First State RC&D Hosts 2019 Mid-Atlantic RC&D Conference in Wilmington, DE
E.D. Robinson Urban Farm
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The First State RC&D Council hosted the 2019 regional conference at the Hyatt Place hotel located on along the riverfront walk in Wilmington, Delaware. Eighteen people registered for the conference representing councils from the states of Delaware, Maryland, New Jersey, New York, Rhode Island and West Virginia.
Delaware USDA NRCS State Conservationist Kacey Taylor welcomed everyone to the First State and talked about the outstanding conservation partnership in Delaware. Rick Mickowski, President of First State RC&D also provided a welcome. Pat Pinnell, National RC&D Secretary and Lynn Sprague from North Carolina, provided a national perspective. Jayme Arthurs, Assistant State Conservationist for Programs with Delaware NRCS provided an overview of how to partner with NRCS using Cooperative and Contractual agreements.
Jessica Bell, Vice President of Marketing Operations at Epic Marketing, provided an overview of the top social media platforms that RC&D Councils can use to promote their work. *Click here to see the the full Social Media Marketing presentation.
The afternoon project tour began with a visit to the E. D. Robinson Urban Farm. This was the first urban agriculture project initiated by the First State RC&D Council before being turned over to the Delaware Center for Horticulture. The garden features a section for a community garden while the remainder of the space is used as an agricultural production garden.
Las Aspira Academy in Wilmington, DE
The Village of Fox Meadows featured invasive species management and the establishment of wildflower/pollinator meadows in the community open space. The final site at Las Aspira Academy featured a rain garden, pollinator plantings around a stormwater pond, composting area, and a children’s garden.
The silent auction featured many interesting items and raised $272.00 for the host of the next regional conference to use towards meeting expenses.
Lynn Sprague, Southwest North Carolina RC&D
On Tuesday morning, Lynn Sprague talked about different RC&D opportunities with the U. S. Forest Service and shared the journey his Council in North Carolina has taken over the past few years to have a place at the table in the Conservation Partnership. He talked about the Firewise Program, and Pollinator Habitat. Then, several Council’s shared success stories via Power Point presentations and verbal reports. The meeting closed out with the business meeting.