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Front Page: Your Weekly News & Updates
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| Districts on the Bay, strategic planning grant, news from Beaver and Huntindgon Counties, RCPP webinar, Lancaster manure presentation, and seed collection training. |
Conservation District Representatives Join Farmers on the Bay
PACD Program Manager Amy Brown recently joined Pennsylvania farmers, members of the PA No-Till Alliance, staff from Clinton County Conservation District, and the Chesapeake Bay Foundation (CBF) on a trip to Port Isobel Island. The group of 27 spent the weekend on the Bay. CBF hosted the weekend so farmers can appreciate the Bay and share thoughts with local watermen about the similarities of their heritages and livelihoods.
Photo caption: Clinton County Conservation District's Agricultural Resource Conservationist Lisa Blazure holds a crab on the Chesapeake Bay trip. Photo provided by CCCD.
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Building for Tomorrow Strategic Planning Grants Program Renewed for 2019-2020
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
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.
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Beaver County Conservation District Holds Stormwater Workshop
Twenty-one workshop participants learned about the link between water quality and nonpoint source pollution at the Beaver County Conservation District "Managing Stormwater at Your Home" workshop. Participants mapped their property and decided where to place the best management practices. After a program on watersheds, nonpoint source pollution, and stormwater best management practices, the district demonstrated how to build a rain barrel. Those attending received a rain barrel kit and Southwestern Pennsylvania's Homeowners Guide to Stormwater.
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.
Photo caption: Photo provided by Beaver County Conservation District.
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Huntingdon County Holds Tire Wars
On September 14, 2019, Keep Huntingdon County Beautiful (KHCB) volunteers collected 1,962 tires as part of the 14th Annual Tire War Challenge! The collection includes 1,852 car/truck tires, 74 tractor-trailer tires, and 36 tractor tires. To put this in perspective, they filled two 53' long tractor-trailers from top to bottom! We await the results from the other participating counties to determine if KHCB retains the Gold Rim Award for most tires collected.
Instead of polluting our land and streams, these tires go to
Mahantango Enterprises
in Liverpool, PA. The tires are then reclaimed and recycled into usable products such as rubber mulch for playgrounds or athletic tracks. This event was made possible by a grant from the
Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection
's Household/Small Business Hazardous Waste Collection Program.
Photo caption: Logan Stenger, Huntingdon County Conservation District Watershed Specialist and Affiliate Coordinator for KHCB, unloads tires during the 2019 Tire War Challenge. Photo provided by HCCD.
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RCPP Webinar Scheduled for September 26
Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) has released the Fiscal Year 2019 Announcement for Program Funding for the next round of Regional Conservation Partnership Program (RCPP) projects. Have you heard about RCPP but don't know how it could benefit your conservation district? Are you thinking about applying? If so, plan to attend a webinar on September 26, 2019, at 3 pm.
To participate in the webinar:
Step 1: Dial into the conference.
Dial-in: 1-877-369-5243 or 1-617-668-3633
Access Code: 0213915##
Step 2: Join the conference on your computer.
When you access the entry link above, you will be provided a choice - to install the WebEx plug-in for your preferred browser or to join the web conference using a temporary path. Either option is acceptable.
Conservation districts across the country have been successful participants in RCPP. Click here to view the announcement to see if this program will help address natural resource concerns in your area.
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Lancaster County Conservation District Makes Manure Presentation Available to Other Districts
Dennis Eby, Outreach Coordinator at the Lancaster County Conservation District (LCCD), participated in the "Working with Plain Sect" training that USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service recently held at Elizabethtown College. In his presentation, he mentioned that Lancaster County has success doing Manure Management Plans one-on-one with farmers. He used a PowerPoint that he adapted from the Penn State trainer presentations. The conservation district agricultural technicians that attended the training asked if that PowerPoint could be available for them to use. LCCD uploaded the resource to its website where it is accessible for anyone.
Photo caption: Photo of the initial slide in the LCCD PowerPoint presentation on manure management.
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Seed Collection Training Available Online
One objective of Project Wingspan is to train landowners, land managers, and citizen scientists on how to collect native seed properly while minimizing the potential to negatively impact a donor site.
They offer comprehensive seed collection training online. As part of the training, the project requests that official volunteers view three webinars:
Volunteers that complete the full six-step training module will receive an official certificate, and will be contacted to join a Seed Collection Team in their area. Click here for more information.
Photo caption: Screenshot of "Project Wingspan Flora Webinar" at https://youtu.be/cv7EvzbvHMo.
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Conservation Districts in the News
Clarion:
Lancaster:
McKean:
Monroe:
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Upcoming Events
September 27, 2019
DEP Regional Office, Wilkes-Barre, PA
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