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Ashland County LWCD reviews 2025 annual report and financials; staff cite grant carryover and implementation delays
Summary
Ashland County Land and Water Conservation Department reported 2025 receipts from DATCP (~$155,000) plus ~$292,000 in competitive grants, but carried over cost-share funds and installed only four BMPs in 2025 due to contractor and weather constraints.
Ashland County’s Land and Water Conservation Department briefed the Land Conservation Committee on its 2025 annual report, highlighting grants, program activity and staffing pressures.
Mary Joe Jingris, the county conservationist, told the committee the department received about $155,000 from the Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection (DATCP) for staff and support and an additional $50,000 from DATCP for cost-share activities. She said roughly $292,000 in other grants — including Great Lakes Restoration Initiative and Wisconsin DNR awards — funded additional projects. Because of contractor availability and weather, staff implemented four best-management practices on private lands in 2025; the department typically implements more.
Engineering technician Seth Hackbirth described completed cost-share projects: approximately 6,700 linear feet of livestock fencing, a well decommissioning (sealed with bentonite chips), and about 700 feet of access road installed to reduce erosion and protect nearby waterways. Seth said carryover funds from 2025 were spent on a larger access-road project completed recently.
Jingris and staff explained how county and federal programs interact: the department frequently designs projects and applies for DNR permits on behalf of landowners, and NRCS (the federal Natural Resources Conservation Service) remains a separate conservation partner that can provide additional cost-share. The department uses SNAP-Plus for nutrient management planning and provides a $40-per-acre incentive to help producers complete required plans.
Staff warned of continued budget pressures: DATCP staffing reimbursements vary by population and appropriation, and one recurring federal grant that funds the agricultural technician position has been delayed, prompting a short-term NRCS contract to sustain services.
Committee members asked follow-up questions about budget print errors and grant reimbursement timing; staff said small print and cell errors in the packet accidentally left a legacy number in the budget table and that reimbursements for some grants remain pending.
The committee took no budget vote at the meeting but discussed the department’s plan to pursue diversified revenue (later formalized in a service-fee proposal).
