Recognized by both the Pennsylvania State House and Senate, April 28th through May 4th 2024 Pennsylvania will be celebrating Conservation District week across the state.  Pennsylvania state legislators recognize the need to support grass-roots conservation efforts in 2945 and passed the Conservation District Law which Conservation Districts.  Every county except Philadelphia has a Conservation District office.  We thank Governor Josh Shapiro, Senator Scott Hutchinson and Representative R. Lee James for their support of Conservation Districts in the Pennsylvania Budget.

The Venango Conservation District (VCD) was established in 1961.  Over the years our board of directors and staff have worked hard to provide natural resource conservation services through many stewardship programs.  In the beginning, the board of directors worked with farmers to review and approve conservation plans.  Our first staff member was a “Gypsy Moth” Program Technician.  They administered the program to help landowners manage infestations of the invasive species.  Over the years the Venango Conservation District has administered the DEP Chapters 102 and 105 Permitting programs, the West Nile Virus program the Watershed Specialist program, the Dirt Gravel and Low Volume Roads program, the Chapter 38 Nutrient Management and Chapter 91 Manure Management Program and many environmental education initiatives. 

This week, the Venango Conservation District celebrates our accomplishments in the past year.  We welcomed new staff members to the Chapters 102 and 105 Permitting programs, the Dirt Gravel and Low Volume Road program, the Watershed Specialist position and Administrative Secretary position.  We completed projects that constructed Agricultural Best Management Practices on three operations in Venango County.  We provided funding and technical assistance to six municipalities to construct practices to build better roadways that reduce sediment pollution to local streams.  We assisted landowners with permitting for earth disturbance at construction projects.  We provided several educational events to promote natural resource conservation awareness to both youth and adult audiences.
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In 2024, we will continue to provide technical assistance, education and funding to support landowners in Venango County with their natural resource conservation needs.  Find out more about the work we are doing by visiting our website at www.venangocd.org.

By HELEN FIELDING, The Derrick and The News-Herald
Published April 20, 2024 - click here for article

About 60 area students circled through the pavilions of the Crosby Beach area on a cloudy day at Two Mile Run County Park on Friday, answering questions about trees, birds, soils, bugs and other natural topics.

The 2024 Venango County Envirothon, put on by the Venango Conservation District, brought 12 teams of about five students each from Cranberry, Oil City, Rocky Grove, and Venango Catholic high schools to test their knowledge on topics including wildlife, forestry, soils and land use, aquatic ecology, and current environmental issues, which this year was the issue of renewable energy.

The annual natural resources competition is open to schools and students throughout the county, and Conservation District watershed specialist Bailey Kozalla, who coordinated this year’s Envirothon, said its goal is to expose students to the natural world and the issues it faces, “to spark that next generation of environmental stewards,” she said.

In addition to teaching environmental facts, the goal of the program is also to instill an understanding of the ecological and community factors involved in environmental decisions and actions, particularly in areas such as water quality, ecosystems, solid waste management and land use, according to materials provided by the Venango Conservation District.

The Tunnel Rats team from Cranberry High School took top honors in Friday’s competition, and they will be moving on to the state-level Envirothon to compete against other county winners at Camp Mount Luther in Mifflinburg on May 22.

Team members were juniors Dane Wenner and Kelsey Hanna and sophomores Jadyn Shumaker, Mariner Perry and Dalton Wenner.

The Dam Woodcocks team from Rocky Grove High School came in second place, and Oil City Team One took third place.

A training day for the competition was held in March, and representatives of several agencies led the stations at the training day and at Friday’s competition.

Teachers and local natural resources professionals instruct the students prior to the testing day, although Venango County state game warden Samuel Terwilliger explained that testing-station leaders aren’t allowed to strictly teach “to the test,” and teams have to do their own learning before test day with the help of resources from the Pennsylvania Envirothon.

Jane Burkett, agricultural conservation technician for the Conservation District, said schools can do the program a few different ways, sometimes as an elective, sometimes as an after-school program, and sometimes simply as a student-led endeavor coordinated by teachers.

The Conservation District and other natural resource agencies are there as a resource to help the students learn, and some schools will invite representatives of the agencies to do educational programs prior to the testing day.

“The state (Association for Conservation Districts) gave us a bin full of tracks and scat and pelts, so we can give those to teachers to help with learning,” Burkett said. “This past year, they gave us soil samples and soil profiles, and a stuffed trout, so the students can see what a brook trout looks like.”

Kozalla said she did Envirothon when she was in high school, and for many of her fellow competitors who enjoyed hunting and fishing, “it really gave them a place to shine with the knowledge they’d gathered through that,” she said.

“I was one of those kids that wasn’t into organized sports, and Envirothon was a place where I could show my stuff. And for the kids who didn’t grow up with it, it’s a chance for them to get exposed to it.”

The competition originated in Pennsylvania in 1979 in the Fulton, Luzerne and Schuylkill conservation districts, then called “Envirolympics,” and Envirothon has since spread across the state and to more than 45 states, eight Canadian provinces and territories, and two Chinese provinces.

Venango County has been participating for decades.

“Bailey’s done a really good job building back Envirothon back up after COVID,” said Conservation District manager Lisette Lane. “It lost quite a bit of interest during COVID.”

Confidence, study time and results varied from team to team on Friday, but there was one thing everyone had in common. When asked by Kozalla prior to the awards ceremony whether they had a good time, a resounding “Yeah!” came from the assembled students in the park office.

“It’s fun, very fun,” said senior Hailey Gunnery, a member of Rocky Grove’s Leap Frogs team. “I love being able to be outside, learning about all of the nature stuff and issues facing the world, and being with friends.”

The Venango Conservation District is seeking applications for our newly opened Administrative Secretary position.  The duties of the Administrative Secretary will be primarily clerical, financial, bookkeeping and administrative in nature as they relate to the mission of the Venango Conservation District.  The Administrative Secretary will provide support for the Board of Directors and staff and will be under the direct supervision of the District Manager.

To learn more, click the links below and contact Lisette Lane, District Manager by phone at 814-676-2832 x6 or by email at [email protected].

click here to read the full Administrative Secretary Job Description

click here to download the Venango Conservation District Job Application