Outdoor Stewardship Trust Fund officials brief legislature on projects, funding and plans

Drew St. John, chairman of the Mississippi Outdoor Stewardship Trust Fund, told a joint legislative hearing that the trust fund has turned $37,300,000 in state obligations into about $127,000,000 in projects and is working to increase outside matching funds.

The fund was created by House Bill 606, passed in 2022, to support conservation, wildlife management and nature-based outdoor recreation. St. John said the board has followed the statute’s provisions and used the law as a guiding document for awarding grants and matching funds.

St. John described a range of projects the fund has supported across Mississippi, from accessibility improvements to recreational and educational facilities. "The piers that we built were handicapped up there that we helped fund, and he got to go fishing again for the first time in 23 years," St. John said, describing work at the North Mississippi Fish Hatchery. He also highlighted the Mississippi Delta Nature and Learning Center in Greenville, which he said involved teenagers who helped construct the site, and the planned Fannie Cook Natural Area, which he described as roughly 3,200 acres with hiking trails and educational features.

Ricky Flint, executive director for the trust fund, provided application and funding details. Flint said the board has received more than 230 applications across three rounds: 104 applications in February 2022, 70 in February 2023 and 59 in the most recent round. He said the board has funded a total of 79 projects to date. "As per the act, 2% of the appropriations goes to administration of the program," Flint said, describing the program’s limit on administrative spending.

St. John and board staff emphasized the role of outside matching funds in expanding project size and reach. "We will take a dollar and we can turn it into more than $3," St. John said, and added the board’s near-term goal is to raise that external match from about 1-to-3 to 1-to-4 or higher. To help applicants secure matches, the board plans a grants workshop in Jackson this summer to coach previous applicants and potential applicants on identifying match sources and strengthening proposals.

Board members said matching funds have included federal and private sources and that applicants must identify and document match commitments in their applications. Flint said many successful applications include federal or other external matching funds and that the application scoring incorporates identified matches and commitment letters.

Officials invited municipalities, counties and other potential applicants to contact trust-fund staff for technical guidance. St. John said the board expects to open the next funding round in August or September, contingent on additional legislative appropriations, with funding announcements expected in January if the legislature provides more money.

Speakers at the hearing also recognized partners who have assisted the trust fund, including Ducks Unlimited, The Nature Conservancy and a foundation representative, and noted that a variety of private-landowner assistance programs have been funded to help with land management and prescribed burning.

The board did not report any formal legislative votes at the hearing. Instead, members described ongoing program activity, application statistics, project examples and planned outreach to increase applicant success and matching funds.