OAKLAND, Iowa — Budgets cuts approved by the U.S. House of Representatives this month will eliminate federal spending on resource conservation and development programs nationwide.
“The negative impact would be astounding,” said Bahia Barry, local foods coordinator for the Golden Hills RC&D in Oakland.
Golden Hills, along with other resource conservation and development nonprofit organizations, is funded through the Natural Resource Conservation Service.
Golden Hills covers eight counties in southwest Iowa: Pottawattamie, Cass, Harrison, Shelby, Mills, Montgomery, Fremont and Page.
Shirley Frederickson, who serves as Golden Hills' coordinator, said the organization assists rural communities through natural resource reservation programs, economic development, recreation and tourism.
Examples of its work include the Pottawattamie County Farm to Fork local foods initiative and the Iowa Scenic Byways program.
The foods initiative assists farmers markets across southwest Iowa, and the scenic byways effort works to help communities with tourism and economic development goals.
Golden Hills is working with the Tabor Historical Society to apply for grants and services to renovate the historic Todd House in Tabor, an edifice built in 1853 that was a stop on the Underground Railroad and now serves as a museum.
“Projects like this one, helping small organizations that might not otherwise be able to get grant funds, are in jeopardy,” said Elizabeth Birkel-Leddy, project manager for Golden Hills.
The budget submitted by President Barack Obama for the 2012 fiscal year, which begins Oct. 1, doesn't include funding for resource conservation and development programs, although RC&D funding hasn't been included in a presidential budget proposal since 2008.
Frederickson said the House or the Senate generally puts the money in the budget. So far, though, that hasn't happened.
The House budget resolution passed 235-189. Republicans made up all of the votes in favor of the bill, while 186 Democrats and three Republicans voted against it.
Iowa Republicans Steve King and Thomas Latham voted for the bill, and Iowa Democratic Reps. Dave Loebsack, Leonard Boswell and Bruce Braley voted against it.
“Right now it's up to the Senate to put the money back in,” Birkel-Leddy said.
Birkel-Leddy was among a group of RC&D representatives who met with Iowa Sens. Charles Grassley and Tom Harkin last week. She said both have been supporters of the organization.
“But the feel this year was more, ‘We'll try,'” Birkel-Leddy said. “In the past it's always been, ‘Don't worry about it.'”
Golden Hills receives $120,000 annually in federal funding, Frederickson said, an amount that through grant writing and fundraising the nonprofit organization leverages into about $2.7 million to $2.9 million for projects in the area.
“That's a pretty good rate of return,” Frederickson said.
There are 17 resource conservation and development organizations in Iowa, with the next closest being the Sioux Rivers RC&D in Sergeant Bluff. Nationally, about $50 million is doled out to 375 RC&Ds each year, an amount that hasn't increased since 2001.
Among the small-scale food producers Golden Hills has helped is Honey Creek Creamery. Co-owner Sharon Oamek, also the chairperson of the Pottawattamie County Local Food Council, said that the budget bill could take away resources important to local producers.
With help from Golden Hills, the creamery secured grants to renovate a former bunkhouse on Oamek's property into a goat milk processing center.
“Without that, we wouldn't be operating,” Oamek said.
With no government money, “I'd expect Golden Hills to go on,” Frederickson said. “But it'd be much more difficult and change the way the organization does business.”
She theorized that Golden Hills would have to charge for services. Because of the federal money, Golden Hills is able to help organizations with grant writing and other work at no cost.
Although Golden Hills has the stability to continue without federal funding, Barry said, others most likely wouldn't be as lucky.
“For some of the RC&Ds, the lights could go out,” she said.
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