March 31 Records Retention Webinar postponed, Staff Conference session video available for viewing

The Records Retention for Conservation Districts webinar scheduled for March 31, 2020, has been postponed. Stay tuned for an announcement on rescheduling for April. In the meantime, videos for the Records Retention and Prevailing Wage sessions at the 2020 Staff Conference are now available for viewing at the Building for Tomorrow website. 

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 Agriculture Conservation Technical “Boot Camp” Training Basic and Level II are rescheduled. Participants in Basic received updated information for the webinar sessions and in-person field days this fall. Level II applicants will receive the rescheduled dates once they are confirmed.

The following trainings will be rescheduled due to the coronavirus.

• Spring 102/105 Basic Technical Training
• Spring 102/105 Topic-based Technical Training
• Fluvial Geomorphology Training

Additionally, all six of the PACD region meetings will be held via webinar. Check PACD’s events page at https://pacd.org/?page_id=65 for the latest information including the Agricultural Conservation Technical Training.

PACD Executive Director Brenda Shambaugh traveled to Potter County on March 6, 2020, for the district’s legislative luncheon.

The luncheon was held at the beautiful Susquehannock Lodge and Trail Center. It was a productive afternoon with district and legislative updates and a question and answer session. The event is a way to showcase efforts and discuss conservation issues and policies throughout the Commonwealth. The district staff and board have been busy planning and constructing numerous projects to conserve our natural resources in Potter County. Also, the district has been actively assisting and educating farmers and the general public on local resource concerns.

On January 9, 2020, Jefferson Conservation District hosted an “Erosion and Sedimentation Control in our Forests” Workshop for foresters, loggers and contractors at the Cobblestone Inn in Punxsutawney.

Presenters from Bureau of Forestry, PA Fish and Boat Commission, Armstrong Conservation District, Clarion Conservation District and Jefferson Conservation District provided attendees with a wide variety of information about topics including erosion and sedimentation control, Chapter 105 regulations, invasive plant species and ticks, fish and boat regulations, and insects and forest health.

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.

Pennsylvania’s county conservation districts were awarded over $67,000 for forty-one pollution reduction projects in twenty-nine counties. These projects educate adults on water pollution prevention. Projects are funded through the Non-point Source (NPS) Pollution Prevention Educational Mini-Grant Program. The projects will take place over the next year.

Click here to read the entire press release and here for a summary of funded projects. 

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.

Close to 4,000 township officials and guests from all over Pennsylvania will attend the annual Pennsylvania State Association of Township Supervisors (PSATS) Conference and Trade Show. Once again, there will be a conservation district booth at the show, which runs from Sunday, May 3, to Tuesday, May 5, 2020.

We are looking for volunteers for the following shifts:

• Sunday, May 3 from Noon – 5:00 p.m.
• Monday, May 4 from 7:30 a.m. – 12:00 p.m. and 12:00 p.m. – 4:00 p.m.
• Tuesday, May 5 from 7:30 a.m. – 1:30 p.m.

Please consider volunteering for a morning or afternoon shift at the conservation district booth. PSATS is a valuable opportunity to promote districts, explain the type of work they do,  and reinforce existing relationships with local township officials.

Contact Jann McNamara at jmcnamara@pacd.org or 717-238-7223 to volunteer.

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.