The National Association of Conservation District’s (NACD) 65th annual Stewardship Week is less than a week away! Stewardship Week will take place April 26-May 3, 2020, and will celebrate the theme “Where Would We BEE Without Pollinators?”

Due to COVID-19 (coronavirus) concerns, we encourage everyone to find virtual ways to celebrate the importance of pollinators, such as hosting a pollinator webinar or delivering a PowerPoint presentation for your conservation district’s poster contest. To help you start a Stewardship Week campaign in your community, visit NACD’s website, where you’ll find a toolkit, social media graphics, and flyer that you can distribute electronically. Click here to access these Stewardship Week resources.

PACD has compiled a list of resources and guidance for conservation districts from state agencies and partners during the COVID-19 crisis. The COVID-19 Resources page is available through a button on the PACD homepage at www.pacd.org and directly at https://pacd.org/?page_id=20452. The date of each document is included for your reference. PACD will add and update materials as they are available.

PACD region meetings are still happening via the Zoom webinar platform. Four of the six regions have already met virtually with great success.

Two more region meetings are upcoming:

April 22, 2020
PACD North West Region Meeting
Webinar: https://zoom.us/j/209266809

April 30, 2020
PACD South East Region Meeting
Webinar: https://zoom.us/j/252118639

Thanks to our members for adapting to the webinar format for our region meetings!

The Monroe County Conservation District’s Kettle Creek Environmental Education Center is engaging the community using short videos on their Facebook page (@KettleCreekEnvironmentalEducationCenter). The Center’s videos have included backyard birding, salamanders, and what is blooming in your backyard. Share the Center’s posts on your Facebook page or create your own! Monroe County’s posts are informative and encourage engagement, such as posting photos from the reader’s backyards.

Click here to view the page.

The Potter County Conservation District (@pottercounservationdistrict) is holding an online scavenger hunt for their Facebook followers. Their virtual nature scavenger hunt challenge even includes prizes including gift cards, outdoor and gardening supplies, and more!

The district encourages its followers to enjoy the little things. Participants take photos of as many of the items as they can and share them with the district. For example, the first week’s scavenger hunt items included vernal pools, snowdrops, and signs of beaver activity.

Click here to view the page.

Per the Governor’s orders, PACD staff are working from home. They can all be reached via email. Click here for the staff list and email addresses. 

Check PACD’s website for up-to-date information on event postponements and new dates. 

We are here for our member conservation districts! Please reach out if you need assistance.

While kids are home from school and parents are looking for activities, why not suggest the 2020 Poster Contest to your county residents via Facebook? The 2020 theme is, “Where would we BEE without Pollinators?”

Conservation districts that wish to participate can collect nominations via email, judge them, and forward the winners in each grade category to PACD. PACD will then select the statewide winners to move on to the national contest.

PACD will accept photos of your county’s winners until June 30, 2020. Entries can be emailed to jmcnamara@pacd.org. Click here for more information on the contest. 

Thanks to Celina Seftas, manager at Huntingdon County Conservation District, for the idea to promote this to families at home!

PACD Software Specialist Nick Yeagy is recording and uploading the PA Department of Conservation and Natural Resources’ (DCNR) Riparian Forest webinar series to the Clean Water Academy. To date, the webinars available are:

• Ecology of Streams and Riparian Forests: How Streams Work and the Role of Forests
• Do Hellbenders, Freshwater Mussels, and Native Brook Trout Matter?
• Selling Buffers WITHOUT Financial Incentives
• Reforesting Shallowbrook School
• Pre- and Post-planting Vegetation Management for Establishment

Click here for the Clean Water Academy. 

The National Association of Conservation Districts (NACD) wants to help keep you informed during the ongoing COVID-19 (coronavirus) global pandemic.

NACD has created a COVID-19 webpage that contains resources and guidance for conservation districts and their associations to determine protocol and response in the wake of COVID-19. You can find updates on national resources, advice, and tips on how you can help others during this time.

Click here to view this resource. 

Want to share guidance and resources about COVID-19? Please email NACD Director of Communications Sara Kangas at sara-kangas@nacdnet.org.

The Snyder County Conservation District (SCCD) held its annual Farmers Winter Meeting on Friday, February 14, 2020, near Selinsgrove.

Ninety-six people attended the meeting. Topics presented during the meeting included understanding the science and the practical application of soil health on your farms, U.S. Department of Agriculture updates, the PA Resource Enhancement and Protection (REAP) tax credit program, repairing and maintaining farm lanes, and the SCCD’s stream buffer program.

Guest speakers came from the farming community, PA No-Till Alliance, Stroud Water Resource Center, USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service, USDA Farm Service Agency, PA State Conservation Commission, Penn State Center for Dirt & Gravel Roads Studies, SCCD, and Penn State Extension.

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 Environmental Protection under Section 319 of the Clean Water Act, administered by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.