CONTACT: Sara Kangas, NACD Director of Communications
(202) 547-6223; sara-kangas[at]nacdnet.org

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

April 9, 2021

NACD RESPONDS TO PRESIDENT BIDEN’S
FY22 BUDGET PROPOSAL

WASHINGTON – Today, the National Association of Conservation Districts (NACD) released the following statement regarding President Joe Biden’s topline discretionary budget request for fiscal year (FY) 2022:

“NACD is encouraged by the proposals to strengthen funding for conservation,” NACD President Michael Crowder said. “President Biden’s budget includes significant investments within the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA)’s Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) and Forest Service that will bolster voluntary conservation across the country.”

President Biden’s topline FY 2022 discretionary funding request (known as the “skinny budget”) provides increased funding “for USDA’s research, education, and outreach programs.” This request also includes increased funding at the U.S. Forest Service and the Department of the Interior for reducing hazardous fuel loads on federal lands, one of the greatest contributors to increased wildfire activity across the country.

“NACD is hopeful that as the full budget is released in May, increased funding will go toward important programs like Conservation Operations and Conservation Technical Assistance (CTA), which help NRCS increase capacity at the local level,” Crowder said. “Local NRCS staff, alongside conservation district employees, work directly with landowners to create conservation plans and implement conservation practices to address our nation’s diverse natural resource concerns in a changing climate.”

In March, NACD joined several organizations writing to President Biden to request robust increases in the CTA account.

“With increased attention to the unique role agriculture and forestry can play in addressing climate change, new conservation practices that could come from this increased investment will help communities increase resiliency to weather volatility while reducing our carbon footprint,” Crowder said. “Increases to these discretionary programs are vital to accomplishing the Administration’s goals of sustainable agriculture and forestry that can be a part of the solution to addressing climate change.”

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About the National Association of Conservation Districts:

The National Association of Conservation Districts is the nonprofit organization that represents the nation’s 3,000 conservation districts, their state and territory associations and the 17,000 men and women who serve on their governing boards. For more than 70 years, local conservation districts have worked with cooperating landowners and managers of private working lands to help them plan and apply effective conservation practices. For more information about NACD, visit: www.nacdnet.org.