News & Notes April 2008

Crawford County Conservation District Partners Mini-grants and Media to Spread NPS Message

Over the last few years, the Crawford County Conservation District has received two Nonpoint Source Pollution (NPS) Educational Mini-grants to better utilize existing marketing avenues for nonpoint source pollution prevention messages. In 2006 we were awarded a grant to run a series of NPS awareness ads in The Meadville Tribune. The project was a partnership with Erie County Conservation District (ECCD), and was matched with a CREP education grant secured by ECCD. During the fall and winter of 2006/2007 we ran the ads focusing on stormwater, riparian areas, snow and ice removal, streambank fencing, and lawn care. The Meadville Tribune advertising department developed half-page ads that were fun, eye catching, and easy to follow. They developed a cartoon hellbender character and we dubbed the project "Team Hellbender." Each month a new topic was unveiled and an associated page on our website was developed for more information. We were not disappointed in the results. The pages spiked interest in our website and even led to a couple of follow-up articles in the Tribune by local contributing writers.

Then, in the summer of 2007 we were again awarded a mini-grant to attempt social marketing of NPS prevention through a new venue, television. This project is a partnership with Erie and Warren County Conservation Districts (WCCD) and involves a match with a Water Resources Education Network grant secured by WCCD. This fall we filmed several "Green Tip of the Week" commercials. They are currently under production and are scheduled to run in the spring of 2008 - so be on the lookout. The topics include everything from lawn care and runoff to water quality and rain barrels. We will again use an associated website as a way to capture contact information and distribute more information on each of our topics. Additionally, we have developed an online survey for assessing the viewers' attitudes toward pollution reduction strategies after viewing the commercials that also involves a "Name your favorite commercial" competition. We feel confident this project will be just as successful as the first and will continue to pave the way for future marketing projects.

Conference Addresses 21st Century Agricultural Issues

Submitted by Cadie Pruss, Watershed Specialist

Mifflin County Conservation District (MCCD) has just completed its 2007-08 Chesapeake Bay Educational Mini-grant titled, "Agriculture in the 21st Century." The focus of this project was to provide an agriculture conference that covered best management practices (BMPs), with the ultimate goal of reduced nonpoint source pollution and improved water quality in the Chesapeake Bay Watershed.

MCCD first held this conference in 2004. At that time, nine farmers enrolled 386 acres in the no-till program and eighteen farmers enrolled 581 acres in the cover crop program. After this year's event, forty farmers enrolled for a total of 1,607 no-till acres and forty-two farmers for a total of 1,395 cover crop acres. It is our belief that this annual conference is making a big difference and what follows indicates why.

First, a little background: The streams listed on the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's List of Impaired Waters in Mifflin County are included for agricultural-related issues, specifically sediment and nutrients. The topics for the "Agriculture In The 21st Century" Conference were chosen because they promote practices that reduce erosion and manage nutrients. This year's topics included using alternative energy, planting cover crops to use nutrients and reduce erosion, promoting grazing to manage crops for year round use, and the PA Clean Streams Law and how it affects farmers.

Farmers are increasingly called on to provide more than just "food for the people"- now they are being sought as the answer for providing "energy for the people." This additional responsibility is placing a new burden on farmers and many are attempting to increase production of crops they already know how to grow, using conventional methods that they are accustomed to using. These are often methods which involve tillage and typically have the potential for significant erosion. Two sessions, Cover Crops and Grazing, provided practical tools for farmers who are open to making the transition to cover crops and grazing for crop management.

The Cover Crop session covered why a farmer should be using this BMP to keep the soil in place during a time of year that conventional farming leaves the fields fallow and exposed to wind and water erosion. Interestingly, all of the evaluations that were returned from this session indicated that the participant already knew that cover crops helped prevent soil from eroding off the field. However, over half of the respondents stated that they were not currently planting cover crops. Based on what they learned in this session, respondents indicated that they are now more likely to plant cover crops in the future.

Participants in the grazing session indicated that they actually learned practices they could implement to graze in the winter. This is important because winter tends to be a time when farmers "sacrifice" a field and feed hay or other stored feed to their livestock. These areas, frequently referred to as "sacrifice areas" become very muddy due to concentrated activity and nutrients from this area often travel to streams. Pastures with vegetative cover do not erode at the same rate as sacrifice areas and the nutrients are much more likely to stay in place, ready for the plants to use them during the growing season. Participants in this session reported that they received practical advice on how to extend grazing into the winter months.

Over the past four years, attendance at this conference has grown and this year was no exception. This year eighty-three people registered to attend the conference. The vast majority of those registered were full-time farmers. Reaching the target audience is important to the Conservation District and we feel that we are indeed accomplishing this goal. MCCD works hard to make all residents of the county aware of our impact on water quality and the larger picture of the connectedness of watersheds. This conference is intended for the residents who have the greatest impact in our county because they affect the most acres by tilling and spreading nutrients. How these residents manage their acres whether in environmentally sensitive ways, or in ways that damage the environment and our water resources has a huge impact. Evaluations indicate that the farmers do plan to make changes to their farming operations based on what they learned at this conference.

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