Mifflin: 

'Tire' ing Clean Up

Photo provided by MCCD.

This past March, the Monroe County Conservation District (MCCD), with the help of a local graphic artist "wrapped" their new wheelchair accessible bus in eye-catching graphics. The bus displays animals found in Pennsylvania including black bear, belted kingfisher, brown trout, great blue heron, along with information about the district and the Kettle Creek Environmental Education Center. The bus has been a successful marketing tool.

"When you sit at a traffic light, you certainly notice that a lot of people are turning to look at the bus," said Roger Spotts, Environmental Education Coordinator. The bus is used for educational field trips for children and adult education programs. Funds for the bus were raised through private donations and from the Kettle Creek Fund, a volunteer organization that raises money for educational programs through a highly successful annual dinner auction. The bus along with the move to rename the conservation district's environmental education center to the Kettle Creek Environmental Education Center, are both part of the district's efforts to improve branding. Spotts added, "We feel branding is important especially when it comes to fundraising and in connecting to the students from our school programs and their parents."

For more information about the MCCD Environmental Education Center, visit www.mcconservation.org and click on the "Environmental Education" tab on the left side of the screen. 

This is a great idea for districts to showcase work they've done in the community. Google Maps is free for anyone to use. PACD has been using Google Maps to plot mini-grant projects since 2008. Get started here https://maps.google.com.

Look for future Front Page articles highlighting ACCD's projects! 

The PA No-Till Alliance is sponsoring two free field days in the month of August. The keynote speaker for these events is Dr. Christine Jones, an international soil expert from Australia.

August 28 - Clinton County

8:30 a.m. - 3 p.m.
Schrack Farms, Loganton, PA

August 29 - Union County

8:30 a.m. - 3 p.m.
Criswell Acres, Lewsiburg, PA

Click here for the event flyer. Please RSVP Sarah Troisi at

NACD has built a survey to help us share information with national partners about the forestry work being done by conservation districts around the country. The last forestry survey we conducted, in 2000, elevated NACD's role in the forestry community and opened doors for local districts.

The survey will take approximately 20 minutes of your time to complete. Survey data will be shared at the 2015 NACD Annual Meeting in New Orleans, and a report will be made available online. We appreciate your participation, and hope you take advantage of the final question allowing you to share your forestry success stories!

Survey link: www.surveymonkey.com/s/FPKDHMN

Also, we encourage you to keep up with forestry stories and news relevant to conservation districts by following NACD Forestry Notes online and on Facebook/Twitter.

Brownfields Program and Resources is the topic of the next NACD Urban and Community Conservation Webinar, scheduled for 12 noon Eastern time on August 21. There is no cost to participate, but space is limited. To register, email Debra Bogar at deb-bogar@nacdnet.org.

Held on the third Thursday of each month, these webinars cover topics that include district and other speakers. The webinars are sponsored by The Scotts Miracle-Gro Company in partnership with the NACD Urban and Community Resource Policy Group.

The Resource Enhancement and Protection (REAP) Farm Conservation Tax Credit Program will begin accepting applications for completed projects on August 4 and for both proposed and completed projects August 25.

This first-come, first-served program offers landowners between 50 and 75 percent of project costs in the form of tax credits up to $150,000 for the adoption of best management practices including: Development of a Nutrient Management Plan, Ag E&S Plan, and Conservation Plans, streambank fencing, riparian buffers, BMPs for ACAs and barnyard runoff, manure storage systems, alternative manure treatment practices, filter strips, and no-till planting equipment.

Costs that can be included are project design, engineering, and planning, construction, installation, equipment, materials, post construction expenses, and many others.

November 21 and 22, on the campus of Bucknell University, members from the research, management, consultant and public sectors will convene for the 9th Annual Susquehanna River Symposium. Organizers are currently requesting abstracts for presenter topics for the two-day event in the following areas:

• Aquatic ecosystems
• Fisheries management and habitat restoration
• Groundwater hydrology; aquifer contamination and remediation projects
• River valley terrestrial ecosystems and the riparian corridor
• Stormwater management
• Water policy; sustainable watershed management
• River water chemistry; and remediation
• Lakes and wetland studies; restoration and cleanup projects
• Stream restoration and fluvial geomorphology
• Assessing the impact of natural resource extraction on the watershed
• Land use, BMPs, and water resources planning and protection strategies
• Susquehanna River - Chesapeake Bay connections
• Susquehanna watershed and climate change

If interested in submitting an abstract for consideration, click here. The above listing is not all inclusive so the potential for an individual to introduce another topic for consideration does exist. Abstract submissions must be submitted by September 17. Those submitting will be contacted by October 1 to learn whether or not they've been selected to present.

For full symposium details, click here. All presentations are free and open to the public. 

Click here to view the request for proposals announcing the 2015 U.S. Forest Service - Northeastern Area competitive grant program, now called Landscape Scale Restoration (previously called Redesign and Competitive Allocation). An important change this year is that each State is only allowed to submit five proposals. 

Please note that States must receive proposals from collaborators no later than September 15th. States must submit their proposals to the Forest Service by October 15th. Click here for the Guidance Document.