News & Notes October 2000

Fall 2000 PACD Region Meetings Come to A Close

Earlier this fall, seven PACD region meetings were held across the state within a two-week period. During these sessions the seven PACD regions were provided with an update on statewide conservation programs and activities.

Representatives of both the State Conservation Commission and the Natural Resources Conservation Service were in attendance at each of the meetings to report on their respective organizations.

PACD Executive Director Susan Fox attended each meeting and provided an update on PACD business, including the following items:

• A draft position paper on the Conservation District Law (Act 217)
• PACD funding proposals for 2001-2002
  
• New programs/relationships between the conservation districts and the Department of Community and Economic Development (DCED)
  
• PACD Growing Greener applications, which are still pending
  
• PACD Strategic Planning
  
• The PACD Building Fund
  
• The PACD/SCC Joint Annual Conference
  
• The new and improved PACD website

Another featured item at the region meetings was the presentation of a sample employee manual, several of which were conducted by Don Robinson of the Lancaster County Conservation District.

The employee manual is the second installment in a three-part series developed through funding provided by a Leadership Development Grant, from the State Conservation Commission and the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture. This particular manual provides conservation districts with a guideline for drafting their own employee manual. During the region sessions, each district was provided with a manual and instructions on how to properly put it to use.

A condensed version of the training will be presented by the Lancaster County Conservation District during the PACD/SCC Joint Annual Conference. It may also be viewed on the PACD website, www.pacd.org.

Meanwhile, a summary of the recently conducted Capacity Building Team Visits to Conservation Districts was provided at each of the meetings.

The team visits, which are also a Leadership Development Program, were conducted earlier this year in six conservation district offices.

Members of either the visiting teams, or staff from one of the host districts, reported on the program at the region meetings. According to their reports, the project was received well by all the participants and is proving to be beneficial to the districts.

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