Governor Tony Evers has released his 2021 budget proposal and it includes a 10-year reauthorization of the Knowles-Nelson Stewardship Program at $70 million per year.
This is a tremendous win for the conservation community. Since 2007, the program has been cut from a high of $86 million per year down to its current level of $33 million per year. Here at Team Knowles Nelson, we’re thrilled by the prospect of a long-term authorization of the program with robust funding to support ambitious conservation goals around the state.
The governor’s budget is just the beginning of the debate, however. The legislature will now take control of the budget process. Some of Governor Evers’ priorities will be incorporated, some will be discarded, and others will be modified. We all need to work together to ensure that the Knowles-Nelson Stewardship Program makes it through the state budget debates with the broad, bipartisan support that it deserves.
Please take a moment now and email the governor and your state legislators. It just takes a few seconds to thank the governor for his support of Knowles-Nelson and to ask your legislators to make sure that the Knowles-Nelson Stewardship Program is renewed for ten years and fully funded. Thank you!
