PACD was awarded a $1,000,000 grant from the Pennsylvania State Conservation Commission (SCC) to offer an Ag Plan Reimbursement Program for conservation districts over the course of two years.

Waitlist applications are now being accepted on an ongoing basis, with priority given to ag plans being developed for either a preserved farm or acres that are being considered for easement sale through the Farmland Preservation Program.

New application forms and other information about the program can be found here. 

Financial and other support for the Ag Plan Reimbursement Program is provided through a grant from the Pennsylvania State Conservation Commission.

On October 11 and 12, 2024, Peaceful Terrain Farm and Thistle Creek Farm in Huntingdon County hosted a two-day grazing event with special guest speaker Dr. Allen Williams. Both farms are working to conserve soil using regenerative/resilient agriculture.

Dr. Williams is a founding partner of Understanding Ag, LLC, and the Soil Health Academy. He pioneered many of the early regenerative grazing protocols and forage finishing techniques and now teaches those practices and principles to farmers globally. Beth Futrick, PA Ombudsman in Blair County, organized the event.

The Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) has awarded more than $3.4 million in grants to projects to improve water quality and fish and wildlife habitat throughout Pennsylvania’s part of the Chesapeake Bay watershed and other watersheds.

The 12 awards are funded by the Section 319 Grant program from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and selected by DEP.

The following conservation districts and their partners received grants:

• Bucks County Conservation District: $224,830
• Huntingdon County Conservation District: $80,000
• Lancaster County Conservation District: $390,625
• Schuylkill Conservation District (2 projects): $273,000 and $214,000
• Snyder County Conservation District: $56,968
• York County Conservation District: $184,579 

Click here to read more about the projects. 

 

Kelly Davidson is the Water Resource Trainer at PACD, where she plays a key role in advancing water resource training efforts and expanding DEP’s comprehensive training library, Clean Water Academy. She holds a Master of Environmental Management and a Certificate in Geospatial Analysis from Duke University, as well as a bachelor’s degree in biology from North Carolina State University.

Prior to her current role, Kelly served with AmeriCorps at the Borough of State College, where she contributed to community-based environmental initiatives and gained hands-on experience with urban conservation projects. She is looking forward to continuing to support water quality improvement efforts across Pennsylvania in this role.

In her spare time, Kelly enjoys gardening, hiking, baking, and spending time with her two fur-babies, Oliver and Rusty.

Juniata County Conservation District held a Conservation Reserve Enhancement Program (CREP) tour. Participants learned about installing and maintaining CREP buffers along with program enrollment opportunities. The project cost $1,576 and was paid for through PACD’s CREP Mini-grant Program.

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.

Allegheny County Conservation District (ACCD) is proud to announce it has received funding from both the National Association of Conservation Districts (NACD) and the Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education (SARE) program administered through the United States Department of Agriculture. This funding will advance urban agriculture and ACCD’s Urban Soils Program across the region.

This funding enables ACCD to strengthen partnerships with local farmers and community groups to address urban soil contaminants and support farm and garden projects. Over the past eight years, ACCD’s Urban Soils Program has served as a regional model, raising awareness about the health risks of soil lead exposure and providing technical assistance for safe food production. In 2023 alone, ACCD screened 1,592 soil samples, valued at $47,760, free of charge.

This funding will expand soil testing for heavy metals, particularly lead, and implementation and monitoring of best management practices to improve soil health and promote healthy food production.

Click here to read more. 

 

The US Department of Agriculture (USDA) selected Allegheny County Conservation District (ACCD) and partners to provide outreach, education, and technical assistance to urban agricultural producers.

This $9 million USDA Farm Service Agency (FSA) grant is administered through To Improve Mississippi Economics (TIME) and funds urban farm outreach initiatives in 10 U.S. cities. This grant is part of a broader $40 million investment enabled by President Biden’s American Rescue Plan.

The funding will support a collaboration among technical service providers to assist urban farmers in learning about and accessing resources. Partners include PASA Sustainable Agriculture, Chatham University, Grow Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh Food Policy Council, and Hilltop Urban Farm.

ACCD and partners were awarded $894,000, with 38 percent of funding going directly to urban farmers in the form of microgrants to develop critical farm infrastructure. Another percentage supports programs of the partner organizations.

Click here to read more. 

The Bradford County Conservation District and Bradford Solar recently announced their partnership with the launch of a new Renewable Energy Trailer at the Green Jobs Fair at Mount Pisgah State Park.

The Renewable Energy Trailer is an educational tool that will travel around the county to fairs, schools, and community events to teach people about renewable energy. The trailer offers a unique, hands-on experience that will appeal to people of all ages.

At the exclusive event, attendees had the chance to visit the Renewable Energy Trailer and the Bradford Solar vendor booth, where the team answered questions and shared more information about the trailer and the Bradford Solar Project.

Ninety-three conservation district watershed specialists, DEP staff, and partners participated in the 24th Conservation District Watershed Specialist Meeting, which took place virtually October 1-3, 2024. Watershed specialists learned about PFAS and emerging contaminants from the perspectives of surface water monitoring and safe drinking water, explored the project bidding process, learned about climate change data and initiatives in Pennsylvania, discovered what the science says about water quality in the Susquehanna, and shared project successes and lessons learned. Many thanks to our presenters for sharing their time and expertise.

The conservation district watershed specialists also hold a photo contest during their annual meeting. Here are the 2024 results:

• First Place: Logging in Some River Time by John Levitsky with Luzerne Conservation District
• Second Place: Morning Survey by Bernie Scalzo with Wyoming County Conservation District
• Third Place: Fall in Beech Creek by Ivie Foster with Centre County Conservation District
• People’s Choice: Green Frog in the Water by Ivie Foster, Centre County Conservation District
• Honorable Mention: Dutchman Run Under the Railbed by Cori Trice with Chester County Conservation District

Congratulations to all the winners and thank you to all those who participated in the contest. It’s great to see photos from across the state! Click here to view the full versions of the winning photos. 

 

 

Have you visited the Pennsylvania Clean Water Academy lately? New courses are continuously added. Check out these courses today!

Qualified Visual Site Inspector (QVSI) Training Program 

Summary: This training program is comprised of five courses and is for anyone responsible for conducting visual site inspections of earth disturbance activities under Chapter 102. Completing the QVSI Training Program is one of three options in the 2024 PAG-02 General Permit for demonstrating that someone is qualified to conduct inspections on construction sites with PAG-02 coverage. Once all courses are complete, a Record of Completion can be printed and used to verify program completion.

Foundational GIS Pro Training (you must be logged in to view this course)

Summary: This course aims to give you well-rounded training on ArcGIS Pro and familiarize you with many useful tools and concepts you can utilize. The course will get you started with installation and touch on basics like map design, projections, data gathering, and database creation. The further your progress, the more training you will have that will cover more in-depth processes within the ArcGIS Pro software. Topics and exercises covered are Geo-Referencing, Digitizing, Querying, Exporting, Spatial Joins, Editing, Merging, Appending, and Clipping. Once you have become more comfortable with some of these procedures, you will go through more general to advanced GIS skills exercises involving raster analysis. Afterward, you will run through an actual real-world example utilizing the skills you have learned. Lastly, some additional examples of online GIS tools were made to help you think of how you could use your data online.

Watershed Foundations Training Program 

Summary: This training program is comprised of four courses and is helpful for volunteers interested in conservation, local water quality improvement, and restoration. A Completion Certificate (5 credit hours) is available only to users with a login, so please create an account first if you desire a Completion Certificate.

Questions about Clean Water Academy? Contact PACD Water Resource Trainer Kelly Davidson at kdavidson@pacd.org.