Counties' Conservation Work Heading For Big State Budget Hit

There's more evidence (on top of the troubling news from Sauk County) that conservation efforts statewide are under assault by the Walker administration:

From the venerable Wisconsin Land and Water Conservation Association comes this information by newsletter yesterday about a steep cut to county conservation staff funding of about 15% in Walker's proposed 2013-'15 state budget:

...The Governor’s proposed budget calls for a permanent $1.3 million annual cut to general purpose revenues for the staffing grants to county land conservation departments (LCDs). The funding base would fall from $9.3 million to $8.0 million annually...

All legislators we have talked to believe that the work done by their local staff is important; but finding available dollars in the budget has been the biggest stumbling block to developing a proposal to restore the $1.3 million cut....

This effort is one of the few conservation issues being considered by the JFC; one call can have an impact.