News & Notes December 2002

Conservation Districts to Play a Key Role in
Water Resources Planning

Conservation districts have an important role to play in the new water resources planning act. At least two seats on each of the six regional water resources planning committees are reserved specifically for conservation district directors with the potential for a total of four seats on each regional committee. This was a direct result of PACD's efforts to involve conservation districts in water resources planning and PACD's input into the legislation.

Conservation district boards from across Pennsylvania should make it a priority to prepare nominations for positions on the regional water resources planning committees. PACD strongly encourages all district boards to select appropriate nominees and submit them to their county commissioners to pass on to the Governor for consideration. The planning act will go into effect with the new administration, so send your nominations to your county commissioners as soon as possible.

Information Specialist to Leave PACD Staff

Editor's Note: PACD Information Specialist Chuck Rohrer resigned his position with PACD, effective Nov. 27, 2002.

Recently I have made the decision to relocate to Western Pennsylvania, Pittsburgh specifically, and I will no longer be serving as the Information Specialist for the Pennsylvania Association of Conservation Districts, Inc.
I will be going to work for the Communications Department of the City of Pittsburgh Housing Authority as a staff writer/editor and starting promptly on Dec. 2, 2002. So from this point on, you may notice some changes in the style and appearance of the News and Notes and some of the other publications produced here.

Working with PACD has been an eye-opening experience and a huge challenge for me and I mean that in the best of ways. I arrived at PACD just one year removed from college. I had never heard of a conservation district and hadn't any grasp of the true importance of their work.

I have learned a great deal about the importance of the efforts that all of you take each day to make Pennsylvania a cleaner, healthier place to live. I have grown to admire the dedication and hard work that our conservation district personnel put in on a daily basis and realize that often times their work is under-appreciated. One of the things that I tried to do in my time with PACD was make some of these efforts more recognizable through the PACD newsletter, website and press releases. You deserve some recognition.

Through my travels with PACD I have been fortunate enough to meet a number of the conservation district staff and directors from across the state, as well as the representatives from the various conservation associations that we work in partnership with. It's something that I enjoyed being a part of and will sincerely miss.

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