What is a County Conservation District?
Over 50 years ago Pennsylvania state legislators recognized the need to support grassroots local conservation efforts. As a result, the PA Conservation District law was passed authorizing the creation of county conservation districts in every county, except Philadelphia. Please read about the fascinating history of Conservation Districts in the United States and Pennsylvania.

The Northampton County Conservation District, a sub-unit of state government, was founded in 1961 when a group of farmers joined together to promote the use of conservation practices to protect soil and water resources in Northampton County. Today the District performs a variety of programs ranging from reviewing erosion and sediment pollution control plans for earth distrubance activities to providing advice on starting a local watershed association. Today, farmers in the County have developed and implemented Conservation Plans, and those involved with earth disturbance (excavators, developers, etc,) have developed Erosion and Sediment Pollution Control Plans. The implementation of these plans is one of the primary ways the resouces of Northampton County are being conserved.

What is Soil Conservation?
Soil Conservation is a set of management strategies that are used to prevent soil from being eroded from the earth’s surface or becoming chemically altered by overuse. Various strategies, or best management practices (BMPs), are used by farmers, excavation contractors and others to acheive this goal.

In other words, it is the best way to make sure we have the land we need to live on.

The District serves a range of agricultural and urban interests and participates in a wide variety of resource programs. Please visit the links on the navigation bar to the left for a sampling of all we do.

Some examples of Best Management Practices around Northampton County