Conservation District Leader From PA Presses Case For Strong Federal Conservation Funding In DC

On March 13, conservation district officials from across the nation descended upon the nation’s capital as part of the National Association of Conservation District’s 2019 Spring Fly-In, including Kelly Stagen, PA Association of Conservation Districts Secretary and North East Region Director and Pike County Conservation District board member.

More than 150 district representatives from over 30 states took to Capitol Hill to educate their federal representatives about and advocate for voluntary, locally-led conservation.

Stagen rallied on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C. for voluntary conservation along with other locally-elected conservation district officials and conservation leaders from around the country.

“Meeting with Pennsylvania’s leaders on Capitol Hill was a great opportunity to stress the importance of conservation district work in our local communities,” said Stagen. It’s important to keep the conversation going about issues facing our natural resources to ensure enough clean water and healthy soil for future generations.”

At this year’s fly-in, district officials communicated the value of:

-- Farm bill conservation programs. Because the farm bill is the federal government’s primary tool for setting agriculture and food policy in the United States, NACD has carefully developed nine farm bill principles to promote in and out of farm bill negotiations now and until the next farm bill is passed.

Several of NACD’s farm bill principles advocate for locally-led and incentive-based conservation on working and urban lands, another calls for streamlined land-use and reporting regulations.

-- Strong conservation funding. Every year through the appropriations process, federal funding is allotted to specific conservation programs housed under USDA, the Interior Department, and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). NACD believes these funds are critical to helping Americans voluntarily enhance soil and water quality at the local level across the country.

-- Conservation technical assistance. Conservation technical assistance – like conservation planning and monitoring – helps landowners become better stewards of their natural resources. Without it, many landowners and land managers wouldn’t have the capacity to implement conservation practices at all.

For more information about the work of Pennsylvania’s 66 conservation districts, visit the PA Association of Conservation Districts website. You can also follow PACD on Facebook.

(Photo: Adam Tarr, Legislative Assistant for PA Senator Bob Casey with Kelly Stagen, PACD Secretary.)