Federal Budget Cuts Impacting Local NRCS Efforts

Like other programs under the USDA’s umbrella, NRCS has undergone budget cuts because of the Trump Administration’s effort to trim federal spending.  Matt Warbritton with NRCS said those cuts have translated into the termination of three staff members, leaving five full time positions to cover Washington, Oregon and northern California.

“Across that region there is approximately 108 automated monitoring stations that require annual servicing, or in other words, someone on the ground at those stations in the summer doing maintenance and any needed repairs at those stations to ensure we continue collecting viable data from those sites.”

Warbritton noted the work they do at NRCS is very important to the local farming community, from monitoring snow melt to reservoir levels and much more.

“It was in part because of the agricultural community that our program was created. It was created during the Dust Bowl in the mid 1930s, in part at the call of the agricultural community at the time, that was wanting a more centralized snow survey program.  With the realization that basins and watersheds and just landowners cross state boundaries.”

Warbritton is hopeful that some or all of the staff will be brought back.  But if not, he said maintaining those stations will be very challenging.

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