The timing was fitting — as Conservation District Week approaches, the Schuylkill County Commissioners added two properties to the agricultural easement program.

The program is designed to preserve the most productive farmland by means of a perpetual agricultural conservation easement.

A perpetual agricultural conservation easement is a way of preventing development on the farmland permanently. Through this program the landowners sell the development right on the farm to the state and/or county; the landowner would retain all other property rights and is still the owner of the farm.

During a meeting Wednesday, the commissioners approved two agricultural easements:

Margie and James Wolfgang, Mahantongo Township, 26.45 acres for $52,900.

Gary Hart and Richard Hart, 26.63 acres, Union Township, for $1.

Commissioner Gary Hess has served on the Conservation District Board for eight years. After the commissioners issued a proclamation honoring Conservation District Week (May 5-May 11), Hess described the county’s conservation district as “small but mighty.”

“It’s a small staff covering a large geographic area,” Hess said.

“They make sure economic development is done with caution.”

District Manager Jenna St. Clair said that work for the Conservation District was “never a boring day.”

“With the flooding, invasive insects, we have a lot on our plates,” St. Clair said.