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Front Page: Your Weekly News & Updates
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| Building for Tomorrow Management Summit, manure mini-grant program outcomes, Governor signs bill package, Ag Progress Days volunteers needed, environmental education grant recipients, Act 48 credit workshops, SoilWeb 2.0 App Update, state technical committee meeting, urban soil health webinar, July lakes appreciation month, and NACD testifies to Congress on soil health. |
Register Now for Building for Tomorrow 2019 Management Summit
Registration is now open for the 2019 Management Summit, September 4-5 at Wyndham Garden State College. Our program for 2019 features:
- Christopher Ridenhour, whose presentation at the 2019 Staff Conference was so well received that we brought him back to speak with managers for our Day 1 Keynote Session: Inspired Leaders, Inspired Teams, Inspired Results
- Our Day 1 Leadership Workshop, Inspiration in Action: Team Effectiveness for Leaders, which will expand on the themes presented in the Keynote session with exercises and real-life scenarios to help guide managers in developing the most effective tools and strategies to super-charge their team performance
- A Day 2 agenda packed with opportunities to increase your practical knowledge and skills on topics such as employee evaluations, parliamentary procedure, recruiting interns and volunteers, tree sales fundraisers, and NPS reporting compliance
Click here
for more information and to register.
Rooms are available at Wyndham Garden at a discounted rate of $109/night. Attendees can contact the hotel directly to make room reservations at 814-466-2255. Please indicate the PA Association of Conservation Districts room block (group code: PACDSEPT19). Deadline for hotel room block reservations is August 3.
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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Thirty-Four Conservation Districts Participate in Manure Mini-grant Program
Mini-grants were available to all 66 conservation districts to hold local Manure Management Manual and Chapter 102 Compliance seminars/work sessions and one-on-one assistance on a first-come, first-served basis. These sessions assisted farmers in understanding manure management requirements and led to the development of a complete manure management and/or agricultural erosion and sedimentation plan.
Thirty-four conservation districts completed projects. Nineteen full-day and thirty-five half-day workshops were completed.
Additional outcomes include:
Farmers reached: 1,526
Manure management plans developed: 265
Acres covered in the manure plans cover: 2,4628.70
Ag E&S plans developed: 43
Acres covered in the Ag E&S plans: 3,285.50
Click here for the program webpage.
Photo courtesy of USDA NRCS.
Financial support for this project is provided by the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection through the Chesapeake Bay Implementation Grant, the Clean Water Fund and the Chesapeake Bay Regulatory and Accountability Program (CBRAP).
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Governor Wolf Signs Package of Bills
Governor Tom Wolf's vision of a path to longtime prosperity for Pennsylvania agriculture came to fruition with the signing into law of new legislation establishing the Pennsylvania Farm Bill. The PA Farm Bill will make $23.1 million in strategic investments into the agriculture industry to grow opportunities and resources, remove barriers to entry, and cultivate future generations of leaders within agriculture.
Photo caption: Front row: Governor Tom Wolf, Secretary of Agriculture Russell C. Redding; Back row: PA State Grange Legislative Director Vince Phillips, PA Farm Bureau President Rick Ebert, PACD Executive Director Brenda Shambaugh, PA Association for Sustainable Agriculture Executive Director Hannah Smith-Brubaker, and National Young Farmers Coalition representative Karen Gardner.
Click here to read the entire press release.
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Ag Progress Days 2019
Volunteers Needed
Please consider volunteering at the Conservation District Exhibit at Penn State's 2019 Ag Progress Days.
About 60% of the 45,000 expected to attend are actively engaged in agriculture or related activities. With so many farming families from across Pennsylvania at this event, it's a great opportunity to call attention to the work and programs done at the districts.
This year's event will be held August 13-15, 2019. Volunteers are needed for the shifts listed below. Send your name and contact information to
[email protected]
or call 717-238-7223 with questions or to schedule your shift.
Tuesday, August 13: 9:00 a.m. - 1:00 p.m. (1 volunteer needed)
Tuesday, August 13: 1:00 p.m. - 5:00 p.m. (2 volunteers needed)
Wednesday, August 14: 1:00 p.m. - 5:00 p.m. (2 volunteers needed)
Wednesday, August 14: 5:00 p.m. - 8:00 p.m. (2 volunteers needed)
Thursday, August 15: 9:00 a.m. - 1:00 p.m. (2 volunteers needed)
Thursday, August 15: 1:00 p.m. - 4:00 p.m. (1 volunteer needed)
A final volunteer schedule, parking passes, and other show information will be sent to volunteers when available. For more information on Ag Progress Days go to their website at
http://agsci.psu.edu/apd.
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Nine Conservation Districts Receive Environmental Education Grants
The Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection awarded $205,000 in Environmental Education Grants to 45 projects addressing environmental justice, climate change, and water quality.
Congratulations to the following conservation districts:
- Armstrong Conservation District: Stormwater management workshop for the public ($2,900)
- Columbia County Conservation District: Workshops on rain barrels for home and business stormwater management ($2,900)
- Dauphin County Conservation District: Rain barrel stormwater management workshops for homeowners ($3,000)
- McKean County Conservation District: Programs on watersheds, planting trees, and trout for elementary to high school students ($3,000)
- Mercer County Conservation District: In-school programs and public outreach on backyard water conservation ($3,000)
- Northumberland County Conservation District (three projects): Sand and gravel simulator for groundwater training ($1,475); rain barrel construction workshop ($735); field trip for school students focused on coal mining history and water quality ($1,340)
- Pike County Conservation District: Podcast series on water quality best management practices for homeowners in priority watersheds ($3,000)
- Snyder County Conservation District: Materials for Midd-West Fifth Grade Enviro Skills Competition ($2,800)
- Westmoreland Conservation District: Development of one-acre pollinator garden to educate the public on the importance of pollinator habitat and how to maintain it ($3,000)
Click here to read the press release.
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Earn Act 48 Credit at August Workshops
WILD About Raptors
August 7-8, 2019; 9:00 a.m. - 3:00 p.m.
Penn State's Shaver's Creek Environmental Center
3400 Discovery Road, Petersburg, PA
Penn State's Shaver's Creek Environmental Center, in collaboration with DEP, is hosting a free, exclusive workshop for up to 25 teachers and non-formal educators. Topics will include raptor natural history, their decline in the 20th century, and raptor reintroduction and recovery programs.
Weathering the Storm: Understanding Stormwater Runoff
August 21-22, 2019; 8:30 a.m. - 3:30 p.m.
Erie County Conservation District and Headwaters Point
1927 Wager Road, Erie, PA, 16509
Formal and non-formal educators will learn how to create Meaningful Watershed Educational Experiences (MWEEs), to help students protect and restore their local watershed by reducing stormwater runoff pollution through learner-centered experiences.
Registration for both workshops is on a first come, first served basis. Please contact Kathleen Banski in the DEP Environmental Education and Information Center at 717-772-1857 or
[email protected]
.
Click here for the flyer.
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NRCS, UC Davis Announce Release of SoilWeb 2.0 App Update
USDA's Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) and the University of California at Davis Soil Resource Laboratory have announced the release of the iOS and Android SoilWeb app, version 2.0. The app now has a cleaner and more modern interface with GPS-location-based links to access detailed digital soil survey data (SSURGO) published by the NRCS for most of the United States. The newly updated SoilWeb smartphone application is available as a free download on Google Play
the Apple App Store
.
Click here to read the press release.
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Public Invited to Pennsylvania State Technical Committee Meeting July 16
The U.S. Department of Agriculture's
Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS)
invites the public to attend the
Pennsylvania State Technical Committee
meeting on July 16, 2019, at the USDA State Office in Harrisburg, PA.
Quarterly State Technical Committee Meetings are held to discuss natural resources conservation in Pennsylvania and provide recommendations to NRCS on the implementation of Farm Bill programs.
The public is invited to attend the meeting, which will be held at 1:00 p.m. on Tuesday, July 16, 2019, at the USDA State Office Conference Room at 359 East Park Drive in Harrisburg. To attend via teleconference, call 1-888-844-9904 with access code 6941559.
Click here to read the press release.
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July Webinar Focuses on Urban Soil Health
The next National Association of Conservation Districts Urban and Community Conservation webinar, scheduled for 12-1:00 p.m. on July 18, 2019, will focus on urban soil health.
The soil health initiative of the Marion County SWCD in Indiana provides technical, financial and educational services to small farmers and gardeners in Indianapolis. The Benton SWCD in Oregon works with the Willamette Valley Regenerative Landscape Coalition, a group of volunteer landscape professionals and scientists, to promote, advocate, and provide guidance for landscaping practices that build soil health.
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July is Lakes Appreciation Month
You work and play on them. You drink from them. But do you really appreciate them? Growing population, development, and invasive species stress your local lakes, ponds, and reservoirs. All life needs water; let's not take it for granted!
Click here
for more information on Lakes Appreciation Month and how to participate.
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NACD Testifies to Congress on Importance of Soil Health
The National Association of Conservation Districts (NACD) Secretary-Treasurer Ian Cunningham testified before the U.S. House Committee on Agriculture Subcommittee on Conservation and Forestry about the importance of soil health practices.
In his testimony, Cunningham emphasized the role of conservation districts in leading the nation's producers to implement soil health conservation practices.
Click here to read the testimony.
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Conservation Districts in the News
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Upcoming Events
July 17-18, 2019
Genetti Hotel, Williamsport, PA
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