Chesapeake Bay Staff Meeting Wrap-Up
Rich Batiuk, Associate Director for Science, Analysis and Implementation, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Chesapeake Bay Program Office, discusses best management practice verification on March 13, 2017.
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.