February 2021 was a month of firsts for the Building for Tomorrow Leadership Development Program. The first Virtual Staff Conference was held February 8-12, wrapping up with the first annual Conservation District Video Awards, and the first Board Leadership webinar series was held February 15-24. These events reached a combined total of over 200 conservation district staff members, managers, and directors.

Videos and materials for Staff Conference and Board Leadership sessions, as well as links to all Video Awards finalists, can be found at the Building for Tomorrow website https://www.paleadership.org.

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 USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service offered free technical training to Pennsylvania’s conservation districts on native plants and pollinators. The webinar was held February 18, 2021. A recording of the webinar is available here. 

PACD members and partners are invited to register for the spring PACD region meetings, which will take place virtually this March and April. Registration for all six web meetings is free and required. To register, please click on the link for your region meeting below:

PACD North Central Region Video Conference
March 18, 2021 | 10:00 a.m. to Noon

PACD South Central Region Video Conference (New Date!)
March 24, 2021 | 10:00 a.m. to Noon

PACD South East Region Video Conference
March 25, 2021 | 10:00 a.m. to Noon

PACD South West Region Video Conference
March 30, 2021 | 10:00 a.m. to Noon

PACD North West Region Video Conference
April 8, 2021 | 10:00 a.m. to Noon

PACD North East Region Video Conference
April 16, 2021 | 10:00 a.m. to Noon

 

 

The 2021 Virtual Conservation District and PA Agency Ag Meeting will be held via Zoom March 16-17, 2021. Staff from PA state agencies, USDA-NRCS, and conservation district agricultural technicians, watershed specialists, and management are invited to attend. Registration is free and required.

Formerly known as the All Bay Meeting, this annual meeting has been expanded to include sessions that are relevant to conservation districts across the state, as well as more focused sessions for conservation districts within the Chesapeake Bay watershed.

The draft agenda includes topics such as agency updates, getting the most out of PracticeKeeper, a review of the Integrated Water Quality Report and mapping tools, local rapid stream delisting strategies, and other timely and relevant sessions.

Click here for more information and to register. 

This location of this position is negotiable. The employer of record is the Pennsylvania Association of Conservation Districts and day to day technical guidance provided by the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS).

The incumbent has primary responsibility for providing assistance and coordination support for the National Conservation Planning Partnership conservation planning efforts. The position is under the technical supervision of the NRCS Natural Resources Specialist located in Benton, PA.

Click here to read the job description. 

A cover letter and resume should be emailed to personnel@pacd.org by March 2, 2021.

Building for Tomorrow wrapped up the 2021 Virtual Staff Conference with the first annual Conservation District Video Awards on Friday, February 12. Finalists from three categories were recognized, and awards were presented to the highest-scoring video submissions in each category:

• PSA/Homeowner Category Winner – “How Big is an Acre?” (Crawford County Conservation District)
• K-12 Educational Category Winner – “Virtual Tour of Tannersville Bog” (Monroe County Conservation District)
• General Audience Category Winner – “2020 Conservation Farmer of the Year: The Frye Family” (Westmoreland Conservation District)

A special award for the highest-scoring video produced with a $0 budget was also presented to “What in the World is a Wetland?” (Crawford County Conservation District)

Links for all Video Awards finalist submissions and a recording of the awards presentation can be found at https://www.paleadership.org/conservation-district-video-award-winners/.

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.

Pennsylvania’s county conservation districts were awarded over $60,000. With this funding, thirty-eight pollution reduction projects will take place in twenty-seven 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 through May 2022.

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 U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. A description of the projects funded in the past is available at www.pacd.org under the Education tab.

Click here for the list with summaries of 2021-22 NPS Pollution Prevention Educational Mini-grant projects and here for the press release. 

PACD is now accepting mini-grant applications for up to $500 to implement virtual 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 new CREP mini-grant program for conservation districts are posted here. Questions should be directed to PACD Program Manager 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.

In partnership with the NACD Auxiliary, the National Association of Conservation Districts (NACD) announced the winners of the 2020 Photo Contest and 2020 Poster Contest during the virtual 75th NACD Annual Meeting.

Congratulations to the second-place winner in the K-1 grade category, Payton Duncan of Greene County, PA!

The winners listed will receive cash prizes courtesy of the NACD Auxiliary, made possible by the Auxiliary’s quilt project proceeds; the Auxiliary Country Store at the NACD Annual Meeting; and the generosity of individual donors. All contest participants will receive a certificate of participation. View the winning photos and the winning posters on NACD’s Flickr page. 

Click here to read about the 2021 poster contest. 

Mark your calendar and join us for the PACD spring region meetings!

The region meeting dates and locations are as follows:

March 18, 2021 | 10:00 a.m. to Noon
PACD North Central Region Video Conference

March 24, 2021 | 10:00 a.m. to Noon (New Date)
PACD South Central Region Video Conference

March 25, 2021 | 10:00 a.m. to Noon
PACD South East Region Video Conference    

March 30, 2021 | 10:00 a.m. to Noon
PACD South West Region Video Conference   

April 8, 2021 | 10:00 a.m. to Noon    
PACD North West Region Video Conference   

April 16, 2021 | 10:00 a.m. to Noon  
PACD North East Region Video Conference