Below is a press release from the Mississippi Outdoor Stewardship Coalition:
The Mississippi House of Representatives overwhelmingly passed historic legislation that paves the way for a long-term conservation program bringing with it opportunities for tens of millions of dollars in annual investments for Mississippi’s great outdoors.
“We applaud the House leadership for passing this legislation – without it, Mississippi loses out on tens of millions of federal dollars. For example, Mississippi only receives $300,000 yearly from the Regional Conservation Partnership Program, a very successful program in the Farm Bill. Other surrounding states are receiving approximately $6 million a year from this same program for the same efforts. That is $6m a year – or $60m over ten years – that we’re missing out on all because we lack the matching funds needed to secure these federal dollars. This is just one program, there are many others like it that could literally bring millions more for conservation to Mississippi. This House legislation addresses this issue head on because it will invest the needed dollars necessary to secure these additional federal funds.” said Ed Penny, with Ducks Unlimited.
A pair of similar bills, (HB 606 and HB 1064) voted on by the House last week, would establish the Mississippi Outdoor Stewardship Trust Fund. This bipartisan legislation dedicates more than $10 million a year to long-term conservation efforts and secures tens of millions more in federal dollars that would maximize the overall impact of the program. This bipartisan legislation passed with nearly unanimous support by a vote of 117-4.
“When we conducted polling on this issue, over 75% of Mississippians supported this approach for a conservation and outdoor program. This would potentially triple the overall amount of dollars for the outdoors and conservation coming to our state, which in turn would create more jobs and help strengthen our economy. These investments would ultimately place Mississippi exactly where we are supposed to be – as a leader in the outdoors and conservation,” said Alex Littlejohn with The Nature Conservancy.
The House legislation would promote innovative public-private conservation partnerships by allowing all Mississippi communities, counties, state & federal agencies, and charitable conservation organizations to participate in project proposals. Eligible projects would provide clean drinking water for surrounding communities, improve access to public lands, provide outdoor recreation opportunities and programs that restore and enhance wildlife habitat.
The Mississippi Senate also passed its own conservation funding bill last week. SB 2495 would establish a conservation funding program for outdoor, wildlife habitat and public outdoor recreation projects. Eligible projects would be limited to just 20% of Mississippi lands and charitable conservation and outdoors groups would be restricted from participation.The legislation allocates zero funding to the program and contains a provision that would terminate the program after three years.
