Welcome to our "Here's the Dirt" page, featuring monthly staff-written newsletter articles alongside District news, including staff announcements, program highlights, and other updates from the Pike County Conservation District. Explore the latest stories and information to stay connected with our work and community efforts throughout the county.
Stormwater Management for Residential Properties
Rainstorms happen all the time and are just a part of the water cycle. The stormwater will flow over land to bodies of water or infiltrate into the ground to replenish the water table. Though stormwater runoff is a necessary part of the water cycle, it can also cause issues for homeowners, not that anyone tells you to think about the water cycle when buying a house. Some of these…
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Open for Public Participation! – The Study of Microplastics in Pike County Waters
Have you heard about microplastics?! Are you curious about whether or not your local stream might contain some of these plastic fragments? We want YOU to help us with this grant-funded study by submitting a stream to be considered as a sample site at the link below. Learn More and Submit a Stream for Consideration Here!
Sustainable Packaging Options Are Growing
When at the grocery store, can you check out and leave plastic-free? It would be quite the challenge. Bringing along reusable shopping bags to avoid disposable plastic ones is a common and positive sustainable practice, but what about the plastic on the shelves and in our carts? Plastic is wrapped around heads of lettuce, keeps milk and juices in bottles, holds cereal, crackers, chips, and more inside bags, and contains…
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How to Properly Maintain Your On-lot Septic System
When you flush your toilet or wash dishes in the sink, where does all that water and extra waste go? In more densely developed urban areas, household wastewater is commonly piped off-site to a centralized sewage treatment plant. However, in rural areas with more widely scattered residential development, the infrastructure required for centralized systems is often impractical and financially prohibitive. As a result, like much of rural Pennsylvania, a…
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Harmful Algal Blooms: What Are They and What Can We Do?
Algae are a natural and important part of aquatic ecosystems. Like plants, algae have the ability to photosynthesize and produce oxygen in their aquatic environments where it is normally very limited. Algal blooms occur when these different species of algae begin to grow seemingly out of control, causing disruption to the ecosystem and usually changing the appearance of the water. Sometimes, these blooms release toxins harmful to humans and animals,…
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Conservation at Home
The District’s mission centers around “conserving natural resources,” but this is a very broad and often daunting goal. There are many, many “natural resources,” including soil, surface waters like ponds and streams, groundwater, plants, animals, microorganisms like bacteria, and more! In a changing and developing world, many of these natural resources are experiencing stress from a variety of interconnected factors like habitat loss, climate change, and invasive species, among others.…
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Invasive Plants in Pennsylvania
Invasive non-native plants are a hot topic as of late. According to the PA Department of Conservation and Natural Resources (DCNR), about 37% of the roughly 3,400 species of plants in PA are non-native to the state. Many cultivated plants arrived here deliberately or accidentally by the earliest European settlers or by hitching a ride through the ballast water of ships, airplane cargo holds, packing material, or people’s shoes. Most…
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Pike County Ponds!
Do you or someone you know manage a pond? Just like the streams that the District regularly monitors, ponds are an important resource in our area that are enjoyed by many residents, landowners, and visitors. Ponds can be used for a variety of things depending on their size. For example, many people use ponds for fishing and boating, but they can also be used for swimming or aesthetic enjoyment.…
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What is Envirothon?
As we strive to be leaders in conservation here at the District, we know that part of that entails engaging our community’s youth in conservation and equipping them with the skills they need to become the leaders of the future. Extending an opportunity for the kids to spend a day outside with friends and professional role models in the environmental sciences has always been an effective way to foster these…
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Controlling Erosion and Sediment with Rock Construction Entrances
An active construction site can seem like quite a bit of activity from afar. A good construction project though is carefully designed and executed, which includes minimizing environmental impact. We will see how important it is for construction projects to manage soil when performing earthmoving operations like excavating trenches and placing fill. These activities should state how the site will control for the possibility of erosion (the process by which…
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