On July 17, 2019, the State Conservation Commission approved the 2019-2020 budget for the Building for Tomorrow Leadership Development Program, including a recommendation from the Leadership Development Committee to increase the amount of funding available for Strategic Planning Grants from $1000 to $1500 (per district) for this fiscal year.

A document outlining the program’s purpose and requirements can be found here. The deadline for submitting a Letter of Intent is November 20, 2019.

For more information on the Strategic Planning Grants program, please contact:
Matt Miller
Leadership Development Coordinator
mmiller@pacd.org
717-238-7223 x107

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 Perry County Conservation District hosted a Grazing Field Day on August 2 at the farm of Darryl Eberly and family in Loysville, PA. This field day was focused on discussing helpful information with livestock grazers and how to achieve greater soil health in pastures. Ninety individuals attended the event.

Click here to read the entire press release.

On August 2, 2019, PACD Executive Director Brenda Shambaugh traveled to Lancaster for a legislative banquet.

Lehigh County Conservation District Board of Directors is pleased to have recently awarded a $2,000 college scholarship to Building 21 High School Senior Marilyn Reyes. This award is made available annually to all Lehigh County graduating seniors pursuing a degree in conservation or environmental sciences at a college or university within the Commonwealth. Marilyn has been accepted into Penn State Lehigh Valley and will be the first female student from Allentown (in recent history) to enroll in the Agri-Business Program.

Click here to read the entire press release.

On August 2, Pennsylvania’s Envirothon team from Carmichaels Area High School in Greene County took third place out of 53 teams from the United States, Canada and China competing in the 2019 NCF Envirothon at North Carolina State University!

Congratulations to team members Jacob Hair, Ryan Swartz, Christina Adams, Stephen Zacoi, Joey Kurincak and coach Kevin Willis!

This is the second year in a row a team from Carmichaels Area High School won the Pennsylvania Envirothon and then went on to the international competition.

The team was awarded a scholarship of $5,000 ($1,000 each) for this third place finish out of 53 teams. The team had the second highest Forestry score with 87 out of 100 points (high score was an 88), the second highest Soils score with 64.5 (high 69), the fourth highest Wildlife score with an 88 (high, 93.5), and the fifth highest Aquatics score with a 91.5 (high 96.5). Their final presentation score was 547.9 (high, 570.3).

Click here to read more.

Blair County Conservation District’s rain barrel workshops were featured on a local news channel. Watershed Specialist Diane Thomas and Stormwater Coordinator Chelsea Ergler of the Blair Conservation District explained how rain barrels work and promoted upcoming workshops. Click here to watch the video.

PA Department of Environmental Protection Secretary Patrick McDonnell visited community leaders at Lurgan Lions Club Park in Roxbury (Franklin County) to discuss how Restore Pennsylvania could support stream restoration projects to prevent erosion and protect communities across the commonwealth.

Staff from the Franklin County Conservation District and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service outlined their planned project to put in place in-stream stabilization structures and native vegetation to end the erosion. The project would also contribute to Franklin County’s Clean Water Action Plan to help Pennsylvania reduce sediment and nutrients in its part of the Chesapeake Bay Watershed.

Click here to read the entire press release.

Managers from the PACD South Central Region met at Shady Maple in East Earl, PA, for a breakfast meeting on July 25, 2019. PACD Executive Director Brenda Shambaugh and several retired conservation district managers joined them.

The deadline for the Certified Professional in Erosion and Sediment Control (CPESC) training and test being held September 3 and 4, 2019, is August 22, 2019. Both the review course and exam will take place at the Lebanon County Conservation District Office, 2120 Cornwall Rd., Lebanon, PA. If you have not yet started the CPESC certification process, we recommend you go to the Envirocert International, Inc. website (https://envirocertintl.org) and review the requirements and process now. There are a limited number of seats available.

The review course is designed to ensure CPESC applicants understand what concepts will be covered by the exam, and acts as a review for most of those concepts. Note that there is special pricing for PA conservation district staff for the review course. The cost is $175 for conservation district employees and $365 for everyone else. The exam fee is $150. Before registering, contact Amy Brown at abrown@pacd.org or 717-238-7223 x104 for a district staff discount code or with any questions.

Click here for the registration link.

Click here for instruction on how to register.

The review course is open to anyone actively pursuing a CPESC certification through EnviroCert International, Inc., including conservation districts, agency staff, and private companies. Please pass this information along to anyone who may be interested.

These individuals will serve on the PACD Executive Board in the following positions:

President: Mike Price, Beaver County

1^st Vice President: Kelly Stagen, Pike County

2^nd Vice President: Dennis Beck, Cambria County

Secretary: Charles Duritsa, Westmoreland County

Treasurer: Sonia Wasco, Lancaster County

Congratulations to the officers and thank you for volunteering your time in these leadership positions!