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Blair County

Bellwood-Antis School District, Grant Amount:  $5,000

Project Title:  Beyond the Schoolhouse Initiative

Funding Source: LWVPA-CEF WREN Project, Watershed Protection Project 2011-2012

Contact:  Don Wagner, 814-742-2273      Email: dww@blkd.k12.pa.us

Partners: Natural Biodiversity, Blair Conservation District, Antis Township, Altoona Water Authority, PTO, Mr. William Harshman

Focus: Bellwood-Antis students will become Environmental Ambassadors of the district’s Outdoor Classroom  that will feature stormwater best management practice demonstration areas including streamside buffers, rain gardens, rain barrels, pollinator gardens, and cover crops for gardens.   The partners will host an Open House of the Outdoor Classroom to educate residents about how they can help protect neighborhood streams and ponds from polluted runoff, and help reduce flooding, create wildlife habitat, recharge groundwater, and conserve water resources. The partners and students will develop interpretive signage with QR code to offer a multimedia experience and self- guided tours linked to student- created videos, podcasts, and web pages, with access by iPod Touches and smart phones. A Riparian Buffer Restoration Day at a township park will be conducted featuring sessions by township supervisors, the water authority, and students highlighting how changes in land use can protect local water quality.  

Blair County Conservation District, Grant Amount: $3,200

Project Title: Nutrient Trade/Cover Crop Conference

Funded by: LWVPA-CEF WREN Project, Watershed Protection Project 2010-2011

Area to be protected: Little Juniata River, Chesapeake Bay

Partners:  Martinsburg Borough, Martinsburg Area Water Authority, PA Agricultural Ombudsman Program, PA No-Till Alliance, Southern Allegheny RC&D, Senator Eichelberger.

Focus: The Project will educate and motivate community stakeholders throughout a four county region (Blair, Bedford, Huntingdon, Fulton) to use cover crops and other agricultural best management practices to reduce nitrates, sediment, and nutrient risks to local drinking water resources.  A major activity will be a Nutrient Trade/Cover Crop Conference in December 2010 for the producers who manage the land, and local government officials who make land/water decisions to share the latest on agricultural best management practices to reduce nitrates, sediment and nutrient risks to local drinking water. Save the Date flyer, Survey. News Release. Agenda. Agenda as pdf. The partnership will also conduct community workshops on water-friendly farming practices, (Municipal Lunch and Learn , Cover Crop Workshop) and produce a two-year Pennsylvania Conservation Planner offering seasonal tips on nutrient management and agronomy that are beneficial to local water quality. 

Contact:   Beth  Futrick, 814-696-0877, ext 5, bfutrick@blairconservationdistrict.org

Blair County Conservation District

Funded by: LWVPA-CEF WREN Project, Source Water Protection Project 2007-2008
Project Title: Blair County Water Festival

Area to be protected: Frankstown Branch of the Juniata River

Partner: Altoona City Authority

Focus: hold the Blair County Water Festival in May 2008, hold "The Wonder of Water" poster contest in local schools, and make presentations to students about the importance of protecting the Frankstown Branch of the Juniata River, the source water for the county's drinking water supply. 

Grant: $4,700

Contact:  Donna Fisher, 814-696-0877, dfisher@blairconservationdistrict.org

Altoona City Authority

Funded by: LWVPA-CEF WREN Project, Source Water Protection Project 2006-2007
Project Title: Education of Blair County Water User and Stewards
Area to be protected:Juniata River Watershed

Partner: Blair County Conservation District

Focus: present a Blair County Water Festival in May 2007, visit 8 elementary schools and participate in four Altoona Curve Baseball School Kids’ Days with an educational display promoting source water protection awareness and water conservation in the Juniata River watershed.

County served:  Blair

Grant: $5,000

Contact: Tobias Nagle, acalab1@atlanticbbn.net. 

Juniata College on behalf of the Juniata Clean Water Partnership

Funded by: LWVPA-CEF WREN Project, Watershed Protection Project 2002-2003
Project Title: Development of the Juniata Watershed Resource Center
Area(s) to be protected: Juniata River Watershed
Partner(s): Allegheny Ridge Corp, Bedford, Fulton, Juniata, Huntingdon, Mifflin, Perry and Blair Co Conservation Districts, Bedford, Blair, Fulton, Huntingdon, Juniata, Mifflin Co Planning Offices, Canaan Valley Institute, Chesapeake Bay Foundation, Juniata College, Mid-State and Southern Alleghenies Resource Conservation & Development Councils, Penn State Coop Extention (Mifflin/Juniata), Southern Alleghenies Conservancy, Tri-County Regional Planning Corp, Westsylvania Heritage Corp, & Western PA Watershed Protection Program
Focus: develop a Water Resource Center at Juniata College
Counties served: Bedford, Blair, Cambria, Centre, Fulton, Franklin, Huntingdon, Juniata, Mifflin, Perry Snyder, Somerset County

Grant: $2,000
Contact: Stephanie Odenwald, 814-627-5391, email: sodenwald@jcwp.org

Bob's Creek Stream Guardians (Sub-Committee of Pavia Sportsmen)

Funded by: LWVPA-CEF WREN Project, Watershed Protection Project 2002-2003
Project Title: Bob's Creek Watershed Citizen Education Project
Area(s) to be protected: Bob's Creek Watershed
Partner(s): Bob's Creek Stream Guardians (Sub-Committee of Pavia Sportsmen), Bedford County Conservation District, Juniata Clean Water Partnership, Blue Knob State Park, PA CleanWays of Bedford County & Fort Bedford Chapter of Trout Unlimited
Focus: hold public meetings and develop a volunteer monitoring program
Counties served: Bedford, Blair, and Cambria County Grant: $2,700
Contact: Chris Ickes, 814-239-5367, email: n/a

The Antis Township Action Committee

Funded by: LWVPA-CEF WREN Project, Drinking Water Source Water Protection Project 2002-2003
Project Title: Antis Region Groundwater Protection Project
Area(s) to be protected: the Little Juniata River
Partner(s): The Antis Township Action Committee, Antis Township, Bellwood-Antis Community Trust, Juniata River Clean Water Partnership, Friends of Sinking Valley & Bellwood-Antis Public Library
Focus: continue outreach activities for the Bellwood Borough Authority and Bellmeade Civic Water Supplier
Counties served: Blair County Grant: $5,000
Contact: John Frederick, 814-742-7777, email: jfrederick@proprecycles.org

Antis Township recognized as a Groundwater Guardian Community in 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001
Explanation of Groundwater Guardian Award

Community Profile (for Antis Township): http://www.groundwater.org/active/community.asp?id120

Contact: John Frederick
Antis Township Action Committee
PO Box 222
Bellwood, PA 16617
Phone: 814-742-7777 Fax: 814-742-8838
Email: jfrederick@proprecycles.org
Website: http://bellwood-antis.net

Septic Tanks and Summer Lawns: How Rural Homeowners can Protect their Wells and Watersheds

Area(s) to be protected: Little Juniata and Mary Ann's Creek, Canoe Lake

Funded by: LWVPA-CEF WREN Project - Watershed Education for Pollution Prevention Projects - 2000

Partners:
Fort Roberdeau Site, Canoe Creek State Park, Friends of Sinking Valley, Altoona Soft Water, and Blair Co. Conservation District

Focus:
The coalition will offer public education programs addressing septic tank management, sinkhole dumping, and use of lawn care chemicals. Programs will consist of bacterial and nitrate testing of well water and written educational materials.

Grant: $768

Contact: Jody Wallace, 814.684.2425,
email: jwaljshiel@aol.com

Antis Township Action Committee
Funded by LWVPA-CEF WREN Project - Wellhead Protection and Drinking Water Education - 1998

Focus: This education project focused on producing a series of newsletters targeting residents and local officials that could illustrate three types of connections: between surface water protection and groundwater contamination; between earth moving activities and sedimentation and turbidity; and between surface water retention/flooding and groundwater recharge.

Accomplishments: Produced a series of three educational newsletters directed at local officials plus one composite newsletter directed at a general audience. Distribution included mailings of over 100 each of the government officials' newsletters and over 3,000 copies of the composite newsletter. The geographic scope of the project was expanded to include adjacent municipalities. Information on groundwater protection was part of a display at the Bellwood-Antis Library and resulted in distribution of kids' activity sheets, more newsletters, a number of Groundwater: A Primer for Pennsylvanians, and DEP Stream Releaf Booklets.

Grant: $3,000

Contact:
John Frederick, 814-695-7543
RD 2, Box 266B
Tyrone, PA 16686

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