Conservation district staff, board members, and partners are invited to attend the 2020 PACD/SCC Winter Meeting January 22-23 at its new location, the Wyndham Garden State College. Take in the Wyndham’s beautiful winter views and enjoy a hot beverage with your counterparts from across the state. Conference learning opportunities include educational opportunities through the Pennsylvania Game Commission and a program on effective conservation messaging. Beat cabin fever and join us in State College! Click here for details and to register.

Mark your calendar and join us for the PACD spring region meetings!

The region meeting dates and locations are as follows:

March 24, 2020
PACD South Central Region Meeting
Cumberland County Conservation District, Carlisle, PA

March 26, 2020
PACD North Central Region Meeting
Clinton County Conservation District, Mill Hall, PA

March 31, 2020
PACD South West Region Meeting
Westmoreland Conservation District, Greensburg, PA

April 3, 2020
PACD North East Region Meeting
DEP Northeast Regional Office, Wilkes-Barre, PA

April 22, 2020
PACD North West Region Meeting
Venango County (location TBA)

April 30, 2020
PACD South East Region Meeting
Henning’s Market, Harleysville, PA

On October 31, 2019, the sixth and final Chapter 102 Fall Regional Session was held in Dauphin, PA. The series of regional training was presented by the PA Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) with administrative support from PACD.

The training included program updates, the Regional Permit Coordination Office, completeness reviews, and the Clean Water Academy.

The next Chapter 102 trainings will be:

March 16-19, 2020
Spring 102/105 Basic Technical Training
Wyndham Garden State College, Boalsburg, PA

March 31-April 2, 2020
Spring 102/105 Topic-based Technical Training
Wyndham Garden State College, Boalsburg, PA

On September 26, 2019, PACD Software Specialist Nick Yeagy traveled to Cumberland County for the celebration of 20,000 acres of preserved farmland.

He joined Cumberland County officials and farmland preservation staff for a celebration of the 30th anniversary of the county’s participation in Pennsylvania’s state farmland preservation program, held at Paulus Farm Market in Mechanicsburg. The Paulus family has preserved 219 acres of farmland, which grows much of the produce sold at their market, since the establishment of the county program in 1989.

Click here to read the entire press release. 

Be sure to mark your calendars for these important events. We hope to see you there!

January 22-23, 2020
PACD/SCC Winter Meeting
Wyndham Garden State College, Boalsburg, PA

July 22-23, 2020
PACD/SCC Joint Annual Conference
Wyndham Garden State College, Boalsburg, PA

Ag Progress Days, Pennsylvania’s largest outdoor agricultural exposition, was held August 13-15, 2019, at The Pennsylvania State University’s Research Farms in Rock Springs. PACD and conservation districts from Northumberland, Berks, Union, Cambria, Wyoming, Clinton, Venango, Adams, and Bedford Counties met hundreds of landowners and farmers to discuss local conservation during the three-day event.

Thank you so much to all who volunteered for this great outreach opportunity!

On August 2, Pennsylvania’s Envirothon team from Carmichaels Area High School in Greene County took third place out of 53 teams from the United States, Canada and China competing in the 2019 NCF Envirothon at North Carolina State University!

Congratulations to team members Jacob Hair, Ryan Swartz, Christina Adams, Stephen Zacoi, Joey Kurincak and coach Kevin Willis!

This is the second year in a row a team from Carmichaels Area High School won the Pennsylvania Envirothon and then went on to the international competition.

The team was awarded a scholarship of $5,000 ($1,000 each) for this third place finish out of 53 teams. The team had the second highest Forestry score with 87 out of 100 points (high score was an 88), the second highest Soils score with 64.5 (high 69), the fourth highest Wildlife score with an 88 (high, 93.5), and the fifth highest Aquatics score with a 91.5 (high 96.5). Their final presentation score was 547.9 (high, 570.3).

Click here to read more.

Managers from the PACD South Central Region met at Shady Maple in East Earl, PA, for a breakfast meeting on July 25, 2019. PACD Executive Director Brenda Shambaugh and several retired conservation district managers joined them.

Discount available for conservation district staff

The Pennsylvania Association of Conservation Districts (PACD) is co-hosting a Certified Professional in Erosion and Sediment Control (CPESC) Review Course on September 3, 2019. The exam will be September 4, 2019. Both the review course and exam will take place at the Lebanon County Conservation District Office, 2120 Cornwall Rd., Lebanon, PA.

The CPESC certification is a professional designation for erosion and sedimentation technicians, engineers, and other specialists involved in design, construction, inspection or other aspects of erosion and sedimentation control. If you have not yet started the CPESC certification process, we recommend you go to the Envirocert International, Inc. website and review the requirements and process now.

The review course is designed to ensure CPESC applicants understand what concepts will be covered by the exam and acts as a review for most of those concepts. Note that there is special pricing for PA conservation district staff for the review course. The cost is $175 for conservation district employees and $365 for everyone else. The exam fee is $150. Before registering, contact Amy Brown at abrown@pacd.org or 717-238-7223 x104 for a district staff discount code or with any questions.

Click here for the registration link and here with instructions on how to register.

The review course is open to anyone including conservation districts, agency staff, or private companies, who is actively pursuing a CPESC certification through EnviroCert International, Inc. Please pass this information along to anyone who may be interested.

Please consider volunteering at the Conservation District Exhibit at the Penn State’s 2019 Ag Progress Days.

Ag Progress Days is held at the Russell E. Larson Agricultural Research Center at Rock Springs, nine miles southwest of State College, PA, and features the latest technology and research exhibits, educational programs, and guided tours.

About 60% of the 45,000 expected to attend are actively engaged in agriculture or related activities. With so many farming families from across Pennsylvania at this event, it’s a great opportunity to call attention to the work and programs districts do.

This year’s event will be held August 13-15, 2019. Volunteers are needed for the shifts listed below. Send your name and contact information to jmcnamara@pacd.org or call 717-238-7223 with questions or to schedule your shift.

Tuesday, Aug. 13:     9:00 a.m.–1:00 p.m. (1 volunteer needed)

Tuesday, Aug. 13:     1:00 p.m.–5:00 p.m. (2 volunteers needed)

Wednesday, Aug. 14: 9:00 a.m.–1:00 p.m. (2 volunteers needed)

Wednesday, Aug. 14: 1:00 p.m.–5:00 p.m. (2 volunteers needed)

Wednesday, Aug. 14: 5:00 p.m.–8:00 p.m. (2 volunteers needed)

Thursday, Aug. 15:   9:00 a.m.–1:00 p.m. (2 volunteers needed)

Thursday, Aug. 15:   1:00 p.m.–4:00 p.m (1 volunteer needed)

A final volunteer schedule, parking passes, and other show information will be sent to volunteers when available. For more information on Ag Progress Days go to the event website at https://agsci.psu.edu/apd.