Recently, the Weston County Natural Resource District (WCNRD) expressed “extreme disappointment” in President Donald Trump’s proposed budget for Fiscal Year 2018, primarily the 21 percent cut he laid out for the Department of Agriculture (USDA) and a proposed cut to the Conservation Technical Assistant (CTA) Program.
The cut to the CTA program totals $91 million— or a 13 percent decrease— from FY2017 spending levels, according to a release put out by WCNRD. It said the cut to CTA funding, according to the National Association of Conservation Districts, would severely limit the collective ability of responsible agencies to address resource concerns and put good conservation practices in action on the ground.