News & Notes September 2001

PACD Fall Region Meetings- Your Participation is Welcomed

The Pennsylvania Association of Conservation Districts’ fall 2001 Region Meetings are upon us. Plan to attend and learn how your county conservation district can benefit from participation in PACD activities. The region meetings provide an opportunity to discuss Association business matters in a smaller setting, before the next statewide PACD meeting in late October.

During the meetings, PACD Executive Director Susan Fox will provide a report on PACD’s engineering assistance program and an update on PACD activities, including the PACD Participation Task Force.

In addition, the Leadership Development Committee will present the program, Best Management Practices for Conservation District Operations, an insight into some of the more efficient district programs going on throughout Pennsylvania. The program was organized by Mike Lovegreen of the Bradford County Conservation District, who recently participated in the Leadership Development Committee’s district visits.

Conservation District directors, staff and associate directors are all strongly encouraged to attend their respective region meetings. The schedule of meetings will be as follows:

September 11 Central PACD Region Meeting Location: Arena Restaurant, Bedford, PA Contact: Bill Zett (DEP) 814-949-7906

September 12 Northwest PACD Region Meeting Location: Five Forks Restaurant, Tionesta, PA Contact: Gerald Rafeew (DEP) 814-332-6942

September 13 Southwest PACD Region Meeting Location: Westmoreland County Conservation District Environmental Education Center (Donohoe Center), Greensburg, PA Contact: Charles Kubasik (DEP) 724-942-7253

September 18 Northeast PACD Region Meeting Location: Lackawanna County Conservation District Office, Mayfield (Carbondale), PA Contact: Karl Dymond (DEP) 570-830-3016

September 20 Southcentral PACD Region Meeting Location: Penn-Del Conference Center, Carlisle, PA Contact: Jay Braund (DEP) 717-705-4784

September 27 Northcentral PACD Region Meeting Location: DEP Northcentral Regional Office – Goddard Room, Williamsport, PA Contact: Bill Kahler (DEP) 570-327-3571

October 2 Southeast PACD Region Meeting Location: Family Heritage Restaurant, Franconia, PA Contact: John Schueller (DEP) 610-916-0100

Larry Tropea, Deputy Secretary of the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (DEP), announced that $250,000 will be provided during fiscal year 2001-2002 for conservation districts administering the Chapter 105 Program – Dam Safety and Waterway Management.

The announcement marks a $61,000 increase in funding from fiscal year 2000-2001. The benefit to Pennsylvania’s conservation districts, however, is two-fold: first, direct funding of Chapter 105 has been increased substantially. Secondly, the State Conservation Commission has decided that no funds will be taken from the Conservation District Fund Allocation Program (CDFAP) – which is used to fund core conservation district programs, in order to fund the Chapter 105 Program this year.

During fiscal year 2000-2001, $150,000 was provided directly for Chapter 105, while nearly $40,000 was re-allocated from the CDFAP, also for Chapter 105. PACD is pleased that funds will not be taken from the CDFAP during this fiscal year and applauds the efforts of Deputy Secretary Tropea, who was instrumental in arranging for the funding increase.

PACD would like to officially Welcome the Association’s Associate Directors to our News and Notes Readership. As a result of the Conservation District Director Portraits—A Leadership Development project, Associate Directors will now receive monthly installments of PACD’s News and Notes. Welcome aboard!

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