The Natural Resources Conservation Service and Soil and Water Conservation Districts of Knox-Lincoln, Waldo, and Kennebec counties will be hosting meetings of the Local Work Groups. The meetings are open to the public and local input is encouraged. Knox/Waldo meeting will be held on Tuesday November 29, from  to 3:30 p.m. at the Union Town Office, 567 Common Rd, Union; and the Lincoln/Kennebec meeting will be held on Thursday, December 1, from 1:30 – 3:30 p.m. at the Augusta USDA Service Center, 21 Enterprise Drive, Augusta.

The Local Work Group consists of key people from natural resource agencies, environmental organizations, and conservation groups, as well as foresters, loggers, agricultural producers and interested individuals.

The meeting provides NRCS with feedback to assist in setting local natural resource priorities. The priorities are used to help determine allocation of local funding pools for USDA conservation programs for the 2018 funding year.

Topics to be discussed include: establishing local ranking questions and points for selecting individual contracts for funding in 2018; creating local pools for targeted funding; establishing funding allocation percentages for resource categories; and reviewing the Knox-Lincoln, Waldo, and Kennebec Natural Resource Assessments to begin targeting priorities for funding rounds in 2019.

Contact Hildy Ellis, 596-2040, hildy@knox-lincoln.org (Knox-Lincoln); Kym Sanderson, 338-1964 x4, kym.sanderson@me.nacdnet.net (Waldo); or Dale Finseth, 622-7847 x3, dfinseth@kcswcd.org (Kennebec) for additional information or if you require assistance to attend either meeting.

USDA and SWCDs are equal opportunity providers and employers.