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2 0 1 5 a N N U a L R E P O R T www.accdpa.org Allegheny County Conservation District | 1 2 0 1 5 ANNUAL REPORT STORMWATER SOLUTION CENTER SOILS SOLUTION CENTER WATERSHEDS SOLUTION CENTER AGRICULTURE SOLUTION CENTER Emerald View Park, Mt. Washington Allegheny County 2 | Allegheny County Conservation District SCA Fellow Rebecca Zeyzus lending a hand at Pine Creek’s trout habitat restoration. Allegheny County Conservation District | 3 TABLE OF CONTENTS CHAIRMAN’S MESSAGE .................................................................................................................................. 4 DISTRICT MANAGER’S MESSAGE .......................................................................................................... 6 ENVIROTHON ............................................................................................................................... 8 STORMWATER SOLUTION CENTER ..........................................................................................................10 PROGRAM OVERVIEW .............................................................................................................................12 URBAN FORESTS .......................................................................................................................................14 DIRT, GRAVEL, AND LOW VOLUME ROADS .....................................................................................16 SOILS SOLUTION CENTER ............................................................................................................................18 CHAPTER 102 PROGRAM OVERVIEW ................................................................................................20 LARGE SCALE PERMITTING ...................................................................................................................24 CHAPTER 105 PROGRAM OVERVIEW ................................................................................................22 WETLAND CERTIFICATION ....................................................................................................................22 WATERSHED SOLUTION CENTER .............................................................................................................26 FOUNDING A WATERSHED ALLIANCE ..............................................................................................28 PROJECTS .....................................................................................................................................................30 STUDENT CONSERVATION ASSOCIATION .......................................................................................33 OUTREACH AND EDUCATION ..............................................................................................................34 CONSERVATION LEADERSHIP AND INNOVATION PROGRAM .................................................36 AGRICULTURE SOLUTION CENTER ..........................................................................................................38 PROGRAM OVERVIEW .............................................................................................................................40 FARM EASEMENT MAP ............................................................................................................................42 4 | Allegheny County Conservation District CHAIRMAN’S MESSAGE Donald Newman, Board Chairman HROUGH 2015 the management of to enhance our professional staff and provide stormwater remained of great importance quality and effective programming to meet Tto Allegheny County. The quantity and current and emerging environmental issues in quality of stormwater continues to impact the partnership with the public and private sectors. daily lives of our residents whether at work To that end we added new staff to ensure that or at play. The practical and regulatory issues the review process is not resource limited. associated with stormwater management have We also put in place additional professional been felt at a municipal, watershed, and County expertise to augment and support our full time levels as well. Programs, such as the Municipal staff. We were able to leverage our enhanced Separate Storm Sewer Systems (MS4), the staff resources in several directions to better County wide Act 167 Phase 1 planning effort, serve Allegheny County. First we added the and the Interim Consent Orders, have demanded Chapter 105 program to our delegation more expertise, capital, and maintenance agreements in order to improve the general resources to be committed annually. Stormwater permitting process for the County. Second, we management is of central importance to the have been able to accommodate variations in Allegheny County Conservation District as we staff workload and maintain turnaround times operate at the junction of rainfall and land use. in processing an increasing number of permits Our challenge as a District has been and during 2015. Our additional resources also remains to be, in partnership with our clients, permitted our Board to endorse a change in to develop the personnel, programs, and the District’s status to a Level 3 delegation to networking to address the many challenges provide resources stewardship through sensible facing Allegheny County. We must do this as an enforcement and enhanced compliance. organization that is right sized to provide the Finally, our added staff enabled us to basic functions of our delegation agreement – advance our multiyear strategic planning effort erosion and sedimentation control plan review, to address the regional wet weather challenges construction site NPDES permitting, inspections, as it relates to regulatory program challenges. and enforcement - as well as perform what we Our strengthened efforts are still organized see as our larger mission of public service. around our four Solution Centers: Soils, In 2015 our goal as an organization was Agriculture, Watersheds, and Stormwater. Allegheny County Conservation District | 5 In the upcoming year our programs will public participation, public education, and align to support the District’s goal of reducing outreach efforts in pollution prevention. both nonpoint source pollution and the We also have a willingness to step outside quantity of stormwater entering our waterways of old boundaries-political and others- when by engaging the public through partnerships, joint efforts can yield benefits to all parties. We outreach, and education. To this end we have will pursue watershed based partnerships with invested resources in technical upgrades to our our neighboring Conservation Districts like the website in order to provide the public with a one to improve the Turtle Creek Watershed that user friendly portal with information on permits, merited a Growing Greener Grant from PADEP. grants, District events and programs. In 2016 we Another expanding relationship is with the also expect to roll out our new website which Allegheny County Parks by providing expertise in will provide greater interaction and transparency. agronomy, manure management, nutrient, and The District will build on its commitment to water quality issues as well as provide resources watershed level solutions by committing staff to address abandoned mine drainage. While and other resources to foster the Allegheny the District remains committed to supporting Watershed Alliance. However, we also see a traditional farms, we are also looking towards need for cooperative action beginning at a urban farming initiatives in partnership with local level and are committed to building solid the Food Policy Council and others active in the relationships between watershed programs urban community. and municipalities. We will continue to Our Board and staff view the upcoming commit resources towards that goal through year as one where the Allegheny County our Conservation and Leadership Innovation Conservation District expands and strengthens Program (CLIP) Grants program. its relationships with our partners in the public Our municipal, engineer, and developer and private sectors to achieve the greatest stakeholder groups remain the cornerstones benefit from economic growth balanced of our outreach programs in providing critical by environmental stewardship in service to direction and feedback to our efforts. In Allegheny County. particular, we want to engage and support our municipal partners in their regulatory mandated 6 | Allegheny County Conservation District Jan Lauer, District Manager DISTRICT MANAGER’S MESSAGE 2013 was a year of big organizational change, from the new offices to the new District Manager. 2014 was a year of finding our identity and determining where and how we could make the greatest contribution to the civic landscape. 2015 was a year of organization building to give us the platform and resources to fulfill our newly defined strategic direction. Again we turned to our partners and customers to help guide the way. HE DEVELOPMENT COMMUNITY In 2014, we started to explore the idea of asked us for two things – timeliness and establishing a new, non-profit organization with consistency. To ensure that our permit the goal of creating an umbrella under which reviews meet on-time expectations, incorporated watershed groups, individuals, and weT hired two new Resource Conservationists loosely coordinated groups could accomplish to help share the workload. We had the great their clean water related goals. In 2015, we began fortune of hiring experienced professionals, to explore the concept in a more structured both of whom had rich
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