Published 10:45 am Monday, January 22, 2024
Washington NRCS clears backlog using Inflation Reduction Act funds
{child_byline}By MATTHEW WEAVER
Capital Press{/child_byline}
The Washington state office of the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service has used its portion of nearly $20 billion in the federal Inflation Reduction Act to clear its backlog, its director said.
“We funded all of our Conservation Stewardship Program (CSP) back applications that we had that were eligible and met all the criteria needed,” state conservationist Roylene Comes At Night told the Capital Press. “We’ve basically funded all of them at this point.”
NRCS received $19.5 billion nationwide for conservation programs through the Inflation Reduction Act, or IRA.
The Washington office received $15 million in additional funding, with $5.7 million for the Environmental Quality Incentives Program through the farm bill, $4.4 million for EQIP through the IRA and $4.9 million for CSP through the IRA.
The office entered the 2024 fiscal year with “little to no backlog,” Comes At Night said.
That makes her a little nervous.
“In the past, we’ve always had this backlog we could rely on, and then if we got additional funding for headquarters, we could turn around and use it to slowly chip away at that,” she said. “We’re now getting a very large increase in funding and we have no backlog.”
That means the agency must conduct more outreach to farmers and ranchers to apply for NRCS programs, she said.
Since the funding was approved, NRCS-Washington has hired 28 new employees, filled 39 vacant positions and plans to hire many more, she said. It’s part of a strategic approach to increase conservation efforts across the state.
“With this Inflation Reduction Act funding, we’re not in the traditional ‘spend-it-or-lose-it’ situation federal budgets usually operate within,” Comes At Night said. “We’re getting the funding. What national headquarters is looking at is how much additional funding are we going to send each state based on their scorecard and key performance indicators. We’re doing really well in both, so we’re anticipating receiving more funding than we initially thought.”
The office expects to receive $30.4 million in additional funding for the 2024 fiscal year.
“We know our budget will increase each year through Fiscal Year 2027,” Comes At Night said.
From there, IRA funds will drop off.
The amount a state receives is determined by the previous three-year-average performance, as determined by the state conservationist’s scorecard and key performance indicators, which are used to determine a state’s staffing and budget levels.
“Our plan is to knock these indicators out of the park and secure as much funding for Washington as possible,” she said.
The agency has more than 1,600 applications in the system. About 71% are new participants.
Comes At Night attributes this to agency staff members attending more than 100 farmer events last year.
“We always had this need, and now we have this funding to look at big projects, we have funding to look at little projects,” she said. “As I’m talking to partners, I’m not going to tell you ‘No,’ I’m saying, ‘Let’s talk.’”
The added IRA funding must all be spent by Sept. 30, 2031.
“That makes the window, not only of funding obligations, but implementation and construction, fairly small,” she said.
