PROJECTS
The Conservation District partners with many other governmental and community groups to carry out projects designed to:
- Educate the public on natural resource issues
- Improve personal responsibility for environmental improvement
- Promote an ethic of environmental stewardship among people of all ages
BIRD HABITAT: NESTS & FEEDERS:
-- Help our friends the bluebirds find a nesting site by putting nest boxes on your property. Here is a pattern for making an inexpensive nest box from a cedar fence board.
-- Feed our feathered friends this winter with suet. Here are some recipes for making your own suet cakes.
-- Contact the Conservation District to find out how you can become a citizen scientist by observing birds.
We’ve all seen the problems stormwater runoff can cause here in York County, from flooded roads and yards, to washing litter and pollutants into our rivers and lakes. It is a problem we all share, but also one that we can fix with a little team work and some green thinking. 1,000 Rain Gardens for York County was launched in 2011 to help property owners learn how to plant a rain garden to intercept storm water runoff to rivers. Rain gardens can be a fun and attractive way to protect our water resources.
What are Rain Gardens?
A rain garden is a shallow depression in the ground that captures runoff from your driveway or roof and allows it to soak into the ground instead of running across roads and carrying pollutants to a drainage ditch or storm drain, ultimately reaching a stream, lake or river. Plants and soil work together to absorb and filter out pollutants and return cleaner water to the ground and waterways.
What are the benefits of a Rain Garden?
• Less flooding of yards and roadways
• Less erosion of banks and roadsides from rushing water
• Provide habitat for bees, birds and butterflies
• A way to manage low areas on your property where rain water naturally accumulates
• Cleaner lakes and rivers, which are a source of drinking water for municipal water systems
• Provides another beautiful element to your landscape
• Recharges groundwater rather than diverting water to storm drains
• Educational tool for teaching about water quality and conservation
See below for some of the rain gardens in our community.
BE A CoCoRaHS OBSERVER
CoCoRaHS stands for the Community Collaborative Rain, Hail & Snow network. It is a unique, non-profit, community-based network of volunteers working together to measure and map precipitation (rain, snow and hail). This information is important for flood and drought monitoring, management of natural resources, forecasting hydropower, and many other agriculture and water resource management applications. The CoCoRaHS goal is to have one observer every 36 square miles in South Carolina. Everyone can help - young and old and in between. Here are the basic requirements for being a CoCoRaHS weather observer...
(1) Have access to the internet & the ability to browse the CoCoRaHS web site to enter your daily precipitation data.
(2) Have an official-type CoCoRaHS rain gauge.
(3) Have a good site on your property with good exposure, as free of trees and obstructions as possible, where you can place the rain gauge about five feet off the ground.
(4) Take a training course offered by the Conservation District or the online CoCoRaHS observer training course.
(5) Be willing to enter your precipitation data on a daily basis between 6 AM - 9AM through the CoCoRaHS internet web site.
How to Get Started:
-Go to this link to complete the application to join:
http://www.cocorahs.org/Application.aspx
-On the application it will ask your training preference, you can select "Train Online".
-You can take the online training while you wait for your application to be processed.
-The national coordinators will assign you a station name and send you an email confirmation.
-For more information or to order an official CoCoRaHS rain gauge, visit http://www.cocorahs.org/
