Pennsylvania’s county conservation districts were awarded over $43,000 for twenty-six pollution reduction projects in twenty-six counties. These projects promote water pollution prevention activities through the Non-point Source (NPS) Pollution Prevention Educational Mini-Grant Program. The projects will take place over the next 8 months.

Funding for the grants, up to $2,000 each, is provided through the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection under Section 319 of the Clean Water Act, administered by the US Environmental Protection Agency.

Click here to read the entire press release including the list of funded projects. 

Be sure to register this week for the National Association of Conservation District (NACD) Northeast Regional Meeting and PACD/SCC Joint Annual Conference. The discounted, early bird registration was extended until the final pre-registration deadline of July 6, 2018! Walk-in registrations will be accepted, however availability of meals and activities cannot be guaranteed.

The meeting location is the DoubleTree Resort by Hilton Hotel in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. NACD events will take place July 15-17, 2018, and PACD/SCC events will take place July 17-18, 2018.

Click here for more information and to register. 

Conservation district managers please save the date for the 2018 Management Summit, scheduled for Wednesday, September 5, and Thursday, September 6, at the Ramada Hotel and Conference Center in State College.

Registration information and an agenda are coming soon. Contact Leadership Development Coordinator Matt Miller at mmiller@pacd.org with questions about this event.

The NACD Stewardship and Education Committee is pleased to announce the 2019 Poster Contest and Stewardship Week theme: “Life in the Soil: Dig Deeper.”

Soil is a dirty topic, but everyone needs to learn more about it! Soil is the foundation for many of the items we use in our daily life, such as food, clothing, clean water, homes, and more. Healthy soil equals healthy food, which equals a healthy you.

Rules, entry forms, and other resources for the 2019 NACD Poster Contest will be available for download on the 2019 Stewardship Week page later this summer. The 64th Annual Stewardship Week will take place April 28–May 5, 2019.

For more information, visit our Stewardship Program webpage. 

The results are in! During the 2017-18 Manure Management Manual and Chapter 102 Compliance Workshops Mini-grant Program, 38 conservation districts reached over 2,800 landowners across the state.

Other outcomes include:

• Full-day workshops held: 37
• Half-day workshops held: 36
• One-on-one sessions held: 181
• Manure management plans written: 426 covering 32,798.9 acres
• Agricultural Erosion & Sedimentation plans written: 78 covering 6,482.73 acres

In addition to completing plans, conservation district staff improved awareness of the revised Manure Management Manual and assisted farmers in understanding manure management and Chapter 102 requirements.

PACD would like to thank the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection for providing the funding for this program as well as supporting conservation districts as they help landowners achieve compliance.

Financial support for this project is provided by the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection through the Chesapeake Bay Implementation Grant, the Clean Water Fund and the Chesapeake Bay Regulatory and Accountability Program (CBRAP).

 

Submitted by: Jolie Chylack, Environmental Education & Outreach Coordinator, Lehigh County Conservation District

As many students in the Lehigh Valley area are walking down the aisle to graduate from one of our regions notable secondary, undergraduate, or graduate learning institutions, we would like to highlight a conservation video production project that several senior students from Lehigh Carbon Community College recently completed in partnership with the Lehigh County Conservation District!

• Erosion Education Video: https://youtu.be/bjAYHjG7XvM
• Watershed Education Video: https://youtu.be/eJ_FwTzcy2I
• Environmental Education Video: https://youtu.be/mDkV-I73Wb8

Click here to read more. 

Turkey Hill Dairy is generously donating ice cream novelties and beverages for the “Welcome to Pennsylvania” Ice Cream Social during the NACD Northeast Regional Meeting & PACD/SCC Joint Annual Conference. The event will take place Sunday, July 15, from 7:00pm to 9:00pm at the DoubleTree Resort by Hilton Hotel in Lancaster, PA.

PACD invites you to join us for a friendly, informal, meet-and-greet over some cool, creamy, ice cream treats. To participate, you must be registered for the NACD portion of the conference. Don’t miss out on this opportunity to network with your counterparts from other states in our region.

There is still time to register! Pre-registration closes on July 6. Click here to register today! 

Armstrong Conservation District’s H2Oh! on the GO! mobile exhibit will be parked at the NACD Northeast Regional Meeting & PACD/SCC Joint Annual Conference from July 15-18, 2018. The Armstrong Conservation District is generously making this interactive, educational, traveling exhibit available for our attendees to explore during the conference.

The conference is taking place at the DoubleTree Resort by Hilton Hotel, Lancaster, PA. Click here to register or for more information. 

In the 2017-18 Nonpoint Source Pollution Prevention Educational Mini-grant round, 37 projects were completed by 30 conservation districts, reaching over 5,000 adults. Click here to see the outcomes and here to see a map of projects completed.

Reminder: PACD is currently accepting applications for a second round of the 2018-19 Nonpoint Source Pollution Prevention Educational Mini-grant Program for Conservation Districts. Click here for more information: https://pacd.org/?page_id=16996. The deadline to apply is June 28, 2018.

Financial and other support for the NPS Mini-grant Program 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.

 

Submitted by Jim Garner, District Manager, Susquehanna County Conservation District

Recently the Susquehanna County Conservation District (SCCD) held its 2018 Legislative Breakfast at the Montrose Club. The legislators attending spent time discussing many current topics with directors and staff over breakfast. District Manager Jim Garner gave a presentation highlighting conservation district programs and related funding. Board Chairman Ray Warriner provided closing remarks and thanked our legislators for all of their support.