By Barb Kromphardt

bkromphardt@bcrnews.com

Thursday, April 17, 2008 12:00 AM CDT
 

From planting the prairie to fifth-grade conservation day, from agronomy field days to pond clinics, from tree sales to fish sales, the Bureau County Soil and Water Conservation District has been part of the fabric of Bureau County life since 1948.

But now, the fabric is unraveling fast.

As part of the budget battles going on in Springfield, Gov. Rod Blagojevich has frozen funds for agriculture-based programs, including the Extension program and $5.75 million in funds that support the state’s 98 Soil and Water Conservation Districts.

For the Bureau County office, that’s about $80,000, or 70 percent of the district’s annual budget.

“Our budget year goes from July 1 to June 30, and we hadn’t gotten any money until February, when we got $14,000,” said Bureau County Administrative Coordinator Rita May. “That really doesn’t go far.”

The Fiscal Year 2008 State Budget appropriated $7.4 million for SWCD operational expenses, and as of April 1, only $1.7 million has been released.

Last week, a bi-partisan group of legislators filed House Resolution 1127, which urges the governor to immediately release the remaining $5.75 million for SWCDs and the $6.0 million for the Conservation Practices Program. The resolution was co-sponsored by Reps. Don Moffitt, Frank Mautino and David Leitch.

May urged area residents to contact their legislators, who she said have been very supportive, and talked about the annual Illinois Agricultural Legislative Day held last month.

“All of our legislators, from the southern tip of Illinois up to the Chicago suburbs are backing Soil and Water,” she said. “They said, ‘If you drink water, you need these guys to keep your water clean. If you don’t want the dirt washing down your streets, we need Soil and Water to stop it up here, so it doesn’t happen.’”

May said the SWCDs throughout the state receive about $7 million annually.

“For every dollar we get, we bring in 27 more dollars,” she said. “There’s an awful lot of federal funds that will not come into the state if Soil and Water is not here. It’s a lose-lose situation the whole way.”

And the possibility that those SWCDs might not be there much longer is very real. May said that a couple of weeks ago, SWCDs were asked when they would have to close their doors, based on funds as of that date. Twenty SWCDs responded with a possible date of June 1.

One of those was the Lee County SWCD, but on Tuesday, the Lee County Board approved a $20,000 donation to keep the district afloat.

Stark County hasn’t been so fortunate.

“This week, they are going part-time,” May said. “They have the research conservationist and the administrative coordinator in their office, and one comes one day, and one comes the next day. If they don’t get some money by the end of May, they’re done.”

If the governor does not unfreeze the budgeted funds, May said the majority of SWCDs will last only to the end of the year.

May said the sad part about the situation is that SWCDs were created by Illinois law in the 1940s because of the Dust Bowls.

“Soil was eroding away, and they set up Soil and Water Conservations by Illinois law,” she said. “In that law, it is said that they should pay us, so how can they not do it?”

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