Who we are
The Northampton County Conservation District is one of 66 Conservation Districts statewide and nearly 3000 nationwide dedicated to conserving soil and water resources (click for Conservation District History). The Conservation District is part of county government and also a sub-unit of state government.
Over 65 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. The Northampton County Conservation District 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 Northampton County Conservation District's main goals are to promote soil conservation, maintain or improve water quality and promote environmental education. To achieve these goals, the Conservation District performs a variety of programs ranging from reviewing erosion and sediment pollution control plans for earth disturbance activities to providing advice on starting a local watershed association.
The Conservation District is led by a seven member Board of Directors. District Directors are volunteers that are nominated by an approved local organization and then appointed by Northampton County government. Their responsibilities range from policy creation to supporting efforts of district staff and their partner agencies to provide quality administrative, technical, and educational assistance to all county residents. Four members of the board are farmer directors, two are public directors and one is a representative of Northampton County Council.
Why soil conservation is important
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 excavation contractors, farmers and others to achieve this goal. So, what is the harm if a little mud washes into the stream? Excess sediments are associated with increased turbidity and reduced light penetration in the water column, as well as more long-term effects associated with habitat destruction and increased difficulty in filtering drinking water. By volume, sediment is the greatest pollutant to the surface waters of Pennsylvania.
Complaints
The District needs your help. If you see any Erosion and Sedimentation Control issues associated with construction or agricultural activities or manure management issues on farmland, please contact our front office: 610-829-6279. Do not call 102 technical staff directly. All complaints will be kept anonymous as required by State/Federal laws. NCCD will accept complaints via email, please email complaint information to northamptoncd@northamptoncd.org.
NOTE: If your complaint or issue is regarding wetlands, stream encroachments, or illegal dumping of construction debris please contact the PA Department of Environmental Protection complaint line at 1-866-255-5158 (State-wide), as NCCD does not currently have delegation authority over these areas.
Stormwater and/or flooding issues should be addressed to the associated municipality, District assistance will be provided when requested by municipality.
In the event of an emergency, call 911 or your local emergency number.
NCCD Operation Plan
NCCD Operation Plan
Greystone Building lobby is open to the public during the hours of 8AM to 4PM Monday-Friday; 2nd floor offices remain closed to the public.
Appointments via email/phone call with staff is requested. Please ring outside notification bell (mask is required).
Electronic submission are highly recommended;
however paper mailed and drop-off deliveries are being accepted
(unless other DEP submission procedures are in place).
Submissions/ Deliveries
NOTE: if you do not follow the protocol outlined below, your electronic application/resubmission will not be received or processed and may be subject to withdraw or denial per PADEP SOP.
If you have an electronic submission or resubmission, please email a PDF of your completed NCCD application (required for all initial applications and whenever information is revised) and supporting calculations for applicable fee amounts to: northamptoncd@northamptoncd.org. Based on availability and in the order received, NCCD will verify that the check amounts are completed correctly per application instructions and the NCCD fee schedule.
Once application and fees are verified, NCCD will respond to your email and provide you the contact information to submit your documents (preferred option #1 below). At that time, you should place your fee check(s) in the mail to: NCCD, 14 Gracedale Ave., Greystone Bldg., Nazareth, PA 18064.
You have 3 options for submittal:
1. Use a file management tool to provide a link to the documents per verification email provided by NCCD; NOTE: Please do not send emails directly to technical staff. Due to County email security, we do not have access to all file management tools, so please work with the staff if they are not able to open your documents, they will notify you based on availability and order received. Use of a file management tool is preferred, but if this is not possible, please keep your email attachments under 10 MB total or your email may not be received due to size restrictions. If your submission is not accessible, legible or scaled accordingly; it cannot be accepted.
2. Put your submission on a thumb drive and mail it with your fee check(s). NOTE: date received will be considered the date an NCCD staff member is able to access, retrieve and view your thumb drive.
3. Submit paper copies through mail or drop-off (NOTE: Drop-offs will occur in the lobby and will have minimal staff interaction unless a specific meeting is scheduled).
Pre-application meetings (Virtual):
Electronic request form for virtual standard pre-application meetings should be sent via email (northamptoncd@northamptoncd.org) (unless requesting expedited technical review, reference policy under Downloads tab and email District Manager at DCampbell@northamptoncounty.org for more information); all proposed meeting attendees should be included in the initial email request. Meeting will be scheduled through Zoom, Outlook invite will be sent to applicable NCCD staff and municipalities as well as the parties included in the original email request. The meeting will be considered tentative until a link to the documents to be discussed has been provided via email; the deadline for this link is 48 hrs prior to your tentatively scheduled meeting.
If the link is not received by the deadline, your meeting will be cancelled and you will need to submit a new request.
If your firm would rather use a different electronic media to hold the call, please inform Manager of this upon your initial request.
Pre-construction meetings (Virtual or In-Person upon request):
Are scheduled directly with assigned 102 staff (re: About Us page for contacts), and are preferred to be held via conference call; When virtual, staff will require a shared screen with the plans and permit during the call or a link to the documents 48 hrs. prior to the call if we do not already have the documents electronically to be able to hold the meeting; if documents are not presented or provided, the meeting will be cancelled until appropriate documents can be presented.
Inspections/Field Work:
If you would like to request an inspection, including submission of Notice of Termination to initiate a final inspection, please contact the assigned regional staff member for NPDES/Chapter 102 construction sites; Jim Clauser should be contacted for Agricultural field assistance and Nate Pritchard should be contacted for Watershed management assistance (re: About Us page for contacts). NOTE: Staff are required to observe social distancing requirements as directed by State and County guidelines.