Support Alaska Division of Agriculture

To the editor:

We are writing in support for the Alaska Division of Agriculture. We have experience with the Alaska Division of Agriculture through serving as the Board of Directors of the Upper Susitna Soil and Water Conservation District. The district provides valuable services to our community and partners with other Conservation Districts and communities to provide services where they are most needed. Some services the Alaska Division of Agriculture supports in our office include hiring local youth to undertake work projects such as controlling invasive plants, providing safe trails that prevent erosion or water pollution, building bridges over fish spawning streams to prevent erosion from all-terrain vehicles, and many other important projects. This is only one example of many.

Other states in the Lower 48 have state funding for Conservation Districts, Alaska does not have secure state funding and this year, when we were notified that the state of Alaska was giving us no funding, the Alaska Division of Agriculture increased its annual contribution to the Districts by $9,200. This funding is essential to Alaska’s Conservation Districts that do not know year to year if their funding will be sufficient to support these important projects.

The assistance from the Alaska Division of Agriculture also has helped farmers with soil tests, farmer’s markets and providing sustainable food to our community. The money also contributes to best practices farming for the sustainability of our natural resources. Moreover, the Alaska Division of Agriculture has provided us with funding, guidance, and reporting requirements to improve the quality of our Land Capability Classification projects with NRCS.

Thank you for your consideration and we hope the Alaska Division of Agriculture will receive your support in the future.

Upper Susitna Soil and Water Conservation

District

Board of Directors