Michigan conservation districts ask appropriations subcommittee for $10 million boost to operations funding

Summary

Leaders of the Michigan Association of Conservation Districts told a House appropriations subcommittee that the stateoperational grant of $3 million—about $40,000 per district—is insufficient and asked legislators to pursue an additional $10 million to fund full-time managers and planners across 75 districts.

The House Appropriations Subcommittee on Agriculture, Rural Development and the Department of Natural Resources heard testimony April 16 from the Michigan Association of Conservation Districts (MACD), which asked the committee to increase state operational support from $3 million annually to $13 million, an additional $10 million, to allow each of Michigan's 75 conservation districts to hire full-time staff and expand technical assistance.

MACD Executive Director Rivka Hodgkinson told the committee that "conservation districts are 75 in the state covering all 83 counties, and they are the private land conservation delivery system natural resource management services." She said the districts provide nonregulatory, locally led technical assistance to private landowners, farmers and other land managers and cited state and federal partnerships that help districts deliver programs.

Why it matters: Hodgkinson and others argued state operational funding is the seed investment that allows districts to leverage other funds, win competitive grants and deliver federal conservation programs locally. "According to MDARD's estimates, every $1 in the state invested in conservation district operations leverages $5.10 from other sources,"…

Michigan conservation districts ask appropriations subcommittee for $10 million boost to operations funding

Summary

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