USDA funding for Kennebec, Lincoln counties: How should money be spent?

Thu, 11/10/2022 - 7:45am

The Kennebec and Knox-Lincoln Soil & Water Conservation Districts (SWCDs), in cooperation with the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) field office in Augusta, will host a public meeting of the Kennebec-Lincoln Local Working Groups (LWG).

Taking into account local resource concerns, these Local Working Groups make recommendations to NRCS on how to spend USDA Farm Bill funds for conservation practices on private lands. This year’s meeting will be held in person on Dec. 12 from 10 a.m. to noon. We will meet at the meeting room, Room 145 in Augusta City Hall, 16 Cony St., Augusta, Maine.  

If you are an agricultural producer; forester, logger or private woodland owner; member of an environmental or watershed organization or land trust; knowledgeable in soil, water, plant, wetland or wildlife sciences; and/or are familiar with agricultural and natural resource concerns in Kennebec or Lincoln counties, we invite you to attend this meeting to help: 1) identify and prioritize local conservation concerns; and 2) recommend how local funds for USDA Environmental Quality Incentive Programs (EQIP) will be distributed by NRCS to alleviate problems.

To attend, please contact your local soil & water conservation district to register and get more information. For Kennebec County contact Dale at 480-3927, dfinseth@kcswcd.org. For Lincoln County contact Julie at 207-596-2040, julie@knox-lincoln.org. If you are unable to attend, you may send comments to your local soil & water conservation district.

For more information about LWGs, visit https://www.knox-lincoln.org/local-working-group.