The Pennsylvania State Senate and House of Representatives have declared May 3-9, 2020, as “Conservation District Week.” During Conservation District Week, districts across the state are encouraged to hold events for legislators. This is an opportunity to showcase the projects your conservation district works on every day that improve the lives of your county’s citizens.

The Capitol Legislative Day will be Wednesday, May 6. All districts are welcome to join PACD in Harrisburg to educate our elected officials on conservation district activities. If you come to Harrisburg, we will schedule meetings with your elected House and Senate members. We will also schedule a meeting with appropriations staff and the Governor’s office.

Conservation District Week is also an opportunity to thank members of the PA House and Senate, as well as the Governor, for supporting the districts by providing the funds necessary to preserve and protect our Commonwealth’s natural resources through the budgetary process.

On Thursday, February 20, 2020, Chester County Conservation District (CCCD) Urban Team Leader Gordon Roscovich and District Engineer Molly Deger gave a presentation about the December 2019 National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permit updates to a full room of 180 design professionals at a facility outside of Coatesville, PA.

The venue and presentation logistics were coordinated by Chester County Engineers, a local membership-based organization, which agreed to host an open forum for CCCD to give a 2.5-hour presentation on the updates. Initial survey responses have been positive, and recommendations for things to change next time are to make it longer and to do a follow-up in six months or more with lessons learned at that point.

A PDF of the PowerPoint slides is available here or if you would like the PowerPoint file for any use please reach out to Gordon at groscovich@chesco.org or Molly at mdeger@chesco.org at CCCD.

On March 31, Tyler Stump from PA State Archives will present a follow-up webinar to his recent Records Retention for Conservation Districts session at the 2020 Staff Conference. Tyler will share best practices and compliance for basic records management and rules for electronic document retention.

The webinar is scheduled for Tuesday March 31, from 10:00 a.m. – 11:00 a.m. Click here to register. 

Financial and other support for the Building for Tomorrow Leadership Development Program is provided through a grant from the Pennsylvania State Conservation Commission.

Guidance for the Program is provided through the Pennsylvania Conservation Partnership’s Leadership Development Committee.

The Lehigh and Northampton County Conservation Districts are hosting a Chapter 102 Workshop on March 24, 2020, at the Lehigh Valley Hotel and Conference Center. The event will include National Pollution Discharge Elimination System updates from the PA Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) and conservation districts, as well as separate breakout tracks for engineers/developers, contractors, and municipal representatives. Please click here for registration information.  A detailed agenda will be published shortly.

Discounted tickets are available for conservation district employees/board members and DEP staff interested in attending. Please contact Holly Kaplan for more information. 

Know a Pennsylvania farmer or forester who goes above and beyond in the care and management of natural resources? Nominate them for the 2020 Pennsylvania Leopold Conservation Award®.

Sand County Foundation presents the Leopold Conservation Award to private landowners in 20 states for extraordinary achievement in voluntary conservation. In Pennsylvania, the $10,000 award is presented annually with Pennsylvania Farm Bureau and Heinz Endowments.

Given in honor of renowned conservationist Aldo Leopold, the award recognizes landowners who inspire others with their dedication to land, water, and wildlife habitat management on private, working land. In his influential 1949 book, “A Sand County Almanac,” Leopold called for an ethical relationship between people and the land they own and manage.

Submit a nomination on behalf of a landowner, or landowners may nominate themselves. The application is available at www.sandcountyfoundation.org/ApplyLCA. Email applications to award@sandcountyfoundation.org by August 1, 2020.

The Pennsylvania Leopold Conservation Award is made possible through the generous support of platinum sponsor, Heinz Endowments, and the assistance and support of the Pennsylvania Farm Bureau, Sand County Foundation, USDA NRCS, Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture, and Pennsylvania Association of Conservation Districts.

The Leopold Conservation Award is presented at the Pennsylvania Farm Show in January.

Did you know there is a PACD listserve for every PACD member? They are free to join and use. Conservation district directors, associate directors, and staff can all take advantage of this service for members. Listserve members can communicate with counterparts across the state in a single email, and receive announcements and information relevant to their job duties.

PACD currently offers listserves for the following individuals:

• agricultural technicians
• erosion and sedimentation technicians
• administrative support staff
• managers
• directors and associate directors
• watershed specialists
• dirt, gravel, and low volume road specialists
• environmental educators
• mosquito-borne disease control technicians

Please note that you may subscribe to more than one listserve based on your interests and job duties. Interested? Contact Molly Burns at mburns@pacd.org to subscribe.

The 2020 102/105 Topic-based Technical Training will take place March 31-April 2 at the Wyndham Garden State College in Boalsburg, PA. The event is open to conservation district and DEP staff with little or no cost to attend. Registration is through the DEP Clean Water Academy. Click here for registration information and a course outline. A full draft agenda will be posted as soon as it is available.

The National Association of Conservation Districts (NACD) announced $1 million in urban agriculture conservation funding for 21 conservation districts across 13 states.

NACD and the U.S. Department of Agriculture Natural Resources Conservation Service first partnered through the Urban Agriculture Conservation Grant Initiative in 2016 to support technical assistance activities in developed or developing areas.

Two recipients are from Pennsylvania:

1. Allegheny County Conservation District (ACCD)
   Soil Health 2.0: Enhancing Productivity in Allegheny County
   The ACCD will support a series of soil health science and management workshops, development of an urban soil management guide, provide staff support for a pilot master composter program, and map out soil properties for potential urban ag lands across vacant lots in two low-income communities.
2. Indiana County Conservation District (ICCD)
   Growing Community Education of Urban Agriculture with Community Partners
   The ICCD will establish local partnerships to improve operations and locate spaces for edible plants to provide onsite examples for workshops on urban agriculture and soil health best management practices. District staff will be trained to prepare and run workshops to expand knowledge of local agriculture as well as soil and water management.

Click here to read about the other recipients. 

Submitted by Judy Becker, Manager, Northumberland County Conservation District

The smell of breakfast was in the air as 75 farmers and landowners gathered the Saturday morning of January 25.  In the initial planning phases to create water quality goals in the Warrior Run watershed, the Warrior Run Watershed Team decided a pancake breakfast was a great way to connect with those living in the watershed.  The Team could not think of a better way to engage the community than to offer free breakfast and time of fellowship where they can learn about the watershed in which they live.

Click here to read the entire article and see more photos of the event. 

The 2020 Building for Tomorrow Staff Conference was held on February 12-13 at the Wyndham Garden State College. There were 130 attendees from 45 counties. Keynote sessions were held on productive conflict and emotional intelligence and getting things done through time management.

Presentations from the conference will be posted at https://www.paleadership.org/events-programming/staff-conference/.

Financial and other support for the Building for Tomorrow Leadership Development Program is provided through a grant from the Pennsylvania State Conservation Commission. Guidance for the Program is provided through the Pennsylvania Conservation Partnership’s Leadership Development Committee.