News & Notes May 2006

Nutrient Trading Discussed at Region Meetings

District directors and staff from all across Pennsylvania turned out this spring for the PACD region meetings. The recently concluded PACD Region Meetings included presentations and discussions on nutrient trading, a new training tool for directors and staff, changes to Act 217 (the "Conservation District Law"), and SCC's re-distribution of funding allocations.

The predominate topic discussed during the region meetings was nutrient trading. Staff from the Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) explained the basics of nutrient trading, including how the systems work, and what we are doing in Pennsylvania.

Also from DEP, Rick Mader demonstrated the new interactive training tool from the Building for Tomorrow program (see the News & Notes April 2006 issue). The interactive Rich Media compact disk (CD) was developed by Pennsylvania's Conservation Partnership's Leadership Development Committee to help train new conservation district directors and staff.

PACD Executive Director Susan Marquart discussed the changes PACD is seeking for Act 217. She also provided a PACD activity report which updated members on PACD's current projects and programs such as the development of a new weekly email communication to PACD members called PACD Front Page and potential updates to the PACD Strategic Plan.

Finally, Karl Brown, executive secretary of the State Conservation Commission (SCC), provided the following highlights from the March SCC meeting. The SCC approved the re-distribution of funding allocations to conservation districts. Uncommitted and surplus special project funds will be re-distributed to the Conservation District Manager Cost Share Reimbursement and Agricultural Conservation Easement Conservation District Administrative Support programs. Karl also provided an update on the nutrient management regulations. The SCC expects the regulations to be published in June with an effective date of October 1. Lastly, they hired Karl Dymond to spearhead odor management regulations.

Updates on the issues discussed at the spring region meetings, and many others, will be presented at the NACD North East Meeting and PACD/SCC Joint Annual Conference in July (see You are Invited article on page 1 and above). Minutes from the region meetings are posted on the PACD website at www.pacd.org/about/pacd_regions.htm. Mark your calendar for your PACD fall region meeting. The dates are listed on page 4.

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