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2019 Annual Report

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2019 Annual Report 1949 - 2019 istrict Helping people use resources wisely 2019 Annual Report 1949 - 2019 1998 1998 2007 District Conservation First Dirt, Gravel and Westmoreland Land Conservation 1972 1983 Programs Low Volume Road Trust established istrict State delegates Shared office space Erosion & Sediment Improvement Project Pollution Control responsibility for in St. Clair Way Helping people reviewing erosion Stormwater Management use resources wisely Then and Now Forestry 2019 and sediment More than 82 projects 1967 control plans Agriculture/Nutrient 1949 completed; $1.7 million County resolution Jacobs Creek Management 2019 invested 274 acres conserved establishes the Watershed project in seven Westmoreland Westmoreland is proposed – three 2019 dams and one channel 2019 2000 County communities Conservation District District reviews to reduce flooding in Barn headquarters, 2019 Pennsylvania establishes the the 9,700th plan District Conservation Scottdale and commu- recently expanded Growing Greener program Programs nities along this stream to invest in water quality Erosion & Sediment improvements. 2012 1977 1994 Pollution Control The District undertakes the First PennDOT The Surface Mining Donohoe Center, a Stormwater Management Forestry first Growing-Greener-funded mitigation project: Control and Reclamation one-stop agricultural project to improve water Cherry Creek WCCC 2019 2019 Act provides funding for and conservation Agriculture/Nutrient Jacobs Creek Management quality in Westmoreland County resolution cleaning up streams center opens to the County: $21,000 to stabilize establishes the Watershed “Phase II” and land polluted by public Watershed Restoration Dirt, Gravel and streambanks and create Integrated Water is proposed to reduce abandoned coal mines flooding in other parts Low Volume Road animal crossings on a farm 2019 Resources Plan in Mount Pleasant Township of Scottdale and East Improvement Program 4 PennDOT mitigation Huntingdon Township Landowner Reclamation projects complete, Conservation Education $840,000 invested Floodplain Management 2019 2019 This year alone, the District 2019 Stream Encroachments A larger “conservation is using $467,000 of Growing In 2019 alone, $54 million West Nile Virus campus,” with three Greener funds to improve is allocated to Pennsylvania Water Quality Monitoring and 30% of that is used buildings on eight area water quality by manag- for stream restoration acres ing stormwater in Hempfield Township, Murrysville, and Vandergrift, and by stabilizing streambanks in Latrobe 1998 1998 2007 District Conservation First Dirt, Gravel and Westmoreland Land 1972 1983 Programs Low Volume Road Trust established State delegates Shared office space Erosion & Sediment Improvement Project Pollution Control responsibility for in St. Clair Way reviewing erosion Stormwater Management and sediment Forestry 2019 More than 82 projects 1967 control plans Agriculture/Nutrient 1949 completed; $1.7 million County resolution Jacobs Creek Management 2019 invested 274 acres conserved establishes the Watershed project in seven Westmoreland Westmoreland is proposed – three 2019 dams and one channel 2019 2000 County communities Conservation District District reviews to reduce flooding in Barn headquarters, 2019 Pennsylvania establishes the the 9,700th plan District Conservation Scottdale and commu- recently expanded Growing Greener program Programs nities along this stream to invest in water quality Erosion & Sediment improvements. 2012 1977 1994 Pollution Control The District undertakes the First PennDOT The Surface Mining Donohoe Center, a Stormwater Management Forestry first Growing-Greener-funded mitigation project: Control and Reclamation one-stop agricultural project to improve water Cherry Creek WCCC 2019 2019 Act provides funding for and conservation Agriculture/Nutrient Jacobs Creek Management quality in Westmoreland County resolution cleaning up streams center opens to the County: $21,000 to stabilize establishes the Watershed “Phase II” and land polluted by public Watershed Restoration is proposed to reduce Dirt, Gravel and streambanks and create Integrated Water abandoned coal mines animal crossings on a farm Resources Plan flooding in Scottdale Low Volume Road 2019 Table of Contents and East Huntingdon Improvement Program in Mount Pleasant Township 4 PennDOT mitigation Stable Soils .............................................. p 3 Township Landowner Reclamation projects complete, Conservation Education $840,000 invested Clean Streams ......................................... p 7 Floodplain Management 2019 2019 This year alone, the District 2019 Stream Encroachments Productive Farms ..................................... p 11 A larger “conservation is using $467,000 of Growing In 2019 alone, $54 million West Nile Virus is allocated to Pennsylvania campus,” with three Greener funds to improve Healthy Forests ........................................ p 13 buildings on eight Water Quality Monitoring and 30% of that is used area water quality by manag- Sustainable Communities ......................... p 14 for stream restoration acres ing stormwater in Hempfield Township, Murrysville, and Scientific Monitoring ................................ p 17 Vandergrift, and by stabilizing Organizational Development ..................... p 20 streambanks in Latrobe Above and Beyond Map ........................... p 26-27 Dirt, Gravel and Low Volume Road Map .... p 28 1 Dear conservation friend, Since 2019 marks the 70th anniversary of our District, we thought it might be nice to take a brief look back on how conservation and the people who were willing to give it a try have made life better for all of us in Westmoreland County. Soil and farms were conservation’s first focus, and the earliest message was “plow with the contour.” Today, contour plowing is so universally accepted that it seems like simple common sense. But it wasn’t always that way. Most farmers in the 1940s and early 1950s were plowing straight up and down the many hilly slopes in our county, and the result was a tremendous amount of erosion. Asking farmers to completely change the way they plow wasn’t an easy sell, and it happened only because those early conservationists had the strength of character to be both persistent Ronald J. Rohall and persuasive. And because some local farmers were brave enough to give it a try. Board Chair As farmers saw the benefits of stabilizing their soil, contour farming began to become THE way to plow. And over the years, this one practice alone has stabilized hundreds of acres of valuable agricultural soil. Today, contour strips have been joined on the farm by an even newer way of conservation farming – no-till – that is reducing agricultural erosion even more. The story is much the same when we look back on how area streams have become clearer, how damaged lands have been restored, and how forests once nearly stripped bare to supply our growing nation with timber are now healthy. In every one of these areas, conservationists promoted new ways of thinking…willing people put them into practice…and everyone in our community reaped the benefits. Over these past 70 years, our staff, along with thousands of farmers, engineers, teachers, earthmovers, loggers, business people, foundation officers, and citizens in all walks of life have joined together to make major community conservation projects happen, as well as to Gregory M. Phillips make good conservation practices a part of their own personal, daily lives. District Manager/CEO It has been our good fortune to always have people by our side who are willing to come together in a spirit of cooperation to work for the common good. Thank you, one and all for 70 great years of conservation! Sincerely, Ronald J. Rohall Gregory M. Phillips Board Chair District Manager/CEO 2 PROGRAM ACCOMPLISHMENTS nearing completion at the end of the year, after sev- STABLE SOILS eral years of work to extend infrastructure, including public sewage, and to widen roads to the site in Sewickley Township. RESIDENTIAL DEVELOPMENT Our senior erosion control specialist met regular- fter three active years, residential develop- ly with the industrial park’s owner, the Westmoreland ment in the county slowed in 2019. County Industrial Development Corporation, and the One project that was underway in 2019 project’s contractors and engineers throughout the Awas the grading of lots for a new phase of the Victoria year to monitor progress. Highlands community in Unity Township. A little He also personally visited the site every month in more than 10 acres were disturbed for a potential 17 2019, as work progressed to unearth building foun- Upwards of 225 work-site plans were reviewed during the building lots. year by our staff to make sure that measures would be dations from the adjacent, former-Westinghouse site put in place to control erosion and sediment. Our erosion control specialist regularly inspect- and to prepare five pad-ready building parcels, each ed the site, and the contractor acted promptly to re- from 19-29 acres in size. best route for the next phase, which will replace sewage pair controls that were damaged in a summer heavy Final work to bring utilities to the $6-million site lines between Manor and Harrison City. downpour. will occur in early 2020. As this happens, and as pads are sold, our erosion control specialist will continue HIGHWAYS AND ROADS INDUSTRIAL DEVELOPMENT to be involved, monitoring earthmoving to ensure good conservation practices. Major earthmoving related to the Interstate
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