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Front Page: Your Weekly News & Updates
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| Ag Progress Days, poster contest, strategic planning grants, CPESC training, news from Perry, Lancaster, and Lehigh Counties, Envirothon, buffer workshop, Next Generation Leadership Institute, and soil and water conference. |
Conservation Districts Represented at Ag Progress Days
Ag Progress Days, Pennsylvania's largest outdoor agricultural exposition, was held August 13-15, 2019, at The Pennsylvania State University's Research Farms in Rock Springs. PACD and conservation districts from Northumberland, Berks, Union, Cambria, Wyoming, Clinton, Venango, Adams, and Bedford Counties met hundreds of landowners and farmers to discuss local conservation during the three-day event.
Thank you so much to all who volunteered for this great outreach opportunity!
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PACD Announces State Level Winners of NACD Poster Contest
PACD announces the five state-level winners of the National Association of Conservation District's 2019 "
Life in the Soil: Dig Deeper" poster contest.
The winners in each category are:
K-1 Leah Hartman - Carbon County
2-3 Tvisha Jani - Delaware County
4-6 Karlee Dwyer - Delaware County
7-9 Marializ Jordan - Delaware County
10-12 Makenna Bankes - Carbon County
Photo caption: Leah Hartman's poster (Carbon County) is pictured.
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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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Reminder: Register for CPESC Training by August 22
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
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
[email protected]
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.
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Perry County Conservation District Hosts Grazing Field Day
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.
Photo caption: Photos of Perry County Grazing Field Day provided by Perry County Conservation District.
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Lancaster County Conservation District Hosts Legislative Event
On August 2, 2019, PACD Executive Director Brenda Shambaugh traveled to Lancaster for a legislative banquet.
Photo caption: Chris Thompson, Lancaster County Conservation District Manager, speaks during the banquet. Photo provided by Lancaster County Conservation District.
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Lehigh County Conservation District Awards College Scholarship
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.
Photo caption: Marilyn Reyes harvests a raised bed garden at her urban high school. Photo provided by Lehigh County Conservation District.
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PA Envirothon Team Takes 3rd Place in International Competition
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).
Photo caption: 3rd place photo (l to r) - Megan Patton (coach), Ryan Swartz, Joey Kurincak, Christina Adams, Stephen Zacoi, Jacob Hair, and Kevin Willis (coach). Photo provided by PA Envirothon.
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Workshop: Riparian Buffers for Landscape Professionals
The Chesapeake Bay Landscape Professional Program is offering a one-day workshop on September 18, 2019 in Paradise Township, PA. The workshop will combine classroom instruction with field exploration of existing buffers, and hands-on activities. This course is designed specifically for Chesapeake Bay landscape professionals but is open to all interested professionals. Lunch will be provided.
Click here for an event flyer
and here to register.
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Next Generation Leadership Institute Application Period Opens
The National Conservation Foundation (NCF)'s Next Generation Leadership Institute (NGLI) was unveiled earlier this year at the National Association of Conservation Districts' (NACD) 73rd Annual Meeting in San Antonio, Texas. The Institute aims to train seven individuals over the course of 2020, with one participant selected from each of the NACD regions.
The goal of the NGLI is to equip conservation district leaders with the tools to become national leaders through personal, civic, and organizational leadership development. The NGLI will consist of comprehensive in-person training sessions to help participants rise to meet the future needs of natural resources management.
The $1,200 tuition for participants in the program is valued at more than $10,000 and includes travel, room, board and materials. Applications must be received by Friday, Sept. 20, 2019.
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Conservation Professionals Unite at the Soil and Water Conservation Society 2019 Conference in Pittsburgh
Over 400 conservation professionals from around the world convened in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, July 28-31, 2019, for the Soil and Water Conservation Society (SWCS) 74th International Annual Conference.
The theme of this year's conference was "Bridging the Divide: Uniting Rural and Urban Landscapes for Conservation." The conference was designed to provide a forum for conservation professionals to come together to discuss successes and challenges, combat shared obstacles, and accelerate conservation efforts.
Click here to read the entire press release.
Photo caption: Pictured are Keystone Chapter of SWCS members who attended the conference. Photo provided by Dan Dostie.
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Conservation Districts in the News
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