The seven staff at the PACD office in Harrisburg moved to a commercial condominium seven miles east of downtown. The new office location opened November 13. Please update your records with our new address:

PACD
5925 Stevenson Ave., Suite A
Harrisburg, PA 17112

The main phone number remains the same. However, all staff have new extensions. They are as follows:

Main phone: 717-238-7223

• Brenda Shambaugh ext. 103
• Lisa Suhr ext. 112
• Shannon Wehinger ext. 105
• Amy Brown ext. 104 (please note Amy Brown was formerly Amy Salansky and she has a new email address: abrown@pacd.org)
• Molly Burns ext. 110
• Jann McNamara ext. 106
• Matt Miller ext. 107

The PACD website and email address remain unchanged.

“This new office is better suited to our needs. Staff are excited to reap the benefits of this more logical layout,” said PACD Executive Director Brenda Shambaugh. The old office at 25 N. Front Street is currently for sale. We hope to sell the building in the coming months.”

PACD members and partners are welcome to visit our new location. Our new larger conference room will host meetings up to 25 attendees. Thank you to our board and members for supporting this move.

 

Twenty-nine students completed the Intro to Conservation Planning Course in Grantville, PA from November 13-15, 2018. The training included classroom and field experience. The course targeted entry-level conservationists, introducing them to the conservation planning process in Pennsylvania.

Participants attended the three-day training free of charge thanks to the generous sponsorship of the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service and the State Conservation Commission. PACD provided administrative support for the course. 

On November 6, 2018, the sixth and final Chapter 102 Fall Regional Session was held in Harrisburg, PA. The regional training was presented by the PA Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) with administrative support from PACD.

Holding six regional sessions rather than one large session for the entire state has allowed DEP to deliver training more effectively and better address regional issues. The training this fall included program updates, common plan of development or sale, sediment and basin review, and the Clean Water Academy.

The next Chapter 102 training will take place in the spring.

 

By: Judy Becker, District Manager, Northumberland County Conservation District

The Northumberland County Conservation District (NCCD), the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS), and the Schuylkill Conservation District held a joint Soil and Water Quality Field Day on August 29, 2018, at the Agricultural Research Service Lab in Klingerstown, PA. The meeting was free for attendees.

The Field Day was offered in two sessions. Session 1 covered new information about the Conservation Reserve Enhancement Program (CREP). Session 2 covered important research that occurred in the Mahantongo Creek Watershed. Attendees had the option to sign up for one session or both.

Topics for both sessions were provided by representatives of the Farm Service Agency (FSA), Pheasants Forever, the ARS Lab, The Pennsylvania State University, NRCS, NCCD, and the Pennsylvania No-Till Alliance. Time was also provided for questions during both sessions. Approximately 100 people were in attendance. The meeting was paid for by the CREP Outreach Program Office Mini-grant Program and grant funding that was available from the Schuylkill Conservation District.

Financial and other support for the CREP Outreach Program Office Mini-grant Program is provided by the Pennsylvania Association of Conservation Districts, Inc. through a Growing Greener Watershed Protection grant from the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection and with additional support from USDA-NRCS.

During the 2017-18 round of the Nonpoint Source Pollution Prevention Educational Mini-grant Program, Butler County Conservation District (BCCD) received a $1,913 grant for stormwater education.

BCCD produced and distributed storm drain educational brochures and stenciled storm drains in three housing developments in Buffalo Township. Working with the homeowners associations, the district held an event where homeowners and family members helped with the storm drain stenciling. Educational brochures were also distributed to these neighborhoods.

BCCD also marked 30 storm drains on Main Street in Saxonburg where many events are held each year. The project increased the community’s knowledge about nonpoint source pollution and the steps they can take to reduce it.

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.

 

Learn the tricks of the trade from the Chesapeake Bay watershed’s most successful conservation field people. If you want rural landowners to say “yes” to voluntary conservation practices and easements, this course is for you.

PACD is co-hosting a free workshop on Thursday, December 13, 2018, from 10 am – 3 pm. The event will take place at the Farm and Home Center (Multipurpose Room), 1383 Arcadia Road, Lancaster, PA 17601.

This workshop is designed for early-to-mid-career field outreach staff at soil conservation districts, land trusts—anyone working directly with landowners to help implement voluntary conservation practices on farm and forest lands. The training explores the demographics and decision-making of rural landowners, and perceived benefits of, and barriers to conservation practices and easements. Field staff will learn how to cultivate and maintain stronger relationships with landowners to help them reach a decision to pursue conservation on their property. The workshop includes three 90-minute blocks of information and interactive learning, plus a working lunch. Workshop content is based in part on surveys and focus groups of conservation field staff identified by their peers as being especially effective at working with farm and forest landowners to implement voluntary conservation practices.

This training is co-hosted by the Land Trust Alliance, Pennsylvania Land Trust Association (PALTA), and the Pennsylvania Association of Conservation Districts. We are grateful for the project support of the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation Chesapeake Bay Stewardship Fund’s Technical Capacity Grants program, funded in partnership with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, as well as funding from the Foundation for Pennsylvania Watersheds.

Click here for the event flyer or contact Jennifer Miller Herzog, Land Trust Alliance, jmillerherzog@lta.org, 406-580-6410. Registration is free, but required. 

The PACD office has been busy with moving preparations! The office is scheduled to move from downtown Harrisburg to a condo seven miles east of downtown on November 9. The condo is currently being painted and small renovations are underway. 

“Staff continue to pack up the old office and prepare to move into the new office. I am pleased with the progress we are making. We are on track to make the move on November 9,” said Brenda Shambaugh, PACD Executive Director.

The new office address and phone extensions will be sent to PACD members via listserves and the weekly e-newsletter once the move is complete. Email addresses, the fax number, and general office phone number will remain the same. Only the individual employee’s phone extensions will change.

 

Please save the date for the 2019 Chesapeake Bay Program Conservation District and PA Agency Staff Meeting. The meeting will be held March 11, 2019 (snow date March 13). The meeting will be held at a new location: Susquehanna University’s Degenstein Center Theater in Selinsgrove, PA. Staff from PA state agencies, USDA-NRCS, conservation districts, and other organizations working within the Chesapeake Bay are invited to attend.

The meeting is sponsored annually by the PA Department of Environmental Protection.

Questions? Contact Amy Salansky at asalansky@pacd.org.

Local news station WNEP featured Columbia County Conservation District’s Good Water = Good Life Day at a local park. All eighth graders in the county were invited to the event, which featured six water quality stations. The eight-minute video is available here. 

Save the Date: the Building for Tomorrow 2019 Staff Conference is scheduled for February 26 & 28 at the Genetti Hotel in Williamsport.  Stay tuned for more information. Contact Matt Miller at mmiller@pacd.org with questions.