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News & Notes July 2006
PACD Engineering Technical Assistance Program Celebrates
Five Year Anniversary
This summer the PACD will celebrate the five year anniversary of the
PACD Engineering Assistance Program. The program, which is a partnership
effort between the PACD and the USDA Natural Resources Conservation
Service, began in 2001 with the receipt of a Growing Greener grant to
provide engineering technical assistance. In 2004, the USDA Natural
Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) provided matching federal funds
for engineering technical assistance for the implementation of comprehensive
nutrient management plans.
The PACD Engineering Assistance Program has been extremely successful
because it offers assistance to conservation districts, watershed associations,
and other eligible recipients, who may not otherwise have access to
these services. Engineering technical assistance is provided through
eight different engineering services, called components. The eight components
include inventory and evaluation, topographic survey, soils investigation,
design and specifications, construction quality assurance, technical
reviews, training and watershed assessment.
PACD can provide engineering technical assistance for projects that
include agricultural best management practices, stream restoration,
and treatment of abandoned mine drainage. During the past five years,
the PACD has completed 305 individual environmental improvement projects
for hundreds of local organizations in Pennsylvania. The PACD estimates
that these projects contributed $14.2 million dollars worth of environmental
improvements during this period. A recent Growing Greener grant from
the PA Department of Environmental Protection will continue this program
into the next calendar year.
The PACD engineers and engineering technicians that provide services
are based in the four Technical Center offices of the USDA Natural Resources
Conservation Service located around Pennsylvania. For more information
about the program or how to obtain engineering technical assistance,
visit the PACD website at www.PACD.org
and click on Engineering Assistance.
Positions Available on PACD Committees
Have you considered serving on a PACD committee? The PACD bylaws state
that up to seven district directors or associate directors and seven
district staff members can serve on each PACD committee. Several PACD
committees have vacancies to fill. Committee positions for both staff
and directors are available on the Ways and Means Committee. Vacancies
for directors and associate directors are available on the District
Employees and Education and Outreach Committees. The Legislative and
Operations Committees have vacancies for district staff.
If you are interested in serving on a PACD committee, please complete
and submit a committee interest form to be considered for appointment.
The form is available at http://www.pacd.org/about/committeeform.htm.
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Evaluation Helps Promote District Projects
Did the farmers at the workshop sign-up for no-till? Did the
people at the festival learn anything about watersheds? Did anyone
read the newspaper insert on nonpoint source pollution prevention?
How did my mini-grant project make a difference? Incorporating
evaluation as part of a project will help you answer this question.
Information derived from the evaluation can also be used to help
market your district's expertise to future project sponsors.
Evaluating an educational activity should go well beyond asking
participants whether they "enjoyed" the lunch or the
bus ride. Evaluation should address the outcomes of the project.
How did the project persuade participants to change their behavior
and attitude?
PACD has developed a fact sheet of evaluation methods and ideas
to assist district staff in this area. For a copy of the fact
sheet, visit the PACD website at: http://www.pacd.org/resources/mini-grants/evaluation.pdf
or contact Kim Mumper, PACD's Education Specialist at 717-238-7223.
Here are a few ideas districts could use to evaluate their educational
activities.
o Evaluation Form - On the evaluation forms that you
distribute at the close of your workshop, have a question or
two at the end, such as "Are you ready to try no-till farming?
Why or why not?" or "How can we assist your municipality
with implementing stormwater management BMPs?"
o Track Your Participants - Let the people in your workshop
know you are going to call/email some of them in about a month
(more or less as appropriate) to see if how they are doing with
the information from the workshop. Then do it.
o Spot interviews - Have a roving interviewer(s) ask
a few questions of people attending your festival. Questions
could include "Name one thing you've learned about today
that you plan to do that will improve our water quality,"
or "What one new healthy-environment action will you try
at home because of what you've seen today?" Offer a small
reward, such as a piece of candy for taking the survey. Make
sure you train your interviewers.
o Question of the Week/Month - Have viewers take an online
survey of some question that is answered on your website. For
example, "I use fertilizers on my lawn… a) not at
all, b) maybe once a year, c) as the package directs, or d)
at least once month." Then after they vote, show the survey
results with an educational message about the subject.
Has your district developed an effective evaluation tool?
Please contact the PACD so that we can, in turn, share your
ideas with others.
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