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Middle Park Conservation District gets $2,500 supplemental; NRCS staffing and new RCPP wolf-mitigation funds discussed
Summary
The Board approved a $2,500 supplemental payment to the Middle Park Soil Conservation District for 2024; district staff briefed commissioners on outreach, technical assistance, NRCS staffing vacancies and an upcoming RCPP program that will cost-share wolf-conflict mitigation measures.
The Board approved a $2,500 supplemental appropriation for the Middle Park Conservation District for 2024 and heard an annual report from district staff about services, projects and priorities.
Caitlin (district manager, speaker 7) described outreach efforts, education products and sales (seedlings, seed and tire tanks), and technical work administered with NRCS and partners. Mark (district conservation technician, speaker 11) summarized irrigation engineering, EQIP and RCPP partnerships that have delivered multiple projects and several million dollars in NRCS funding in recent years.
District staff and commissioners expressed concern that NRCS field staffing in the mountain offices has become difficult to maintain; the district lost its local NRCS employee in October and described recruitment and retention challenges due to local cost of living. Staff also described a new USDA RCPP funding window focused on wolf-conflict mitigation (range riding, carcass management, fladry/lighting) that will open early in the calendar year and prioritize areas with higher incidence of wolf interactions; Grand County will be in the higher-priority area. Commissioners approved the $2,500 supplemental and asked staff to report on 2025 funding requests.
