News & Notes April 2005

Bylaws Changes a Hot Topic at Conference

PACD's Legislative Conference was held at the Crowne Plaza Hotel in downtown Harrisburg from March 14-16. District directors and staff met to discuss current issues, meet with legislators, and attend the Pennsylvania State Conservation Commission (SCC) and PACD Executive Council meetings.

Highlights of the first day were the Legislative Training and Issues Forum (see "Legislative Training Highlights" and "Issues Forum Summary" articles on this page). The second day of the conference, district directors and staff from across the state met with local legislators to advocate for increased funding. Tours of the PACD office were also given during an open house. This was followed by the SCC meeting and awards judging.

The last day consisted of the PACD Region Directors and PA Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) Field Representatives Meeting and the PACD Executive Council meeting. In addition to all of these activities, six committees met during the conference. Nearly all of the committees held discussions on the proposed PACD Bylaws changes. During the Executive Council meeting, amendments to the proposed PACD Bylaws were approved (see "PACD Bylaws: Where We've Been and Where We're Headed" article on page 2). The revised version of the Bylaws will be sent to the districts and voting will occur at the PACD/SCC Joint Annual Conference July 24-27, 2005 at the Avalon Hotel, Erie, PA.

Legislative Training Highlights

PACD Executive Director Susan Marquart provided a briefing for members on the PACD funding request and state budget. She stated that the top four priorities, as outlined on the Capitol Day handout, were to restore the DEP line item for conservation districts to $3.55 million, restore the PA Department of Agriculture (PDA) line item for conservation districts to $1.66 million, increase the transfer to the Nutrient Management Fund to $5 million, and provide a new line item for $1.2 million in the Department of Education for local delivery of environmental education programs by conservation districts. (For those unable to attend the meeting, the PACD Capitol Day handout is posted on the PACD website).

Kevin Abbey, Executive Director for the Center for Dirt and Gravel Road Studies, provided a 2004 Program Report and an updated handout with the total number of identified dirt and gravel road work sites throughout the state and the progress in the program to date. This information explains that at the current rate, it will take 50 years to complete the identified worksites.

George Wolff, Wolff Strategies, spoke to the group about how much the conservation district's work load has increased over the past years. He said that it is extremely important for the conservation districts to develop relationships with their legislators to be able to share program information and to provide legislators with the information that they need to make effective decisions.

Secretary Steve Crawford, PA Department of Legislative Affairs, discussed the environment and the importance of continued funding for Growing Greener programs. He stated that the Governor supports House Bill 2 as passed by the PA House of Representatives and would like to see everyone support this bill since it provides for a ballot question for a bond issue for the environment. He felt that the details of the program can be negotiated after the approval of the bond issue. Secretary Crawford also stated that the SCC is being considered to house the new Agricultural Review Board under the proposed Agriculture, Communities and Rural Environment (ACRE) initiative.

Secretary Dennis Wolff, PDA, spoke at the luncheon and provided more details of the proposed ACRE initiative.

Krysta Harden, CEO of the National Association of Conservation Districts (NACD), discussed her vision for the NACD. Ms. Harden stated that she was very proud to be working for the NACD and felt that conservation districts were making a great contribution to the environment. She said that she intends to work with legislators and others to keep conservation districts in a strong position in Washington D.C.

NACD Director Pat Sueck (left) and Krysta Harden, NACD's Chief Executive Officer, after the PACD Issues Forum.

Philip Durgin, Executive Director, Legislative Budget and Finance Committee (LBFC) and Patricia Berger, Senior Counsel, LBFC, provided an update on the study by the LBFC. Philip stated that they have learned a lot about conservation districts in Pennsylvania and the United States through this study. They conducted a survey and interviewed a number of people from conservation districts, government agencies, and other organizations. They hope to present a draft of their final report to the SCC, DEP, and Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture this month for comment and present their final report to the Committee in April.

Nancy Imler, DEP, provided an overview of DEP's project to consolidate all water-related environmental data into a common system. She stated that DEP is developing systems to be able to take data from different programs and agencies and compile it into one geographic data system. The project is just beginning and she will be contacting people involved with water resources to obtain data.

Kelly Ireland, Conservation Security Program Manager for the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS), spoke to the group about the Conservation Security Program. She explained that there were two watersheds chosen in Pennsylvania this year to participate in the program. NRCS staff will be working with farmers to help them sign up for the program. She suggested that conservation districts start talking to farmers in other areas and explain that record keeping is a key component of the program and that farmers must be able to show that they have documentation on nutrient applications to enter the program.

Susan Weaver, Special Projects Manager, DEP Water Planning Office, gave an overview of Water Resources Planning (Act 220) and the State Water Plan. She talked about the vision for the plan and the activities that have begun to collect information to incorporate into the plan.