News & Notes September 2004

PACD Fall Region Meetings

If you haven't been able to attend a statewide PACD meeting yet this year, don't worry. The PACD Region Meetings are held twice a year to give everyone the opportunity to stay informed of issues at the state and regional level. All county conservation district Directors are invited to attend their region's meeting. It is important that as many Directors as possible are in attendance to learn about current issues affecting districts.

What goes on at a PACD Region Meeting? All region meetings have updates from PACD and the State Conservation Commission (SCC). Each region meeting now includes a Leadership Development topic. The topic for this fall is "marketing your conservation district." A team of field representatives and leadership development staff has developed a power point presentation template that districts can customize to show county commissioners and others the services that are provided by the local conservation district. Also at the upcoming fall region meetings, the SCC will be talking about the Governor's ACRE plan (see page 3). Some region meetings also allow time in the agenda for information sharing among the districts.

In addition to these common topics, the North East Region will be discussing environmental education. In the South Central region, the ombudsman program and funding will be discussed. Keep informed of the current issues at the state and region level by attending your region meeting. See you there!

PACD Receives $5 million for CREP

During Ag Progress Days in Rock Springs, PA, Environmental Protection Secretary Kathleen McGinty announced $5 million in Growing Greener funds to PACD for Pennsylvania farmers under the Conservation Reserve Enhancement Program (CREP).

PACD Executive Director, Susan Marquart, Jim Wallizer, a CREP Producer from Centre County, and Secretary McGinty during a press event at Ag Progress Days.

CREP is a federal program through which the U.S. Department of Agriculture provides a rental payment for highly erodable agricultural land removed from production and 50% of the funds necessary to install conservation measures on this land. The $5 million grant was awarded to PACD to provide the remaining 50% matching funds necessary to install conservation measures under CREP.

"Recognizing the tremendous social, environmental and economic contributions that agriculture makes to our communities and the need to invest in environmentally sensitive farmland, CREP has been a top priority in Pennsylvania. With the expansion of CREP into the Ohio River basin last year, Pennsylvania now has the largest program in the nation, covering 265,000 acres," said McGinty.

PACD has been administering Pennsylvania CREP since it's inception. The organization's board and staff are proud to provide this service that has brought millions of conservation dollars to Pennsylvania's counties.