Plan Developments Toward Final Certification
In order to have a nutrient management plan development count towards final certification a plan must be submitted to the local county Conservation District in which the operation is located. After all needed corrections have been completed to the nutrient management plan, the local county Conservation District board will approve the plan and send an approval letter to the farmer and to the plan writer.
The nutrient management plan approval letter must be sent to Mike Aucoin, Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture, 2301 North Cameron Street, Room 311, Harrisburg, PA 17110-9408.
When the nutrient management plan approval letter has been received, the Department will record the plan development in PAPLANTS and give the specialist credit for a developed plan.
Plan Reviews Toward Final Certification
A Public Review Specialist must write one (1) approved Act 38 nutrient management plan and review two (2) nutrient management plans to fulfill requirements for final certification. A Public Dual Specialist must write two (2) approved Act 38 nutrient management plans and review two (2) plans.
If you are reviewing an Act 38 plan and are going to submit the plan for evaluation by our staff to count toward your final certification requirements, you must have our evaluation of your review completed prior to corresponding your list of concerns to the plan author or formally recommending the submitted plan for approval or disapproval to the District Board.
Nutrient management plans reviewed for credit toward final certification in the Public category must be of sufficient complexity to demonstrate your competency in reviewing plans of a diversified nature. A simple plan exporting all manure to a broker does not demonstrate your ability to review crop planning and manure allocation in Appendix 4 or Nutrient Balance Sheets, review the P Index evaluation, or to complete a site evaluation of manure storages, animal concentration areas, and stormwater runoff in crop fields. All plans reviewed must adhere to a minimum complexity that contains manure generation (Appendix 3), field application of manure calculations and nutrient balances (Appendix 4 or NBSs).
When a plan is submitted for review, the person wishing to get credit towards their certification for a review must perform the administrative review as directed (within the 10 day time frame) and if the plan is administratively complete, email or send a hard copy of the plan with colored maps to Mark Jackson as soon as possible (preferably the same day the administrative review is performed). The reviewer can then perform their technical review and site visit while the SCC reviews the plan in Harrisburg.
When the reviewer finishes their technical review (preferably within 30 days) they must email their comments, deficiencies and concerns to Mark Jackson, so that SCC can compare them with the Commission's summary of plan deficiencies. If this plan is a CAFO and DEP makes comments on the plan within their allotted 30 day review timeframe, send those comments to Mark Jackson as soon as you receive them. The SCC will prepare and submit responses to the reviewer. When that is received, then and only then, can the reviewer send their concerns, comments and deficiencies to the plan writer to address.
If the plan is not administratively complete, the reviewer must develop an appropriate letter to inform the planner of the deficient items which make their submission administratively incomplete and send the letter to the farmer with a carbon copy to the plan writer.
If the above process occurs, there is normally no problem getting a plan through the system within the allotted 90 day time frame. Since the above should take no more than 40 to 45 days (if administratively complete), this should allow the plan writer sufficient time to make any required corrections and to submit a revised plan to the reviewer (individual). This allows sufficient time to determine if the required corrections were adequately addressed and to schedule the plan for approval at the next county Conservation District board meeting within the 90 day timeframe.
Upon successfully completing the plan requirements toward final certification, the specialist will obtain final certification status in writing from the Department. A final certified nutrient management specialist no longer needs to send copies of plan approval letters or plan reviews to the Department.
A copy of the administratively complete plan and the subsequent reviewer comments must be emailed or sent to Mark Jackson (markjackso@pa.gov), State Conservation Commission, Room 311, Agriculture Building, 2301 North Cameron Street, Harrisburg, PA 17110-9408.
