Mark your calendars for the 2022 Conservation District Staff Conference, scheduled for February 16-17 at the Wyndham Garden State College in Boalsburg. The conference will be a hybrid in-person/virtual meeting featuring interactive sessions on conflict management, resilience, and burnout prevention, and the 2nd Annual Conservation District Video Awards. Stay tuned for more details coming soon!

The Fall Leadership Webinar series begins on November 3, 2021, with Succession Planning Management Part 1, presented by Dennis Gilbert. The series continues on November 10 with Environmental Justice & Conservation Leadership, presented by Justin Dula, Regional Coordinator for the DEP Office of Environmental Justice. The series wraps up with succession Planning Management Part 2 on November 17. All district directors, associate directors, and managers are encouraged to participate. Click here for more information and 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.

During the Buckets of Benefits Field Day held on August 18, 2021, at Greenbar Farms, LLC, USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service District Conservationist Melissa Erdman instructed local farmers in using the contents of two soil health buckets presented by Juniata County Conservation District.

Soil health buckets contain nutrient test and soil health analysis kits, soil thermometers, penetrometers, soil probes, materials to conduct infiltration tests, and more. Buckets are available for agricultural testing with technical support at no cost to the farmer.

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.

October is Riparian Buffer month! To celebrate, Juniata County Conservation District installed a riparian buffer educational sign at the Christian Retreat Center in East Waterford to explain the benefits of planting trees for water quality protection.

The signage was created from templates produced by PACD through a PA Department of Environmental Protection Environmental Education Grant. The templates are available here. 

The Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) awarded over $4.1 million to 13 projects statewide that will help communities restore impaired local watersheds.

The Section 319 Nonpoint Source Management Grants program supports projects that carry out best management practices (BMPs) specified in Watershed Implementation Plans for 36 watersheds around the state, with special consideration for projects in Pennsylvania’s share of the Chesapeake Bay Watershed.

The following conservation district projects received Section 319 Grants:

• Pennsylvania Association of Conservation Districts: $362,565 to support nonpoint source pollution education by county conservation district offices.
• Clearfield County Conservation District: $722,661 for design, permitting, and construction of a passive treatment system to remediate Korb 4 AMD discharge in Little Anderson Creek in Bloom Township.
• Lancaster County Conservation District: $121,000 to identify and implement projects to install streambank buffers, streambank fencing, and livestock crossings on various tributaries in Mill Creek Watershed.
• Schuylkill Conservation District: $240,000 to design a streambank restoration project for the Swatara Creek floodplain in Ravine, Tremont Township.
• York County Conservation District: $508,581 to design, permit and construct a stream restoration project, including streambed and bank stabilization, on Willis Run, a tributary to Codorus Creek, and in the west branch of Codorus Creek, in the City of York.
• York County Conservation District: $280,898 for Codorus Creek Watershed stream restorations.

Click here to read the entire press release. 

Grant funding is provided by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and authorized through Section 319(h) of the federal Water Pollution Control Act.

On Friday, October 8, 2021, the Potter County Conservation District (PCCD) hosted “Erosion Control in Our Forests”–a Sustainable Forestry Initiative workshop for foresters, loggers, logging contractors, and private forest landowners.

Held at the Pennsylvania Lumber Museum and on-field sites within the Susquehannock Forest, the event provided Sustainable Forestry Initiative (SFI) and Society of American Foresters (SAF) credits. The workshop was held with the support and expertise of several speakers and organizations, including the PA Department of Agriculture, PA Department of Conservation and Natural Resources Bureau of Forestry, and Elk, McKean, Cameron, and Tioga County Conservation Districts.

In total, 51 attendees participated. Topics covered included erosion prevention/102/105 permitting, planning harvests, stream crossings, and post-timbering best management practices.

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.

Carbon County Environmental Education Center has developed a fun demonstration for elementary students on the relationships between plants, animals, and soil. The “Poop Plop” is played by mixing brightly colored beads into a plastic bag full of chocolate pudding. The pudding is then piped across a gameboard as “poop” from a bear or fox, depositing the beads as “seeds” onto places where they might–or might not–germinate, such as in good soil, near a rotting log, or along a road.

Educators then examine the poop by hand to dig out the seeds. Seed colors correspond to student teams, with teams earning points depending on where the seeds have landed. The activity aligns with academic standards for ecology and the environment.

On October 12, 2021, the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, and the federal-state Chesapeake Bay Program partnership announced more than $10 million in grants for projects that will protect and restore the Chesapeake Bay and its surrounding watershed.

Fourteen projects that will benefit Pennsylvania received $3.88 million. The conservation district funded projects are:

1. Bradford County Conservation District – Accelerated Watershed Implementation Plan Development – II. Grant amount: $49,995. The project aims to accelerate the planning of Bradford County’s Watershed Implementation Plan in the areas of stream rehabilitation, agricultural management, stream-crossing replacement, and forestry. The project will address water quality impacts in the county by creating designs for stream rehabilitation and crossings, comprehensive nutrient management, riparian buffer installation, and reforestation.
2. Schuylkill Conservation District – Little Mahanoy Creek Headwaters Restoration Plan Development. Grant Amount: $50,000. Develop a detailed watershed restoration plan for the headwaters of Little Mahanoy Creek Watershed. The project will provide a blueprint for managing stormwater in the watershed, restoring habitat in the headwaters, and improving water quality to protect the unimpaired downstream sections where trout reproduce naturally.

Click here to read about all the projects. 

Over 100 conservation district watershed specialists, DEP staff, and partners attended the 21^st Conservation District Watershed Specialist Meeting, which took place as a webinar series October 5-7, 2021. Over the three half-days of programming, watershed specialists learned about building and managing a water quality monitoring station using Stroud Water Research Center’s EnviroDIY program, shared successful projects, learned about partnership opportunities and resources from partner agencies, and much more. Many thanks to this year’s presenters for sharing their time and expertise!

PACD is now accepting mini-grant applications for up to $3,000 to implement educational and outreach activities that support and extend the work of the Conservation Reserve Enhancement Program (CREP). Projects should focus on CREP enrollment, re-enrollment, and/or CREP maintenance.

The guidelines and application for the CREP Mini-grant Program for Conservation Districts are posted here. The deadline to apply is November 12, 2021. Questions should be directed to Holly Miller at hmiller@pacd.org.

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.

Lancaster County Conservation District completed a 20-acre multi-functional riparian forest buffer project on a dairy farm in Lancaster County. The total cost for the buffer was $66,368 and was paid for through PACD’s multi-functional buffer sub-grant program. Click here for more information. Contact Holly Miller with questions at hmiller@pacd.org.