The Pennsylvania State Senate and the House of Representatives declared May 3-9, 2020, as “Conservation District Week.” During this week, district offices will hold conference calls and virtual meetings with legislators.

Conservation district resources are available here. Resources include:

• Press Release
• Fact Sheet(Word)
• Template Letter to Legislators(Word)
• Follow-up Thank You Letter(Word)
• Template Proclamation(Word)
• Social Media Images

Please take advantage of these resources PACD created for conservation districts to use.

Pennsylvania’s conservation districts thank Governor Tom Wolf and members of the PA House and Senate for supporting the districts through the state budget.

Adam Long of McNees Wallace & Nurick LLC will present a webinar series on Employment Management & Law for Conservation Districts, scheduled for Wednesdays June 3, July 8, and August 5 from 1:00 p.m. – 3:00 p.m. An in-person follow-up session is scheduled for Thursday, September 3, at the 2020 Management Summit.

The program agenda for the first session on June 3 will feature topics that are crucial to effectively and lawfully managing the conservation district workforce during times of disruption: furloughs, layoffs, and work-from-home policies. This presentation will also cover key hiring considerations for employers, leave, and other important workplace and employment policies.

Topics for the July and August webinars will include harassment training and policy, managing employee absences, wage and employee classification, and best management practices for employee communication, confidentiality, conduct, and performance concerns.

All conservation district managers and directors are encouraged to participate in these sessions. Click here for more information and to register.

Adam Long practices in the Labor and Employment Law Practice Group at McNees Wallace & Nurick LLC, where he represents employers in single-plaintiff and class-based employment litigation matters and provides advice and counseling to employers on a wide range of labor and employment law issues. Adam has worked with Building for Tomorrow to present on employment law and management topics for conservation districts for over ten years.

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.

PACD is partnering with the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) and the State Conservation Commission (SCC) to deliver a three-day Introduction to Conservation Planning course. This free training is tentatively scheduled to take place on November 4-6, 2020, at the Holiday Inn Harrisburg (Hershey area) in Grantville, PA.

The event is for entry-level employees of all organizations in Pennsylvania delivering conservation planning technical assistance, including but not limited to NRCS, conservation districts, SCC, farmland preservation entities, non-profits, and private consultants. The training is free, and lunch will be provided.

To receive information on this training as it becomes available, including the online prerequisite, email Shannon Wehinger at swehinger@pacd.org.

More resources for teaching environmental education from home are now available. Huntingdon County Conservation District (HCCD) and the PA Envirothon have new things to share.

HCCD is creating some virtual field trips in the form of short videos and photo albums, including:

• Learn how we monitor water quality and about what lives in the stream
• Look at invasive species
• Tour a vernal pool
• Sample macroinvertebrates

Click here to view the videos and consider sharing them on your social media! (You must be logged in to Facebook to view.)

Pennsylvania Envirothon is hosting an online challenge week (“Pennsylvania Envirothon Week”) from May 18-22, 2020, to give this year’s students a chance to test their knowledge and stay engaged in the program. This challenge will only be available for high school students who were already participating in this year’s Envirothon. Click here to learn more. 

On April 18, 2020, the Columbia County Conservation District converted their DIY Rain Barrel Workshop to a webinar! The webinar ran 1.25 hours on the Zoom platform. The district had 49 people attend the webinar and have all 50 rain barrels reserved for pick up at a later date.

Watershed Specialist Brittney Hartzell said, “I was pleasantly surprised to see the enthusiasm for the webinar and that almost everyone attended. Offering it via webinar allowed for more participants because it could be open to the public. We were not limited on space like we would have been in the original plan for an in-person workshop.”

Click here to view the PowerPoint and here for the recorded webinar.

This project was funded through a 2019-2020 PA Department of Environmental Protection Environmental Education grant.

Agricultural Best Management Practice (BMP) Implementation in the Chesapeake Bay

The Berks County Conservation District (BCCD) is excited to announce good news is on the way for Berks County farmers in the Chesapeake Bay watershed. Last week, the Natural Resource Conservation Service (USDA-NRCS) awarded more than $200 million for the Regional Conservation Partnership Program (RCPP), including $2,232,143.00 toward Berks County agricultural operations within the Chesapeake Bay to implement agricultural best management practices (BMP’s.) RCPP is a partner-driven approach to conservation that funds solutions to natural resource challenges on agricultural land. By leveraging collective resources and collaborating on common goals, RCPP demonstrates the power of public-private partnerships in delivering results for agriculture and conservation.

BCCD will be the lead partner for the Chesapeake Bay RCPP project. Collectively, RCPP partners have also committed an additional $2,294,875.00 in contributions, totaling over $4.5 million toward the implementation of agricultural BMP’s to improve and protect local water quality. In collaboration with the USDA-NRCS, BCCD and project partners will implement Comprehensive Nutrient Management Plans (CNMPs) or a “Whole Farm Approach.” This includes implementing manure handling systems, animal heavy use area protection, and near-stream conservation practices such as riparian buffers, filter strips, and animal exclusion fencing, all while providing much needed technical assistance and conservation planning.

Berks, Armstrong, and Butler Conservation Districts among partners

USDA’s Natural Resources Service (NRCS) announced it is investing in 48 conservation projects across 29 states through its Regional Conservation Partnership Program (RCPP). NRCS will award $206 million for these 48 RCPP projects while leveraging nearly $300 million in partner contributions.

Three projects were selected for funding in Pennsylvania:

• Kittatinny Ridge Conservation Landscape
  Lead partner: Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture
  Funding amount: $ 9,928,571
  The Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture will target the long-term protection of farmland and deciduous forests in the Kittatinny Ridge corridor of the Chesapeake Bay Watershed. Farm and forest land preservation investments in this region ensure food security for a growing population, support Pennsylvania’s robust agricultural economy, and protect wildlife habitat in a region home to threatened and endangered species.
  
  
• Ag BMP Implementation in the Chesapeake Bay
  Lead partner: Berks County Conservation District
  Funding amount: $2,232,14
  The Berks County Conservation District will implement Comprehensive Nutrient Management Plans (CNMP) and establish near stream conservation practices such as riparian buffers, filter strips, and animal exclusion fencing on operations in the Chesapeake Bay watershed. The partners intend to model the project’s water quality improvements and report on nutrient and sediment load reductions generated by conservation implementation by producers.
  
  
• Buffalo Creek Watershed Conservation Alliance
  Lead partner: Audubon Society of Western Pennsylvania
  Funding amount: $1,169,618
  The Audubon Society of Western Pennsylvania, supported by several local partners, plans to carry out conservation planning, implement conservation practices, and purchase easements to support the long-term goal of delisting Buffalo Creek, currently designated as an impaired water body. The watershed designated as an Important Bird Area and is home to several threatened wildlife species including Eastern hellbender and Indiana bat.
  Project Partner: The Armstrong Conservation District: “The Armstrong Conservation District is proud to partner with Audubon Society of Western Pennsylvania, the Western Pennsylvania Conservancy, The American Chestnut Foundation, and the Butler Conservation District to deliver high quality conservation programs and projects to our cooperators and landowners in the Buffalo Creek Watershed.” District Manager Dave Rupert states, “this partnership among our neighboring Butler Conservation District and two other highly respected non-governmental organizations is something that we have discussed for years and is now going to be a reality.”

Click here to view all the projects funded and here for the press release. 

Events conservation districts planned to celebrate the 50^th anniversary of Earth Day on April 22, 2020, were canceled or modified due to the COVID-19 crisis. So what can we do to mark this momentous occasion? PACD suggests encouraging folks in your county to have a neighborhood trash pick-up while maintaining social distancing guidelines.

Another way to honor Earth Day with kids is to distribute the “We All Live Downstream” otter coloring page and the “Good Neighbors Activity & Coloring Book” through social media.

Please share your Earth Day messages on Facebook and tag @PAConservation.

The National Association of Conservation District’s (NACD) 65th annual Stewardship Week is less than a week away! Stewardship Week will take place April 26-May 3, 2020, and will celebrate the theme “Where Would We BEE Without Pollinators?”

Due to COVID-19 (coronavirus) concerns, we encourage everyone to find virtual ways to celebrate the importance of pollinators, such as hosting a pollinator webinar or delivering a PowerPoint presentation for your conservation district’s poster contest. To help you start a Stewardship Week campaign in your community, visit NACD’s website, where you’ll find a toolkit, social media graphics, and flyer that you can distribute electronically. Click here to access these Stewardship Week resources.

PACD has compiled a list of resources and guidance for conservation districts from state agencies and partners during the COVID-19 crisis. The COVID-19 Resources page is available through a button on the PACD homepage at www.pacd.org and directly at https://pacd.org/?page_id=20452. The date of each document is included for your reference. PACD will add and update materials as they are available.