Districts. The project cost $6,444.05 in grant funding.

The Lawn Conversion Program for Conservation Districts is partially financed by a grant from the Community Conservation Partnerships Program, Environmental Stewardship fund, under the administration of the Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources, Bureau of Recreation and Conservation.

Armstrong Conservation District helped convert 2.8 acres of maintained lawn into a native meadow with a Lawn Conversion mini-grant provided by PACD through a C2P2 grant from the PA Department of Natural Resources. The project cost $17,920 in grant funding.

The Lawn Conversion Program for Conservation Districts is partially financed by a grant from the Community Conservation Partnerships Program, Environmental Stewardship fund, under the administration of the Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources, Bureau of Recreation and Conservation.

PACD was awarded a $100,000 Community Conservation Partnerships Program Grant from the PA Department of Conservation and Natural Resources (DCNR) to offer Lawn Conversion training and mini-grants to Pennsylvania’s conservation districts. The lawn conversion program will help the Commonwealth achieve a goal of planting 5,000 acres of upland forest and 5,000 acres of meadow by 2025.

The Lawn Conversion for Conservation Districts training recording and a copy of Ryan Davis’s presentation are available on the PA Clean Water Academy. Click here to access the course page. (You will need to be logged in.)

The application and other lawn conversion sub-grant program materials are available here. 

It is recommended that you complete the training before applying for the sub-grant.

Questions may be directed to Holly Miller, PACD Program Manager, at hmiller@pacd.org or (717) 794-6105.

PACD partnered with the Alliance for the Chesapeake Bay to offer lawn conversion training to conservation district staff. A webinar training was held via Zoom on June 20. In-person training was held on July 11, 2023, at the Sunset Golf Course in Middletown, PA. Ryan Davis, Senior Forest Projects Manager at the Alliance for the Chesapeake Bay, was the instructor for both trainings. He discussed the importance of lawn conversion practices and tips for installing them and also shared some lessons he’s learned along the way.

The Lawn Conversion Program for Conservation Districts is partially financed by a grant from the Community Conservation Partnerships Program, Environmental Stewardship fund, under the administration of the Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources, Bureau of Recreation and Conservation.

In-person training is July 11.

As part of the Lawn Conversion Sub-grant Program for Conservation Districts, PACD is partnering with the Alliance for the Chesapeake Bay to offer Lawn Conversion Training for Conservation Districts.

A virtual training will be offered using Zoom on June 20, 2023, from 10:00 a.m. to Noon. An in-person training will be provided on July 11, 2023, from 11:00 a.m.-1:00 p.m. at the Sunset Golf Course in Middletown, PA. Please note there is a 35-person limit for the in-person training. Applicants are encouraged to attend one of the training sessions before applying for a lawn conversion sub-grant. Please use the links below to register.

Virtual Lawn Conversion Training for Conservation Districts
June 20, 2023 | Zoom Meeting

In-Person Lawn Conversion Training for Conservation Districts
July 11, 2023 | Sunset Golf Course, Middletown, PA

Please contact Holly Miller at hmiller@pacd.org with any questions.

The Lawn Conversion Program for Conservation Districts is financed in part by a grant from the Community Conservation Partnerships Program, Environmental Stewardship fund, under the administration of the Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources, Bureau of Recreation and Conservation.

As part of the Lawn Conversion Sub-grant Program, PACD is partnering with the Alliance for the Chesapeake Bay to offer Lawn Conversion Training for Conservation Districts!

A virtual training will be offered via Zoom on June 20, 2023, from 10 a.m. to Noon. An in-person training will be provided on July 11, 2023, from 11 a.m.-1 p.m. at the Sunset Golf Course in Middletown, PA. Please note that there is a 35-person limit for the in-person training, and it is not required to attend both. Please use the links below to register.

Virtual Lawn Conversion Training for Conservation Districts
June 20, 2023 | Zoom Meeting

In-Person Lawn Conversion Training for Conservation Districts
July 11, 2023 | Sunset Golf Course, Middletown, PA

This training is part of the Lawn Conversion Sub-grant Program for Conservation Districts. It is encouraged to attend one of the training sessions before applying for a lawn conversion sub-grant.

Please get in touch with Holly Miller at hmiller@pacd.org with any questions.

The Lawn Conversion Program for Conservation Districts is financed in part by a grant from the Community Conservation Partnerships Program, Environmental Stewardship fund, under the administration of the Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources, Bureau of Recreation and Conservation.