News & Notes September 2006

PACD Fall Region Meeting Preview

Don't miss the opportunity to be a part of the process of establishing goals for PACD during the seven PACD fall region meetings (see below for your region meeting information). During the region meetings, one of the agenda items will be to provide input on PACD's Strategic Planning Process. PACD mailed each conservation district a letter and an input form on this process. Each conservation district will be asked to complete one form per district and send at least one representative to its region meeting to provide input.

The overview of the PACD Strategic Planning Process and the input form are available on the PACD website at http://www.pacd.org/about/strategicplan/06planningprocess.htm. The draft strategic plan will be finalized and voted on at the PACD Winter Meeting, January 17-19, 2007 in State College, PA.

In addition to the PACD Strategic Planning Process, program updates from PACD, State Conservation Commission, Natural Resources Conservation Service, and the Leadership Development Committee, which will discuss its current projects, will also be on the agenda. Some meetings will also feature region specific topics and/or speakers. Please refer to your region's agenda (posted on the PACD website at http://www.pacd.org/events/default.htm) for details.

PACD Testifies Before Senate Agriculture Committee on Act 217

Brenda Shambaugh, PACD Government Relations/Policy Specialist recently testified before the Senate Agriculture Committee concerning the role of conservation districts in Pennsylvania, laws affecting how districts are managed and funded, and Senator Wonderling's comprehensive proposal amending the Conservation District Law. Additionally, Mark Kimmel, York County Conservation District Manager, and Don McNutt, Lancaster County Conservation District Manager, testified using their county experiences as the basis for their comments.

After thanking the Committee for their involvement in the passage of SB 1224, Brenda discussed the Legislative Budget and Finance Committee report which stated what districts have been saying all along - that districts have been doing more with less for quite some time. New demands on the state and federal level have meant that more environmental programs have been implemented, more conservation plans have been developed, and more environmental protections have been achieved. But, she added, all of this takes a monumental effort by many folks who need technical assistance and expertise to make it happen. That is where the districts come in, providing landowners with the knowledge and the experience to make significant environmentally friendly improvements on their land and agricultural operations.

To continue to meet the conservation needs of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania in the future, Brenda pointed out two major enhancements that must be made to the Conservation District Law:

1. Increase the capacity of conservation districts to deliver locally led conservation.

2. Further define and strengthen the amended (1995) structure of the State Conservation Commission (SCC) as an Interdepartmental Administrative Commission.

PACD is recommending the passage of Senator Wonderling's draft legislation to update Act 217. Included in the draft legislation are several changes (see Senator Wonderling Presents Legislation to Benefit Conservation Districts article on page 1).

The Wonderling draft also proposes a new "Interdepartmental Administrative Commission." Under this arrangement, each department will assign staff to the Interdepartmental Administrative Commission in proportion to the dollar value and workload of the programs delegated or contracted to conservation districts from that department. For example, PA Department of Agriculture currently has fifteen staff (eight positions plus six nutrient management positions plus the Executive Secretary) assigned to work on SCC related activities and PA Department of Environmental Protection has approximately fifteen positions (seven central office staff and eight field representatives) working directly on conservation district activities. These thirty staff should be deployed to the Interdepartmental Administrative Commission and report directly to the Executive Secretary. Each department would be responsible for the costs of staff salaries and benefits for those individuals and those persons would remain as employees on the contingent of the assigning department.

Conservation district funding was also discussed at the hearing. Brenda told the committee that despite their importance, many districts are struggling for funds. The primary and most flexible source of district funding is the Conservation District Fund Allocation Program. These funds are intended to cover 50% of the district manager's salary and benefits (up to a maximum of $27,000), 50% of a district's first technician (up to a maximum of $16,500), 50% of a district's second technician up to a maximum of $9,000), and certain administrative expenses.

PACD also indicated that dedicated funding would greatly simplify district annual budgeting processes and reimbursement procedures. In addition, any new delegated and/or contracted programs that the conservation districts are asked to administer on behalf of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania must be accompanied by sufficient funding to cover the costs of administration and delivery.

The table below provides a summary of the funding for conservation districts in the Commonwealth budget identified as Local Soil and Water District Assistance in the PA Department of Environmental Protection and PA Department of Agriculture. As a result of Act 110, the funds appropriated in these line items will be deposited into the Conservation District Fund.

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