News Release

Chesapeake Bay Clean Water Farm Award Recipients Announced

Todd and Leroy Chestnut of Newville; William and LaVern Jackson of Troy; and LaMar Troup of Beaver Springs, have been selected to receive the 2004 Pennsylvania Chesapeake Bay Clean Water Farm Award. The award recipients will be recognized on July 27, 2004 in Coraopolis, PA during the Annual Conservation Awards Program of the Pennsylvania Association of Conservation Districts, Inc. (PACD). To further acknowledge their accomplishments, the landowners will receive a certificate and large "Clean Water Farm Award" sign to erect on their property.

The Clean Water Farm award, initiated in 1986, recognizes farmers within Pennsylvania's portion of the Chesapeake Bay Watershed, who manage their daily farm operation while keeping a watchful eye on water quality. The farms' conservation plans address issues that help control potential pollutants such as soil erosion, pesticides, and fertilizers from entering streams or groundwater supplies.

Award winners Todd and Leroy Chestnut manage a 220 head beef and crop operation in Cumberland County. The Chestnuts implement numerous best management practices such as planting vegetation along a streambank to stabilize the soil and rotating their crops to help manage weeds and insects.

Recipients William and LaVern Jackson operate a 450 acre farm in Bradford County that includes a dairy herd of 85 cows, 50 heifers and 10 calves. To control excess nutrients, the Jacksons use a concrete barnyard to collect and store the manure fertilizer until it can be safely applied to crops. They also maintain cattle fencing along a streambank to prevent bank erosion.

Lastly, LaMar Troup owns the 297 acre By-A-Dam-Site Farm in Snyder County. Troup's operation consists of 3,000 hogs, a chicken house with a capacity of 22,000, 10 steers and 7 horses. He raises corn, beans, wheat and hay crops using methods such as crop rotation, minimum tillage and countour planting.

Recipients of the annual Chesapeake Bay Clean Water Farm Award are
nominated by county conservation district staff. This annual award program is coordinated by the Pennsylvania Chesapeake Bay Education Office (administered by PACD, a private, nonprofit organization representing Pennsylvania's 66 county conservation districts). The awards are sponsored jointly by the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection's Chesapeake Bay Program and the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture to recognize farmers who implement Best Management Practices, a combination of practices determined to be the most effective, practical means of reducing pollution. The Pennsylvania Chesapeake Bay Education Office conducts numerous activities promoting the theme, "We All Live Downstream." For more information, visit www.pacd.org.

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