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Committee advances bill allowing Clean Water Indiana funds to be used for invasive plant management
Summary
Senate Bill 211 would authorize the Clean Water Indiana program to fund management, education and technical assistance for invasive plant species; the committee advanced the bill after testimony from environmental groups, conservation districts and agricultural interests. Vote: 12 yes, 0 no.
Senator Glick presented Senate Bill 211 to the House Committee on Natural Resources, describing it as a statutory clarification to allow Clean Water Indiana (CWI) funds, where available, to be used for management of invasive plant species in watersheds and related watershed work under the programʼs existing governance structures.
Supporters said the bill would provide a statutory mechanism enabling the State Soil Conservation Board and soil and water conservation districts to accept applications and use CWI funding for invasive-species work if the legislature or board decides to allocate funds to that purpose. Maria Iturbide, water policy director for the Hoosier Environmental Council, testified in support and described invasive plants such as Japanese knotweed and purple loosestrife as threats to biodiversity, wetlands and public health. She said private and public land managers face mounting costs fighting invasive species.
Reid Chattin (testifying for the Indiana Cooperative Invasive Management effort) said local CISMAs have conducted thousands of outreach events and property assessments and warned that federal policy changes may remove existing nonprofit support; he described the bill as a mechanism to allow state CWI funding to be used for invasive education, training and technical assistance. Katie Nelson, deputy director at the Indiana State Department of Agriculture, testified neutral and described how CWI is administered by the Division of Soil Conservation and overseen by a seven-member State Soil Conservation Board; she noted program funding historically included $8.5 million a year (a mix of cigarette-tax revenue and prior appropriations) and that adding invasive species as an eligible purpose may increase demand on limited funds.
Les Zimmerman of the Indiana Association of Soil and Water Conservation Districts and other conservation partners described the statewide scale of woodland resources and urged support so local SWCDs could better serve landowners. Ray Moisner and representatives of agricultural trade groups also spoke in favor of giving soil-and-water districts tools to address invasive-plant threats to forests and agricultural operations.
Committee members discussed the fiscal and programmatic implications; testimony said adding invasive species to CWI does not itself appropriate additional money and that funding decisions would remain with the State Soil Conservation Board and the CWI grant process. The motion to pass carried on a roll call of 12 yes, 0 no and the bill was advanced from committee.
