Mifflin County Project Updates
Free Water Test Program Now Available
The Mifflin County Local Leadership Team, in conjunction with Penn State Extension has announced a new 
initiative to provide Mifflin County well, spring, or cistern owners to participate in a FREE water program May 12-14, 2021. Tests will be available to all those who participate in a one-hour webinar covering topics such as how to protect your water supply, why you should test your drinking water, and how to collect drinking water samples.
Participants will then be able to pick up a test kit on May 13 between 12:00 and 2:00, and drop off their sample on the May 14th during the same times. Both the pick up and drop off locations will be behind the Mifflin County Conservation District Office on at 20 Windmill Hill in Burnham.
For more information please see the program flyer Well Testing Mifflin 2021 (Final) (002)
The webinar and water tests are free but registration is required. You can register by phone or email to either the Mifflin County Extension Office at 717-248-9618 / jtt107@psu.edu – OR – the Mifflin County Conservation District 717-953-3148 /mifflinconservation@mifflinccd.com
New Visual Story Map Released: Water and Agriculture in Mifflin County: A Wealth of Resources Worth Preserving
The Mifflin County Local Leadership Committee, in cooperation with Penn State, has just released a visual story map highlighting the wealth of agricultural and water resources in Mifflin County. This visual tool tells the story of the Mifflin County’s rich water resources, its important agricultural economy, and the challenges and progress the county has made in preserving and enhancing these important assets. Note, the scroll function of this tool works best in non-Microsoft browsers such as Chrome or Firefox.
Interim Summary Report Released
The Mifflin County Local Leadership Committee released it’s Summary Report Jan21 -2 in March 2021. Despite the challenges of Covid-19, the group continued to work on it goals throughout the year to strengthen the County’s capacity and collaborations to address the water and agriculture goals that matter most.
New Fact Sheet Released: Assessing the Benefits of Double Cropping in Mifflin County PA
In its discussions to identify the most effective ways farmers can meet both their economic and water quality goals, the Mifflin County Local Leadership Team identified a criti
cal question: could livestock operations in Mifflin County, implementing double cropping be a way to achieve both high forage yields and quality in addition to improving water quality? Identification of what works, and the challenges could prove useful as an educational effort to encourage more producers to implement double cropping on their farms. This fact sheet provides the results from this pilot project with four Mifflin County farm operations.
Three dairy operations and one beef farm volunteered for an on-farm project involving soil sampling, fresh forage analyses and a fermented silage analysis. Information was collected on cover crop practices such as manure application rate and date, planting date, harvest date, and plant species. The following provides results of the pilot project. Soil tests, yield and quality are covered for the Mifflin County farms and their results compared with published research.
New Fact Sheet Released: Assessing the Benefits and Costs of Cover Cropping in PA Using a Model-Based Approach
A team of Penn State researchers, in conjunction with the Mifflin County Water for Agriculture Local Leadership Committee, has developed a new fact sheet exploring the benefits and costs of cover cropping in Pennyslvania.
This document summarizes potential benefits of utilizing cover cropping as a best management practice (BMP) for various types of dairy operations in Mifflin County, Pennsylvania. A model-based approach was used to estimate the costs to these farms and the impact on sediment and nutrient losses. While the model was developed on the basis of farm types typically found in Mifflin County, the results are applicable across much of Pennsylvania and the mid-Atlantic region.
Mifflin County Survey: Summary Results Released
The Water for Agriculture project conducted a mail survey of both agricultural and residential landowners in Mifflin County, PA. The mail survey assessed landowner values, beliefs and behaviors related to streams, rivers and groundwater. Addresses for the survey were obtained from publicly available property tax records. A sample of 500 agricultural landowners were sent surveys, and 135 responded (for a response rate of 27%). A sample of 500 residential landowners were sent surveys, and 79 responded (15.8%). These numbers are consistent with or above the national average for mail survey responses.
Why this survey?
The survey was developed by Penn State in conjunction with the Water for Agriculture program’s Mifflin County Local Leadership Team to better understand the perspectives of landowners in Mifflin County regarding ground and surface water issues. Our leadership team and its partners will use these results to inform and prioritize its activities to meet the most critical water and agricultural needs facing Mifflin County. To learn more, visit http://water4ag.psu.edu or contact Walt Whitmer at wew@psu.edu or 814-865-0468.
Mifflin County Conservation District Releases Updated Watershed Implementation Plan for the Upper Kishacoquillas Creek
In February 2020, the Mifflin County Conservation District released and updated Upper Kishocoquillas Creek Watershed Implementation Plan – A Community Watershed Restoration Strategy. Initially undertaken in 2016 – and now with additional revisions, data, public input and other updates – the plan provides for a comprehensive picture of the characteristics, issues, goals, strategies, and recommendations for a community-wide approach to watershed restoration in the Upper Kish.
For additional information contact Dan Dunmire, Mifflin County Conservation District, 20 Windmill Hill #4, Burnham PA 17009. 717-953-3138. ddunmire@mifflinccd.com www.mifflinccd.com/