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Conservation districts ask lawmakers for increased operational funding, warn MEEP trust fund faces shortfalls
Summary
The Michigan Association of Conservation Districts told lawmakers that 75 locally led conservation districts deliver voluntary technical assistance and outreach across the state and asked for a $10 million boost to state operational funding to expand staffing and capacity.
Representatives of the Michigan Association of Conservation Districts (MACD) told the committee that Michigan's 75 conservation districts deliver voluntary, nonregulatory conservation services on private land and that current state operational funding limits their capacity to serve every county.
Jerry Miller, president of MACD and chair of the Kent Conservation District, introduced the panel and said the association and local districts partner with the U.S. Department of Agriculture Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS). He introduced Rivkah Hutchinson (executive director of MACD) to present the association's materials; Diane Gray, the NRCS state conservationist, attended as a partner.
What MACD told lawmakers
Hutchinson said conservation districts are "locally organized special purpose units of state government" that provide technical assistance, education and voluntary conservation practice implementation. She listed core programs conservation…
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