The Illinois General Assembly failed to pass a bill this spring that would have increased funding for Soil and Water Conservation Districts by $10 million. Now, the Effingham County Soil and Water Conservation District is left receiving $45,000 to pay for two full-time employees.

“It doesn’t even hardly cover the salary of one of us,” said Effingham County SWCD Resource Conservationist Denise Willenborg. She called the Fiscal Year 2027 budget that held funding at $4.5 million for the third straight year, which is $4 million below where funding was three years ago, “disheartening.”

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“It affects the district big time,” she said.

To compensate for funding shortfalls, the district has generated revenue through tree sales and the Conservation Reserve Program seeding. CRP is a voluntary program that encourages agricultural producers and landowners to convert highly erodible and other environmentally sensitive acreage to vegetative cover, such as native grasses, trees and riparian buffers. Participants receive annual rental payments and cost-share assistance to establish long-term, resource-conserving vegetative covers. The program helps to improve water quality, control soil erosion, and enhance wildlife habitat.

Effingham County SWCD provides producers who sign up for the program with seed ordering and field spraying before seeding. The district mainly plants pollinator habitats that include prairie grasses and forbs to keep pollinators active year-round. The district has also planted quail habitats as buffers along field edges to help bring more quail back to the state.

The district subcontracts other parts of the work, including using the district’s no-till drill, planting the acres, and setting permanent boundary markers.

“When everything is said and done, they get one bill from the Soil and Water Conservation District,” said Willenborg. “They pay that bill, and then they bring it in to the Farm Service Agency to get their cost-share reimbursement through the CRP program.”

While CRP seedings help cover operational costs, Willenborg noted that the district is relying on a program that fluctuates annually in acreage because not all acres need to be reseeded. It’s also based on whether the producer wants to sign up new acres. In addition, the district is just one of several contractors that provide the service.

“If it’s not a very big sign-up, then the acres go down, so then you’re not seeding as much,” she explained.

The district began the service over a decade ago.

“It’s a good thing we did because as the years keep going, our budget keeps getting worse with the state. So we had to supplement our income,” she said, noting the district has had many repeat customers who signed 10-year contracts.

The district also administers the Partners for Conservation Program, a state-supported initiative, helping producers implement various projects on their fields, such as grass waterways or erosion-control measures. Some of those dollars can also be used to fund a cover crop program. Last year, the district ran out of PFC money to fund cover crops even though some producers were interested in participating.

“Instead of telling those people ‘No, we can’t help you,’ that’s when the Soil and Water Conservation District stepped up and said, ‘Hey, we’ll fund that project,’” said Willenborg.

The district was able to plant over 800 acres with cover crops last year using revenue generated from the CRP seeding program.

“So that’s going to just help put more cover crops in our county, and that’s going to help with the nutrient loss reduction strategy,” said Willenborg.

The Illinois Nutrient Loss Reduction Strategy is a statewide collaborative effort to reduce the amount of nutrients, particularly nitrogen and phosphorus, entering Illinois waterways to improve water quality.

“That’s why we chose to use our own revenue to help put cover crops on the fields because that’s going to keep that nitrogen and phosphorus and stuff out of our waterways,” said Willenborg.

In Mason, about half of Stan Kuhns’ overall acreage is planted in cover crops. He mainly uses them for erosion control.

“You’ve got a plant established and then there in early spring when you get the big rain, you’ve got cover on in-field,” he said.

The local district has been an important part of his family’s agricultural operation over the years, starting with his father. Kuhns said the district has been a “go-to resource” for everything from soil erosion and water handling to manure management for their hogs. Kuhns realizes the value of conservation and sees the district as a leader in that.

“If we lose that, you know who’s going to carry that flag?” he posed, as other SWCDs deal with funding loss. “By being underfunded, I think they’re losing relevance in their county because it’s hard to keep a program going if you ain’t got money.”

He also sees having that local resource as invaluable.

“You know the person you’re dealing with. You know you don’t have to drive 100 miles to access them, and then the people actually live in the community they serve,” he said. “I really believe that people are more apt to walk into their county office and have a discussion with somebody they know on conservation than call somebody up a hundred miles away and have them walk you through it.”

In addition to helping producers, the district has been a community steward.

In April, the district partnered with the state SWCD on a tree grant and enlisted 4-Hers to plant 25 oak trees at the Effingham County Fairgrounds. Like the tree sales, the district plans to start a fish sale this fall. While the tree sales don’t generate a lot of income, Willenborg said they are popular with both urban and rural residents. So the district continues to offer it as a public service.

“So it’s things like that that we try to help and do for the community and the county and just keep our name out there and try and educate people about what we are and who we are and try and let them know that we’re important,” said Willenborg. “We need to be here.”

Willenborg believes the district’s services are needed at a pivotal time when agricultural land is being taken out of production to make way for developments such as solar farms.

“That’s going to be a growing concern,” she said.

The Land Conservation Act, a Senate bill introduced in the General Assembly, would have assessed developers a one-time fee of $275 for every acre taken out of production, whether for data centers, industrial expansion, renewable energy projects or housing development. The fee would then go into an operations fund for soil and water conservation districts, creating a sustainable funding source for them and addressing their budget shortfalls.

“In FY25 alone, Illinois lost more than 75,000 acres of productive farmland to development,” said Elliot Clay, the executive director of the Association of Illinois Soil and Water Conservation Districts, in recent prepared Senate testimony supporting SB 4044.

The measure drew bipartisan support but was never called in committee. Clay is hopeful, though, that it will be called during the fall veto session.

“We are not asking lawmakers to stop development. We are asking for an acknowledgment that Illinois values stewardship alongside growth,” he said.