National Conservation District
Employees Association

District Employees Put Conservation on the Land

2006 NCDEA Regional Reports Index

Northeast Region Report

February, 2007
Tim Riley
Regional Representative
Kent Conservation District
Dover, Delaware

1,430 District Employees in Region
5 States with organized Employee Associations in Region
4 District Employee Representatives on State TLCs
5 States with organized Employee Committees in Region

Officers

• President - Tim Riley [DE]
• Vice President - Rick Mickowski [DE]
• Secretary - Kerry Rickrode [NH]
• Treasurer - Mary Currier [NH]
• Past President - Phil Griswold [NY]                     

Additionally, these Conservation District Employees from the Northeast serve on NACD Committees:

• Ed Hoxie (NY), NACD Urban, Community and Coastal Resources Committee
• Robert Dobbs (NJ), NACD Legislative Committee, and “enjoys” a host of other Committee assignments as NCDEA President

Legal Status of Regional CD Employees Association

NACDE is a non-profit organization with 501(C6) status incorporated in the State of New Jersey, and a recognized member of the Northeast Conservation Partnership.

The President of NACDE serves on the Northeast’s Regional Conservation Partnership Leadership Team.

Annual Meeting

The 2007 annual meeting will be held at the Hilton Mystic, Mystic, Connecticut from August 5 – 8, 2007 in conjunction with the 2007 NACD NE Regional Meeting.  Currently, NACDE plans to sponsor and/or be responsible for an NACDE Tour, NACDE Luncheon and Annual Meeting, and State of the States Presentations during the meeting.

In addition to the annual meeting, the NACDE Board of Directors typically holds three (3) meetings and teleconferences per year.  The meeting for this winter will be held in March, 2007 in Millbrook, NY.

Fundraising Activities

NACDE sponsored HydroCAD training sessions are currently the largest fundraiser for the NACDE.  To date training sessions have been held in Delaware, two in Massachusetts, and New York.  Total NACDE proceeds to date have eclipsed $4,300.00.  These training sessions take a large commitment from the Rockingham County Conservation District (RCCD) in New Hampshire.  Special thanks go out to District Employees Mary Currier, Edwin Minnick, and Gerald Lang of RCCD for making this a possibility.

NACDE also plans to sponsor a Sightseeing Bus Tour in conjunction with the NACD Northeast Regional Meeting, August 5 - 8, 2007 in Mystic, CT.

Other activities each state’s Employees Associations are involved with to raise funds for their Associations include:

Training and Professional Development Programs

District Employee Representatives from six (6) Northeast states attended the Conservation Partnership Leadership Conference November , 2006 in Nashville, TN.  A total of eleven (11) District Employees hailing from the Northeast states of DE, NH, NJ, NY, PA, and VT attended the Conference.

The CDEA-NH currently offers training in Microsoft Office Programs including Powerpoint, Frontpage, and Publisher.  CDEA-NH also continues to work on developing a mentoring program to offer new hires.

The NJCDEA is developing a statewide training program for District employees.

The NYSCDEA held their CDEA Annual Training Session March 7 – 10, 2006 at the Holiday Inn, 75 North Street, Auburn, New York in conjunction with the New York 2006 Water Quality Symposium.  This multi-day training included 27 different sessions focusing on Technical skills and professional development.

Other programs offered throughout the year in New York include:

• Basic Conservation Skills Workshop
• Administrative Conference
• Manager’s Forum in conjunction with NYACD Annual Meeting and training
• Regional Workshops

The DCDEA summer/fall conservation tour was a joint meeting and tour with the Pocomoke Chapter SWCS at the Delaware Center for the Inland Bays. Phil King, NRCS Soil Scientist, gave an interesting presentation about the new “Soil Data Mart” before the group broke for a tour of the center.  In addition, NRCS Assistant State Conservationist Les Stillson gave an overview of the District/NRCS relationship in Delaware and how well we partner together to get conservation on the ground.

As noted above, NACDE Hydrocad offer training opportunities for District Employees as well as funding opportunities for NACDE.

Most states in the Northeast work closely with USDA-NRCS on training and professional development programs available to Conservation District employees.

Other training opportunities are posted on the NACDE Website as they become available.

Communications

NACDE publishes a periodic newsletter: The Nor’Easter

NACDE maintains a website:  www.ne.ncdea.org.  The website consists of the Goals and Objectives, Board Minutes, News, Directory of Board of Directors, By-Laws, Nor’Easter Newsletter, Training & Career Opportunities, Strategic Plan, and Meeting Schedule for the Association.

NACDE uses an email network including batch e-mails to State Directors to maintain contact between meetings.

NACDE utilizes telephone conference calls to conduct business periodically.

Three states in the Northeast have CDEA websites:

• NH – http://nh.ncdea.org, NJ – www.njscdea.ncdea.org, NY - www.nyscdea.com

Three states have reported to publish newsletters:  DE, NJ, NY

Awards Program

At their NACDE meeting July 24, 2006 the NACDE Board awarded their 2006 Conservation District Board Member Award to David Mankamyer of the Somerset Conservation District in PA.  David has been extremely active in his community and is currently working on an innovative biomass and methane generation renewable energy project. 

The NACDE Board then awarded their 2006 Conservation District Employee-Local Award to Dan Dunmire of the Mifflin County Conservation District in PA.  Dan has been in the conservation field for over 10 years, beginning his career in his neighboring District.  He said that he’s seen many challenges but feels that if you surround yourself with good and confident people; it only helps you in the end.  He ended by saying, “he loves his job!”

While both award winners were well qualified for the NACDE awards at the Regional level, neither have National exposure/impact so the NACDE Board agreed their applications would not be forwarded on to the NCDEA Awards Committee for consideration.

States in the Region

2006 NCDEA Regional Reports Index