Agricultural Conservation
The District’s Agricultural Conservation/Chesapeake Bay Program provides technical and financial assistance for farmers and other land users to implement best management practices (BMPs) to reduce non-point source pollution to local streams within the Chesapeake Bay Watershed.
IMPLEMENTATION PLAN
To help meet Pennsylvania’s goals set by the Chesapeake Bay 2000 Agreement, the Luzerne Conservation District (and other conservation districts within the Chesapeake Bay Watershed) developed a county specific Chesapeake Bay Tributary Strategy Implementation Plan. The plan identifies major sources of non-point source pollution within Luzerne County, and prescribes various BMPs for addressing the water quality impairments. Through this program, the district undertakes projects to implement the recommendations of the plan.
Through the Luzerne County Chesapeake Bay Tributary Strategy Implementation Plan, several new Conservation Programs have been developed:
- Cover Crop Program
- No-Till Outreach Program
- Equine Best Management Practice Program
- Urban Nutrient/Stormwater Management Program
- Stream-bank Restoration Program
- Soil Test Incentive Program
To view the District’s Implementation Plan in PDF format, click on the following links:
Luzerne County Chesapeake Bay Tributary Strategy Implementation Plan
Luzerne County Land Use Map
NUTRIENT MANAGEMENT
The Luzerne Conservation District also assists farmers with obtaining nutrient management plans. The plans help guide farmers in utilizing nutrients from manure and fertilizers for more efficient crop production, while aiming to keep those potential pollutants out of streams and other water bodies.
PDA’s REAP PROGRAM
The conservation district can assist farmers with applications to the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture’s Resource Enhancement and Protection Program, a program that grants tax credits in exchange for the implementation of certain best management practices.
UPDATE – Applications and guidelines for the Fiscal Year (FY) 2010-11 Resource Enhancement and Protection (REAP) Program are available on the REAP website. FY 09-10 applicants who were not approved last year and who have been mailed the “Addendum Application” have until close of business on July 16, 2010 to submit the addendum application to the Commission. These applications will be considered first, (in the order in which they were received and logged last year) before new applications are accepted beginning on August 2, 2010.
The State Conservation Commission (Commission) began accepting new applications for the REAP program on Monday, August 2. The Commission has received over $6.8 million in requests for the $4.5 million available this year; therefore, the Commission is now closing the application period for the FY 2010-11 REAP program year. The Commission will accept applications postmarked or hand delivered by no later than Monday, August 9, 2010.
Click here to visit PDA’s website for more information on REAP.
For more information on the Luzerne County Chesapeake Bay Tributary Strategy Implementation Plan or any of the above programs, please contact Amy Salansky at 570-674-7991 or by email by clicking here.