Contact your Members of Congress and Urge Them to Hold the Line on WFPO Spending
Contact your Member of Congress using a message at THIS LINK on an important federal conservation program. We have heard that there is pressure from some quarters on Capitol Hill to significantly lower the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service Watershed and Flood Prevention Operations Program (WFPO) funding for FY22 to pay for other things.
WFPO funding is critical for supporting the modernization of irrigation water delivery infrastructure at scale. It also funds projects like flood prevention and damage reduction, development of rural water supply sources, erosion and sediment control, fish and wildlife habitat enhancement, wetland creation and restoration, and recreational opportunities.
This is a program that Family Farm Alliance members have put to use replace leaking, open canals with pressurized pipes, and overall improving agricultural water security. The program’s funding is becoming increasingly competitive because of the scale of need in modernizing agricultural infrastructure.
Appropriators from both Chambers are meeting to negotiate an “omnibus” package to be voted on by both Houses. Reducing WFPO funding for FY22 to pay for other things would be a step in the wrong direction.
This funding is critical to help our agricultural communities modernize and be able to address the on-going challenges associated with long-term drought.
