PACD Director of Communications & Education Shannon Wehinger was honored to participate in the Chesapeake Bay Program’s 2026 Education Summit held in Harrisburg this week. The event was organized by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and connected seven locations around the Bay via shared virtual sessions.

PA Department of Conservation and Natural Resources Secretary Cindy Adams Dunn, PA Department of Agriculture Secretary Russell C. Redding, PA Department of Environmental Protection Secretary Jessica Shirley, and PA Department of Education Secretary Dr. Carrie Rowe all participated in the event.

PACD President Emil Bove led the annual Westmoreland Conservation District’s Pedaling for Conservation bike ride on the Five Star Trail in Greensburg.  Twenty-six cyclists joined this ride on an urban rail with trail and learned about a variety of conservation topics, including urban stormwater issues, abandoned mine drainage, sewage treatment, a recent trail relocation project, a community art project, and mosquito and tick monitoring in the county.  

 

Local elementary school students released trout they had raised in their classrooms. The video features Lackawanna County Conservation District Watershed Specialist, Bailey White, explaining the benefits of the program.

Click here to watch the video. 

 

Congratulations to the following conservation districts for receiving PA Department of Environmental Protection’s Environmental Education Grants:

• Erie County Conservation District: $30,000 for the “Hidden Creeks Public Art Project,” which will create and install 8 public art pieces and accompanying signs, 2 stand-alone signs, and an interactive website to highlight the history of the Mill Creek Flood, the engineering of the Mill Creek Tube, the impact on water quality by burying a creek beneath city infrastructure, and how the community can assist with the preservation and conservation of our water supply.
• Lehigh County Conservation District: $5,000 for the “Reclaiming Roots: From Classroom to Courtyard” program, which, in partnership with Whitehall-Coplay Middle School, will transform an underutilized courtyard into a vibrant outdoor classroom that will offer hands-on learning opportunities that connect students to concepts of climate resilience, water systems, and sustainability
• Luzerne Conservation District: $4,987 for “Fostering Inclusive Connections to the Watershed,” which, in partnership with Eastern Pennsylvania Coalition for Abandoned Mine Reclamation and North Branch Land Trust, will hold six high school-level workshops for underserved communities. The workshops will address PA Academic Standards and engage the audience in hands-on activities, classroom, and field experiences.
• Schuylkill Conservation District: $3,751 for the “Outdoor Wildlife Learning Summer Nature Camp,” which, partnering with Assumption Blessed Virgin Mary School in an environmental justice area, will deliver the nonformal four-week Outdoor Wilderness Learning (OWL) Summer Nature Camp in 2026, with funding requested for three weeks.
• Wayne Conservation District: $867 for “Under the Leaves: Exploring the Lacakwaxen River,” a hands-on streamside workshop for members of the public to learn about stream ecology and water quality using the Stroud Leaf Pack Network, tree identification, and fishing recreation, in partnership with volunteers from Trout Unlimited chapter #462. 

Congratulations also to Pennsylvania Envirothon Inc. for receiving $55,173.

Click here to read about all the funded projects. 

 

On April 28, 2026, Versant Strategies President/CEO MeeCee Baker and COO Derek Snyder met with House Ag Chairman Eddie Day Pashinski to celebrate Conservation District Week!

 

 

The Board Development Video Series provides information and review on governance, compliance, and programmatic topics. These short-format videos are intended for viewing and follow-up discussion at your district board meetings. For the May installment, we continue our series of training module videos with Act 217, The Conservation District Law. 

Training module videos are integrated into the newly updated online Director Handbook and are being produced as modules for self-guided learning at Clean Water Academy. 

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.

Submitted by Brian Vadino, Watershed Specialist / Envirothon Coordinator, Montgomery County Conservation District

In celebration of Earth Week, the Montgomery County Conservation District worked in partnership with Montgomery County Parks, Trails and Historic Sites, Friends of Green Lane Park, and other volunteers to plant one hundred native trees and shrubs along Deep Creek Lake and Knight Lake on Saturday, April 21, 2026.

Species planted included red maple, silver maple, arrowwood viburnum, American basswood, pin oak, and red oak. Funding for this project was provided by the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection. 

The goal of the project was to enhance and widen existing riparian (lakeside) buffer areas to slow and filter stormwater runoff, prevent soil erosion, improve water quality, and enhance wildlife habitat. The project supports recommendations of the Green Lane Park Master Plan, and several studies focused on the Perkiomen Creek Watershed.

Many thanks to all of those involved with the planning and implementation of this project!  

 

Forty-five individuals attended the Agricultural Conservation Technical Boot Camp Training session – Level II, April 27 to May 1, 2026. The training was held at Fort Indiantown Gap in Lebanon County and the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) office in Harrisburg, PA.

Attendees included staff from conservation districts, the USDA NRCS and its affiliates, the Chesapeake Bay Foundation, PACD, the PA Department of Environmental Protection, the State Conservation Commission, the Alliance for the Chesapeake Bay, a farmland preservation office, and a local conservancy.

The USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service and the State Conservation Commission sponsor the training, which PACD coordinates with these partners.

Lancaster County Conservation District Manager Chris Thompson and PACD Executive Director Amy Brown recently joined MeeCee Baker and Derek Snyder of Versant Strategies at the Capitol in Harrisburg. The group met with Senator Judy Schwank and Senator Scott Martin to thank them for their continued support. They also spoke about the increase in the line items in the state budget for conservation districts.

 

Nearly 4,000 township officials and guests from across Pennsylvania gathered for the annual Pennsylvania State Association of Township Supervisors (PSATS) Conference and Trade Show, held April 19-21, 2026. As in previous years, conservation districts were represented with an informational booth at the event.

A special thank you goes out to the dedicated volunteers who helped staff the booth:

• Dean Druckenmiller, Berks County Conservation District
• Jason Fillhart, Washington County Conservation District
• Barb Peace, Indiana County Conservation District and PACD 1^st Vice President

Your time and support make participation in events like this possible—thank you for representing conservation districts!