By Leah Stetson – ASWM

Highlights of EPA’s Sustainable Finance Training Workshop, Chelmsford, MA

Most state wetland programs are funded through a combination of state and federal sources. Securing sustained funding is always challenging, but even more so now when most states are cutting budgets in response to dramatically reduced tax revenue. Thus most state wetland programs are not growing and some are incurring cuts to staffing or support services.

State wetland program managers do work actively to find funding sources. Every year one or more states try to increase permit fees to cover increasing program costs. But formal actions to secure additional funding do not necessarily result in success. For example two years ago in Michigan the state legislature refused to allow an increase in state wetland permitting fees to cover increased program costs. As a result, the following spring the Governor proposed to return the Section 404 program to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers as a cost saving measure. It was only after many months of high profile news articles and public and private discussions that a compromise was reached that secured new funding.

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