Takac applauds $510,000 grant award to Centre County Conservation District
Will fund water quality and pollution reduction goals in two local watersheds
Rep. Paul Takac February 6, 2024 | 10:03 AM
HARRISBURG, Feb. 5 – A key regional agency committed to protecting and enhancing Centre County’s natural resources was awarded a grant totaling $510,000, state Rep. Paul Takac, D-Centre, announced today. The grant was awarded by the Pennsylvania State Conservation Commission through the Conservation Excellence Grant Program.
The award to the Centre County Conservation District will be earmarked toward two projects within Centre County designed to mitigate runoff of nitrogen, phosphorus and sediment that impact the Chesapeake Bay. The Smith Farm, near Julian, will build a waste storage facility, reducing nutrient runoff into Bald Eagle Creek. The Weaver Farm, near Port Matilda, will implement measures to control barnyard runoff, enhancing water quality in the Halfmoon Creek Watershed.
“Protecting the health of our environment and ensuring continued access to clean air and water for all Pennsylvanians will always remain of the upmost importance to me,” Takac said. “This award showcases the importance of collaboration between local, state, and private entities for the benefit of Centre County and the entire Chesapeake Bay watershed.”
This grant will deliver funds to implement two agricultural best management practice projects within the Bald Eagle Creek watershed and the Halfmoon Creek Watershed. The Halfmoon Creek watershed partnership has been in place for over 15 years. The partnership has worked to install strategically placed projects that will lead to delisting of agriculturally impaired stream segments from the Clean Water Act Section 303(d) list of impaired streams. This partnership has effectively secured millions of dollars to install dozens of strategically located projects within the watershed.
This project will also support initiatives identified within the Centre County Countywide Action Plan and the Halfmoon Creek Watershed Section 319 Nonpoint Source Pollution Watershed Management Plan. Funding provided by this grant will result in the installation of another priority project within the watershed that will push the needle further toward the ultimate delisting of the watershed. Both projects identified for construction through this grant will result in significant reductions of nitrogen, phosphorus, and sediment loading to the local watersheds and groundwater with estimated reduction of 4,840 pounds of nitrogen, 140 pounds of phosphorus, and 26,440 pounds of sediment.
The Conservation Excellence Grant Program was created by Act 39 of 2019, with current funding coming in part through the Environmental Protection Agency’s Most Effective Basins-Infrastructure Investments and Jobs Act Grant Fund. The grants are structured to provide financial and technical assistance for the implementation of best management practices on agricultural operations in areas designated as priority locations by the PA Department of Environmental Protection’s Chesapeake Bay Phase 3 Watershed Implementation Plan.
More information about this round of funding through the Conservation Excellence Grant Program is available here.