Conservation Program Funding takes a hit in President Trump’s FY19 Budget Request
TU priorities in the FY19 Budget and Appropriations Process.
Last week, President Trump submitted his FY19 budget request to Congress, officially kicking off the FY19 budget and appropriations process.
The budget request represents the Administration’s priorities and goals for spending across the federal agencies. Congress is not obligated to approve these requests and has wide latitude to approve amounts that are greater or lesser than the President’s request for agencies and programs. This is important to know because the FY19 budget request, similar to the FY18 request, includes a number of cuts to programs and agencies that are critical to fish and wildlife.
As Congress begins to consider the FY19 budget request, it is important for groups like Trout Unlimited to clearly communicate with the public and with members of Congress about the value of these programs and the benefits they provide on the ground in their states and districts — and to encourage them to support continued funding for these programs.
Why this Matters for Trout Unlimited.
Federal resource agencies — such as US Fish and Wildlife, US Forest Service, Environmental Protection Agency— provide essential services to protect, maintain and responsibly manage our public lands, waters, and fish and wildlife resources.
Strong funding essential to ensure that these agencies have staff and resources to manage parks, maintain trails and restore damaged habitat to promote healthier lands and waters.
Trout Unlimited volunteers and staff around the country are actively engaged in restoration projects and partnerships that rely on federal resource agency programs and staff to help spur investments — from repairing culverts on streams damaged from floods, to working with our agricultural partners to improve on farm water efficiency to increase instream flows — we are able to leverage federal program dollars with matching funds and volunteer investments to achieve incredible results.
What are “conservation programs” and what is the funding process?
How do we influence the process and why does the outcome matter to TU?
Trout Unlimited engages in the budget and appropriations process at several points along the way, advocating for adequate funding to support agency staff and programs that are essential to support clean water and healthy public lands. We do this by sharing stories of the incredible conservation successes that TU staff and volunteers, working in partnership with willing landowners and agency partners, are able to accomplish in watersheds across the country with the support of federal conservation programs.
Through a combination of passion for the resource and our collaborative approach to finding solutions, TU is able to leverage modest federal dollars many times over to amplify the benefit of our projects.
From providing miles of stream side fencing to restoring brook trout in West Virginia, to upgrading irrigation facilities to restore cutthroat trout in Utah and Montana, TU and our partners have conducted hundreds of great conservation projects by effectively leveraging federal conservation dollars.
Funding for these agencies is essential to ensure that agencies have staff and resources to manage parks, maintain trails and restore damaged habitat to promote healthier lands and waters.
What’s in the President’s FY19 Budget Request?
A look at key cuts to agency and program budgets.
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
When it comes to the work of restoring and preserving cold-water ecosystems, the EPA is one of Trout Unlimited’s most crucial partners. The FY19 budget request proposes a 34% cut to EPA funding, overall, and significant cuts to the following specific programs:
Section 319 Funding — eliminated: The proposed budget completely eliminates the EPA’s Section 319 grant program, which provides funds to state projects to clean up nonpoint-source pollution such as the toxic tailings often found near mine sites. The 319 program is critical not only for leveraging important additional dollars for mine cleanups, but it also creates and maintains good jobs in local communities. Without this vital source of funding, many projects that could improve fisheries as well as water quality for local communities will grind to a halt.
Chesapeake Bay Restoration Program — 90% cut: The President’s budget proposes to cut funding for the EPA’s Chesapeake Bay Program by nearly 90%. This proposal would severely limit the amount of coldwater habitat conservation that TU and others can accomplish in the Chesapeake Bay headwaters, and would stall progress on Bay cleanup efforts. The Chesapeake Bay headwaters are home to some of the region’s best trout streams. The EPA’s Chesapeake Bay Program has enabled TU to work with farmers in Virginia and West Virginia to improve both farming operations and trout habitat on their lands, and with local communities in Pennsylvania to restore trout streams, which in turn contributes cold, clean water to the Chesapeake Bay. {LINK STORIES / BLOGS}
Great Lakes Restoration Initiative — 90% cut: The Great Lakes are home to a remarkable array of trout, salmon, and steelhead, and as a result, fishing is a major economic driver in the region. In recent years, fish habitat in many Great Lakes tributaries have been improving thanks to projects funded by the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative. TU and our partners have been using GLRI funds in places like the Pere Marquette, Little Manistee, Peshtigo, and Oconto rivers to remove barriers to fish passage and add habitat for coldwater fish. The FY19 budget request proposes a 90% reduction to this program, which would stop this work in its tracks. Read More about the GLRI Program and the proposed Budget Cuts.
Department of the Interior (DOI)
The DOI includes a number of agencies that provide essential services to America’s public resources, including: U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service; Bureau of Reclamation; National Park Service and Bureau of Land Management. Collectively, these agencies are responsible for the management and conservation of the vast majority of America’s public lands and natural resources including hundreds of millions of acres of national parks, wildlife refuges and BLM lands across the west.
The FY19 budget request proposes significant cuts to the following DOI programs:
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS):
Partners for Fish and Wildlife: This program supports collaborative conservation partnerships between willing landowners and partners like Trout Unlimited to protect and restore fish habitat on private lands.
National Fish Habitat Action Plan: supports on-the-ground partnerships that coordinate conservation actions for a variety of fish species, bring together state and federal agencies as well as conservation organizations to better coordinate watershed restoration activities.
National Fish Passage Program: funds removal of barriers to fish passage such as culverts and other obstructions.
Bureau of Reclamation (BOR):
Pilot System Conservation Program (PSCP or SCCP):
The SCCP program (referred to as the PSCP program in the federal budget documents) is a key program for TU’s work with water users in the Upper Colorado River Basin.
- Colorado System Conservation Pilot Project Report: four-page leave-behind glossy brochure that gives SCPP overview and case studies (also shown linked in summary, above).
- SCCP Advocacy Summary for TU Trustees
WaterSMART Grants (65% cut / -$18.5m): WaterSMART grants represent an innovative approach to prioritizing projects with water efficiency savings to help ensure on-the-ground conservation benefits, and complement the Basin Studies program by targeting funds to projects that address concerns raised in respective studies. For example, TU has worked with the agricultural community, Sun River Watershed Group, and other local stakeholders to secure multiple WaterSMART grants for the Sun River in Montana. The funds have been instrumental in helping to meet streamflow restoration needs while also updating irrigation infrastructure. The WaterSMART grants have helped producers move toward a modernized system that provides for both river health and ranch and farm operation needs.
Basin Studies (61.5% cut / -$3.2m): Basin Study Program activities support stakeholder-driven efforts to address imbalances between water supply and demand in western river basins, and provide applied science, tools, guidance, and information to support water management planning. TU has been an active participant in Basin Study efforts in the Colorado, Yakima, and Henry’s Fork watersheds. These studies provide a tool for bringing together diverse interests in a basin to project long-term water supply needs and demands and proposing ways to address imbalances. Basin Studies develop a diverse set of management scenarios such as water conservation, changes in supply and demand, and climate modeling. The Basin Studies are a critical tool for the future long-term management of large river basins in an increasingly arid West.
Cooperative Watershed Management Program (88% cut / -$2m): This program supports the formation and development of locally-led watershed groups and facilitates the development of multi-stakeholder watershed management projects. Funding for the Act will expedite the formation of successful watershed processes throughout the Colorado River Basin, and in other high-priority basins.
Basin-Specific Funding — Yakima Project (+8%); YRBWEP (-40%); Columbia and Snake (+0.7%); San Joaquin (+3.4%); Colorado Basin Salinity Control (-24%).
Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement (OSMRE):
Abandoned Mine Lands Reclamation Fund: One of the most valuable programs for restoring brook trout and watersheds in coal country is the Abandoned Mine Reclamation Fund. The FY19 budget request cuts the AML Fund’s Environmental Restoration account by -$107.36m. This total results primarily from the following line item cuts: elimination of the AML economic development fund (-$104.3m); elimination of the Watershed Cooperative Agreement Program (-$1.53m); and elimination of 12 FTE (-$1.53m) from the Environmental restoration business line item.
Watershed Cooperative Agreement Program (WCAP) — eliminated. This program provides funds to not-for-profit organizations, through partnership agreements, to undertake local projects to clean streams affected by acid mine drainage (AMD). In Pennsylvania {LINK}, TU leveraged one of these grants to secure $1 million in funding to design and install a passive treatment system for an abandoned mine in Kettle Creek, cleaning up acidic waste in a native brook trout stream. Through WCAP funding, TU’s Eastern Abandoned Mine Restoration program is working to bring life back to these rivers and streams and to make them once again places where brook trout. The FY19 budget proposal would eliminate this $1.5m program.
Bureau of Land Management (BLM): (THE BLM budget justification document is still not posted, so I can’t yet update the detailed numbers)
The Wildlife and Fisheries Management Program is essential for providing on-the-ground resource management of the 119,000 stream miles contained within BLM lands. Partnering with TU and other conservation groups, BLM works to restore native trout species across the West through this account.
The Abandoned Mine Lands (AML) Program works to eliminate or minimize the environmental impacts and the physical safety hazards associated with hardrock mining activity across roughly 53,000 sites on America’s public lands. TU has worked throughout the West on abandoned mine cleanup projects, including a partnership with the BLM to restore water quality in the Upper Arkansas River watershed of Colorado
Department of Agriculture (USDA)
The USDA oversees two agencies of critical significance to TU’s work and mission: the U.S. Forest Service (USFS), which oversees 154 national forests and 20 grassland across the country; and the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS), which helps farmers, ranchers and forest landowners conserve the nation’s soil, water, air and other natural resources.
The FY19 budget request proposes significant cuts to the following USDA programs:
US Forest Service
Legacy Roads and Trails program — eliminated. Legacy Roads and Trails funding is used to shore up forest roads and trails, decommission unneeded routes, replace culverts that block fish passage, and reduce sedimentation that harms fish habitat. Some 380,000 miles of roads run through National Forest lands, leaving a maintenance backlog estimated between $5 billion and $10 billion and an acute need to address the road network in ways that improve access and fish habitat. This is vital work, both due to its importance in protecting public lands and its incredible usefulness for rural communities that rely on National Forest infrastructure.
Land and Water Conservation Fund (LWCF) — status. The FY19 Budget proposal would dramatically reduce land and easement acquisition funds from the nation’s premier conservation law, the LWCF. TU has long supported LWCF, and it’s Forest Legacy program in particular, which has been used to enhance angler access and protect high quality trout and salmon habitat.
Wildlife and Fisheries Habitat Management program. The FY19 Budget proposes an 11% decrease in the Wildlife and Fisheries program. The funding cut will substantially reduce the number of watersheds targeted for improvement, and will substantially reduce the targeted number of acres treated to sustain or restore watershed function and resilience.
TU is especially concerned about adequate funding for restoration of salmon and trout habitat in Southeast Alaska’s Tongass National Forest, due to the significant economic and conservation values of wild salmon in the region. Due to past logging and road building, the Forest Service estimates that at current rates will take more than 50 years to address the backlog of restoration needs on the Tongass.
Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS)
In the Agricultural Act of 2014, Congress consolidated or eliminated nearly a dozen conservation programs and reduced mandatory spending by $6 billion. The cuts contained in the 2014 Farm Bill mean that new enrollments in conservation programs will decline by millions of acres. Cuts to conservation programs limit the capacity of producers to implement common sense practices that conserve water and maintain habitat while supplying food and fiber to all Americans. We urge you again to avoid further cuts in your FY18 appropriations to critical conservation programs like the Environmental Quality Incentives Program, Conservation Reserve Program (CRP),and the Regional Conservation Partnership Program, and instead rely on the Congressional-mandated levels for USDA conservation programs. The EQIP and the RCPP programs are by far the most effective tools that we use to work cooperatively with producers. TU will advocate for Congress to support the FY18 authorized level of funding for both programs.
Regional Conservation Partnership Program (RCPP) (+.4 / $93.8m). The RCCP program is an innovation contained in the 2012 Farm Bill re-authorization, which was passed with the help of TU members around the country who advocated for strong Farm Bill conservation programs. The RCPP promotes coordination between NRCS and its partners to deliver conservation assistance to producers and landowners, yielding landscape scale restoration for fisheries.
Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP) (+24m / $1.76B): provides assistance to landowners to help them improve the quality of soil, water, and other related natural resources.
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS)
NOAA, and its National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS), oversee programs related to Pacific Salmon and steelhead recovery; coastal restoration; and flood resiliency projects.
The FY19 budget request proposes significant cuts to the following NOAA programs:
National Sea Grant College Program — eliminated: TU strongly opposes elimination of funding for the National Sea Grant Program. The National Sea Grant College Program is a vital part of protecting and sustaining coastal, marine, and Great Lakes resources in an effective and sustainable manner. The Sea Grant network includes 33 programs based at top universities in every coastal and Great Lakes state, Puerto Rico, and Guam, drawing in local expertise and fostering an attitude of responsibility in young Americans. The program undertakes important research on critical coastal and marine topics, developing insights and solutions that are then disseminated to stakeholder communities. Sea Grant’s work is critical to TU’s mission, and we rely heavily on the Sea Grant expertise and monitoring efforts to prioritize, develop, and evaluate salmon and steelhead restoration projects. Sea Grant goes to great lengths to ensure its data is available for decision-making and excels at presenting its monitoring data to landowners in a way that is accessible and informative. The Sea Grant program provides an opportunity for American scientists and students to put their minds to work in tackling vital issues that affect their communities and should continue to be supported.
Elimination of the Sea Grant program will not only cut off a major source of new ideas and solutions for managing some of America’s most important aquatic habitats, but will also deprive future leaders from growing their knowledge of these important issues.
National Marine Fisheries Community-based Restoration Program (CRP): TU opposes the Administration’s $4.8 million cut to the Community-Based Restoration Program (CRP). CRP supports locally-driven and voluntary coastal restoration projects with national, regional, and local organizations through competitively awarded public-private partnerships. The program also complements traditional fishery management and leverages non-federal resources 3–5 times the Federal investment. Projects result in healthier habitats, which strengthen our commercial and recreational fisheries.
Pacific Coast Salmon Recovery Fund — eliminated: The FY19 budget request proposes to eliminate funding for the PCSRF program, which provides funding to the states and tribes of the Pacific Coast region to implement projects that restore and protect salmon and steelhead populations and their habitats. Since its establishment in 2000, this program has restored more than 1,090,000 acres of habitat and re-established fish passage to over 12,000 stream miles of salmon habitat — improving the status of sensitive salmon and steelhead populations that are vital to local economies, and to communities of recreational and commercial fishermen.
Thanks to funding from the PCSRF, TU has partnered with coastal Pacific states to complete a number of important salmon recovery projects over the years. These projects include work such as restoring instream flows, enhancing instream and off channel habitat, and removing fish passage barriers. Without PCSRF funding, a greater financial burden would be placed on local and state authorities to undertake these expensive projects on their own and it is likely that fewer projects would be able to advance
- A specific example, PCSRF Funds support TU’s work on the Yankee Fork of Idaho’s Salmon River, where federal investment is key to leveraging additional non-federal investment from private foundations as well as state, tribal and local business and volunteer sources. To learn more about this fantastic project, check out this video by Trout Unlimited and the the Salmon-Challis National Forest.
What next? How you can help support these programs.
These programs represent sound investments in the health of the watersheds that support fisheries resources. Many of these programs provide essential seed money for TU projects, which we leverage with private dollars, as well as state and other federal agency funding to amplify the value of these programs.
Share your project stories.
As Congress begins the appropriations process, we will actively engage in efforts to advocate and educate decision-makers about the value of these programs. Please help us in any of the following ways:
- Identify key projects. Provide examples of how the funds are being put to good use in your community and help us to present a compelling story as to why funding should continue.
- Engage your partners. Work with your partners — landowners, irrigators, counties, etc. and encourage them to share their support.
- Consider meeting with your Members of Congress directly — either through staff at the local office or through coordination with the D.C. Government affairs team — to educate them about the importance of the federal funding for programs of interest. For TU staff and volunteers, please communicate about your efforts with the D.C. team to ensure we present well-coordinated communications across the TU family.
Stand Up — Take Action with TU
We urge you to contact the President and your members in Congress to tell them that adequate funding for the federal natural resource agencies is vital to the conservation work of Trout Unlimited and to sound management of the nation’s trout and salmon fisheries and their watersheds.
Contact the President and your representative in Congress and urge them to support the strongest possible funding levels for conservation programs in the FY19 appropriations process, including adequate funding for resource agencies and no harmful legislative riders.
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Additional Resources
Contact us: For more information on the specific programs and projects that TU is working on with support of federal partners or programs, please contact Steve Moyer (smoyer@tu.org) or Kate Miller (kmiller@tu.org).
About the Appropriations Process:
- About the Budget and Appropriations process, outlining the big picture timeline and identifying opportunities for engagement.
- Check out the TU-Trustee advocacy primer on conservation funding.
About the Agencies and Programs: Check out the Agency in Brief series to learn more about these key agencies and programs:
