Arkansas officials fear conservation district budget cuts, loss of accompanying federal funds

The Little Maumelle River in Pulaski County on June 2, 2024. (Mary Hennigan/Arkansas Advocate)

Maintaining natural resources at the local level is paramount to the mission of the conservation district located in every Arkansas county, and some involved officials are concerned the state’s highest-ranking leaders no longer see the value in these groups.

Debbie Moreland, program coordinator for the Arkansas Association of Conservation Districts, said she’s worried state officials seeking budget cuts will pull the funding for conservation districts entirely.

“It’s kind of like little chicks pecking at you,” Moreland said. “They take away this, they take away that … I really do believe their thoughts are that districts have outlived their time, and I don’t think they really see the big picture.”

Moreland’s concerns of losing conservation districts are not unique to Arkansas’ current administration, though she said it seems like the leadership at the Department of Agriculture and in the governor’s office doubt the importance of the districts.

Because Moreland hasn’t received any reassurance about maintaining funds directly from leadership, she said she’s prepared talking points for the district members to relay their importance to state legislators.

“I think the legislators are the only way we’ll be able to salvage this issue,” Moreland said.

A spokesperson for the Department of Agriculture told the Arkansas Advocate last week that Secretary Wes Ward has not engaged in conversations about ceasing conservation district funds. Alexa Henning, Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders’ spokesperson, also said there are no planned changes for the budget.

On Thursday, Sanders sent a letter to cabinet secretaries and department directors explaining her expectations for the 2025-2027 biennial budget. Among the letter’s requests, Sanders asked officials to “identify savings.”

“I expect state agencies to continue to find cost savings opportunities outside the scope of Arkansas Forward [an overhaul of the state’s employee pay plan],” Sanders said. “Please work to reduce costs throughout your agency while still delivering quality services to the people of Arkansas.”

Chris Colclasure, director of the Department of Agriculture’s Natural Resources Commission, said at a meeting in May that no one has approached him about cutting the funds.

“Trying to decipher what is accurate and what is rumor right now is difficult because I think everybody is on guard related to districts,” Colclasure told commissioners.

Budget breakdown

Because conservation districts were created by federal law, losing annual state funding wouldn’t stop the program entirely. A shell of the program would remain, but all functionality would essentially be lost.

Bruce Leggitt, a member of the Department of Agriculture’s Natural Resources Commission , voiced concerns about losing conservation districts at a meeting in May. The Arkansas Advocate later spoke with Leggitt in more detail.

“What the consensus is — and understandably so — the governor wants to put all the money she can in education and in corrections,” Leggitt said. “Well, you know she’s going to every secretary telling them to pull as much money as they can so she can use it for education and prisons.”

When it comes to the Department of Agriculture budget, Leggitt said, there’s not a lot of places to make cuts.

The annual conservation district budget of $2.6 million makes up nearly 10% of the general revenue funding at the Department of Agriculture. The program hasn’t seen any type of budget change since 2007 when a grants appropriation was cut in half, spokesperson Amy Lyman said.

More than $1 million of the annual budget goes directly toward water quality projects. For the 2025 fiscal year, approximately $902,000 remained to divide among Arkansas’ 75 conservation districts after the Natural Resources Commission held back a percentage of money for employee policy, insurance and project purposes.

That leaves Arkansas conservation districts with about $12,000 each.

The conservation districts have an agreement with the Natural Resources Conservation Service in which the federal government provides office space and technology, and in return the state provides staffing to complete reports, Moreland said.

If the state pulled its funding, the amount of federal funds Arkansas receives from NRCS for local programs and conservation efforts would be significantly affected, Moreland said.

“I’m not trying to blame anybody,” Moreland said. “From their perspective, they’re saying ‘I’m taking care of my agency, I’m taking care of my folks.’ That’s just the reality of it, but I think they’re missing the point that we’re a predominantly agricultural state … and these conservation practices make a huge difference.”

In 2023, approximately $165 million was distributed among the state’s conservation districts.

What individual conservation districts manage to outsource beyond the state funds varies depending on management and opportunities based on the natural resources in the county. While federal funds are a good source, members may seek other avenues related to their environment.

This “behind the scenes” work includes scholarships, forestry contests, 4-H programming, building pollinator gardens and handicapped trails, Moreland said.

Recent law change causes trepidation

Following nationwide devastation from the Dust Bowl in the 1930s, President Franklin D. Roosevelt recommended all states establish conservation districts. Arkansas was the first state in 1937 to pass a law that established a “state soil conservation committee,” which evolved into today’s conservation districts.

All 75 counties in Arkansas have their own conservation district to protect public lands and promote residents’ health and safety. Five directors manage the conservation district in each county.

For 86 years, local residents elected three directors of conservation districts, and the state Department of Agriculture’s Natural Resources Commission appointed the remaining two via a local recommendation.

Act 690 of 2023 changed the process for the two non-elected directors. The powers shifted from the Natural Resources Commission to the district’s three elected directors. Conservation districts are now also responsible to pay for all expenses of the election for three of its directors, supervise the election and publish the results with the Secretary of State.

Lawmakers pitched the change as a way to act more efficiently and with more local control, though Leggitt, who is serving his sixth year on the Natural Resources Commission, said he doesn’t see it that way. In his 40 years working in the conservation industry, he has only experienced the commission turning down one local suggestion.

Leggitt said he didn’t know about the law change “until it was a done deal.” With it enacted, Leggitt said the state has lost its oversight within the conservation districts, and he wants the law rescinded.

Leggitt said the “covert” law change also gives him an inkling to believe other discussions, like pulling funding from conservation districts, are happening without commissioners’ input.

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