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Register Today for POWR's Upcoming Webinar!
PA Fertilizer Law and Homeowner Lawn Care For Healthy Watersheds
Wednesday, September 11, 2024 12:00 - 1:00 PM
Pennsylvania’s Fertilizer Law was updated in July of 2022 in part to help protect local streams and rivers. But many homeowners still don’t know about it and how it applies to them. Join POWR as we host Denise Uzupis, Natural Resource Program Specialist with the PA Department of Agriculture, to learn more about the law, to whom it applies, and how you can help spread the word about better lawn management for improved water quality!
As critical community outreach and education volunteers, you help people understand how their actions affect water quality. This webinar will provide you with additional knowledge and resources you can use and share with others to ensure we are all doing our part to keep pollution out of local waterways.
This webinar is free, but registration is required in order to receive the Zoom link. Deadline to register is 12 noon on September 10, 2024.
Thanks for attending and making this event a success!
Southeast Region Workshop and Municipal BMP Project Tour in Caln Township
Participants representing local and regional watershed organizations, the Master Watershed Steward Program, and county and municipal agencies toured several watershed and habitat restoration projects and other BMPs that have recently been implemented on municipal property with the help of many local partners!
Another great event! Thank you for attending:
Southcentral Region Workshop and Project Tours Chambersburg and Waynesboro, PAWatershed organization leaders, Master Watershed Stewards, and others toured an innovative stormwater management project in Chambersburg and then traveled a few miles south for an exclusive tour of the new Buttonwood Nature Center in Waynesboro, PA.
Exploring Climate Resilience Messaging in Pennsylvania: A Communication Best Practices Workshop RECORDING AVAILABLE
Click HERE for a recording of the Climate Resiliency Communications workshop to learn more about the connections between watershed restoration and conservation and strengthening community resilience to climate change.
This workshop presents communication and messaging tips, tools, and resources you can use right away!
It also includes:
- Facts around how climate change is impacting Pennsylvania,
- Best practices for climate change communications tailored to your audiences,
- Case studies on community resiliency from across our state, and
- Advocating for local actions that support community resiliency.
After you watch it, please complete the very short EVALUATION survey.
Find the guide to resources and best practices HERE
Recordings Available for Past Webinars
By now you are likely aware of the critical role that riparian, or streamside, buffers play in improving and maintaining high quality waters in our rivers and streams. Yet, this is only part of the story.
Meadows and forests adjacent to waterways also serve as important habitat and migration corridors for many of Pennsylvania’s native land (and air) based animals! Knowing and understanding these additional benefits can help you engage and inspire more people in your community by tapping into the issues and creatures they may care most about.
Contact Tmacarthur@pecpa.org for a recording of this webinar where staff of the PA Game Commission and volunteers of Bird Town Pennsylvania shared their expert knowledge about mammal and bird species that use these habitats to feed, breed and raise young, take cover from predators, and migrate seasonally from their summer to winter homes.
If you missed this presentation on volunteer management best practices including volunteer engagement methods, best online tools for tracking time and activities, volunteer coordinator job descriptions, and why tracking volunteer participation matters for donors and stakeholders, contact tmacarthur@pecpa.org to request the recording.
Missed the presentation about managing the fast-growing, pervasive, and invasive Japanese Knotweed using goats?
Contact tmacarthur@pecpa.org to request a link to the recording.
POWR hosted staff of Resource Media to answer your questions about Instagram and help you get started using it.
To request a link to the recoding, contact tmacarthur@pecpa.org
POWR hosted Brenda Costa, Executive Director of the French Creek Valley Conservancy for a Lunch and Learn webinar.
Brenda shared outreach and marketing tips, ideas, and tools that can be used and applied by any organization to more effectively engage new and existing members, volunteers, and donors.
Not only do organizations benefit from increased public support, but our waterways and watersheds do, too.
What can effective, targeted, creative marketing and outreach do for you? Listen to the recording and find out!
Please email tmacarthur@pecpa.org
POWR hosted this Conversation Café about efforts and challenges related to sharing water quality data in a meaningful and useful way with local government officials. Contact Tmacarthur@pecpa.org for the recording if you missed it.
Hear the story of a watershed organization’s journey through the ups and downs of the non profit life cycle to a place of rediscovery and impact. Email tmacarthur@pecpa.org for a link to the recording.
Learn about the role and importance of Pennsylvania’s forest and wood products industry in implementing sustainable forest management practices to maintain healthy watersheds and ecosystems. Working forests are an important part of Pennsylvania’s diverse economy, and with nearly 17 million acres of public and private forestlands, efforts to manage for a continuous supply of wood while also ensuring clean air and water, high quality wildlife habitat, and increased carbon storage are critical.
Contact tmacarthur@pecpa.org for a link to the recording.
Creating Stronger Connections: A Communication Best Practices Workshop was an interactive session on the art of crafting purposeful communication objectives and building lasting stakeholder relationships. Explore best practices for media relations, event communication, and execution. You can watch the recording to learn how to tailor environmental messages to resonate with diverse audiences. You’ll still get a set of informational toolkits, courtesy of Green Fin Studio, empowering you to host impactful and engaging events!
As always, contact Tali MacArthur for a link to the recording.
The CREATE Resilience Research and Community Learning Hub was created to help foster communities that are ready, responsive, resilient, and empowered in the face of changing conditions and environmental hazards.
During this webinar you will learn what makes a community better able to identify vulnerabilities and prepare for, adapt to, and recover from climate related impacts and other hazards. You will also gain access to digital resources for resiliency planning that you can use and share with other leaders in your community, including key local government decision-makers. Click HERE for the recording
Resources and Links from the Conversation Café: A peer learning opportunity on meeting the challenges of local government engagement
During the Café attendees had the opportunity to hear and share a current experience, challenge or opportunity related to engaging with state or local government officials, or with a policy, plan, or initiative. Participants asked questions and shared advice, ideas, and resources. Topics discussed included working collaboratively with Bird Town PA, understanding the impacts and adverse affects of light pollution and how to minimize them, effectively (and patiently) introducing council to the idea of an EAC, and much more.
Click HERE for links to many resources, articles, ordinances, and a documentary about climate change created by one of the café attendees.
That's a Wrap! 2022 Regional Workshop for Watershed Organization Leaders and Volunteers Have Been Completed.
Thank you to all of you who attended a watershed workshop in your region and to all who volunteered time to present and share resources. Below you will find PDFs of many of the presentations- whether you want to review content you already heard or see what you missed, if you were unable to attend.
Again, we thank our workshop supporters: 
and 
A Brief Introduction to Continuous Instream Monitoring in the Susquehanna River Basin: Click HERE
Stream and Floodplain Restoration in Bull Run Watershed: Click HERE
Pennsylvania DEP’s Environmental Justice Policy: Click HERE
National Fish and Wildlife Foundation Funding Programs: Click HERE
Successes, Impacts, and Opportunities of the Allegheny WINs: Click HERE
Erosion and Sediment Control/Water Encroachment: Click HERE
Thank you for attending the 2021
Statewide Watershed Conference
Watershed Connections:
Adaptability, Resiliency, and Innovation
You can still watch recorded sessions on Facebook
Featured conference image is a photo courtesy of Chesapeake Bay Program.
Copies of the full program with session descriptions and speaker bios can be purchased for $5 each. Contact Tali MacArthur to request that a copy be mailed to you.
POWR thanks these Sponsors:
Reception and Luncheon Sponsor: Pennsylvania American Water
Watershed Leader: PA Environment Digest
Watershed Advocate: Appalachian Region Independent Power Producers Association (ARIPPA), ARM Group LLC, BEG Group LLC, Chesapeake Legal Alliance, Ernst Conservation Seeds, Susquehanna River Basin Commission, Ecotone Ecological Restoration
Carbon Offset/Sustainability: American Dairy Association North East
Nonprofit Friend: American Rivers, Keep Pennsylvania Beautiful, Stroud Water Research Center, Trout Unlimited, Middle Susquehanna RIVERKEEPER, and Lower Susquehanna RIVERKEEPER
We would also like to thank our supporters: The Pennsylvania Departments of Conservation and Natural Resources and Environmental Protection, the Campbell Foundation, and the Foundation for Pennsylvania Watersheds.
You also can still access many of the presentations from POWR’s 2019 conference
POWR’s Training and Learning Webinars
Throughout the year, POWR hosts webinars at lunch or in the early evening on a topic of interest to CWOs. To date these have included presentations on geology, volunteer management, water quality reports, the stream redesignation process, river histories, conservation tools, POWR’s insurance program, and more.
Missed one of our webinars? Watch the recording on POWR’s YouTube channel. Videos are “unlisted,” so please click on the titles below to access the recorded webinar.
Volunteer Motivations, Management, Recruitment, and Retention
Connecting River Histories to Current Conservation Efforts
Stream Redesignation Evaluations and Water Quality Designations
Attracting Media Coverage for Your Activities and Initiatives
Fundamentals of Drinking Water for Watershed Organizations
Integrated Water Quality Report and Mapping Application Webinar 2019
Databases for Watershed Group Volunteer and Member Management
Conservation Opportunity Area Tool Webinar
POWR's General Liability Insurance Program
Linking Stream Hydrology/Geomorphology to Restoration
POWR’s 2020 Regional Workshops
POWR has wrapped up Regional Workshops for 2020. Thank you for joining us!
