The Piedmont Soil and Water Conservation District, — serving Amelia, Nottoway, and Prince Edward Counties — recently installed signs on U.S. Route 360, U.S. Route 460, Route 15 and Route 45 indicating when the motorist enters the Piedmont District.

“Piedmont is the first of the state’s 47 Soil and Water Conservation Districts to have ‘Entering District’ signs approved by the Virginia Department of Transportation (VDOT) to be placed in the VDOT right-of-way,” officials said in a press release. “The last of the seven Piedmont signs was installed in July of 2017.”

According to the release, for many years, conservation districts in Virginia have been interested in installing “Entering District” signs along highways in order to bring more visibility to districts.

“Wilkie Chaffin, a Piedmont elected director representing Prince Edward County, contacted the Commissioner of VDOT in 2012 about allowing the installation of Soil and Water Conservation District (SWCD) signs in the right-of-way,” officials said in the release. “This eventually led to discussions between VDOT and the Virginia Association of Soil and Water Conservation Districts to develop standardized district signs and installation requirements.”

The release cited that the Piedmont District volunteered to be the first district in Virginia to go through the process and to use this experience to provide guidance to other districts interested in installing their own signs in the VDOT right-of-way.

The purpose of the signs is to educate the public about which district serves the county in which they live. Districts are the local agency for water quality improvement programs and also provide youth and adult education to encourage soil and water conservation in the community. To learn more about the Piedmont Soil and Water Conservation District, visit www.piedmontswcd.org, and be sure to check the homepage for its annual report to read about its local conservation efforts over the past year.