USDA Funding for Lincoln and Kennebec counties: How Should Money be Spent? Knox-Lincoln and Kennebec Soil & Water Conservation Districts (SWCDs), in cooperation with the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) field office in Augusta, will host an in-person meeting of the Kennebec-Lincoln Local Working Group (LWG).

Taking into account local resource concerns, these Local Working Groups make recommendations to NRCS on how to spend USDA Farm Bill funds for conservation practices on private lands. This year’s meetings will be held at Augusta City Hall, room 145 located at 16 Cony Street. Participants must enter the building at the front doors and then get to the meeting room at the far right of the building.  There will be signs to direct to room 145.

If you are an agricultural producer; forester, logger or private woodland owner; member of an environmental or watershed organization or land trust; knowledgeable in soil, water, plant, wetland or wildlife sciences; and/or are familiar with agricultural and natural resource concerns, we invite you to attend this meeting to help 1) identify and prioritize local conservation concerns; and 2) recommend how local funds for USDA Environmental Quality Incentive Programs (EQIP) will be distributed by NRCS to alleviate problems.

Meetings will be in person; masking guidelines will be followed. Refreshments will be provided. If you plan to attend, please contact your local soil & water conservation district: Knox-Lincoln: Julie at 596-2040, julie@knox-lincoln.org or Kennebec: Dale at 207-480-3927, dfinseth@kcswcd.org. If you are unable to attend, you may send comments to your local soil & water conservation district. FMI about LWGs, please visit https://www.knox-lincoln.org/local-working-group.