A message from the Board of Directors.
February 5, 2025
Last week’s executive order regarding a federal funding pause issued by the Trump Administration has caused confusion, concern, and uncertainty. Additional confusion arose when a judge paused the order, and the White House subsequently rescinded the memo but not the executive order. At this time, it is unclear if federal funds will be paused or not, or if additional attempts may be made. Federal awards and funding are a complicated web which impact most peoples’ daily lives.
We appreciate the countless members, volunteers, committee members, donors, and community members who have reached out to ask how the potential federal funding pause affects the Superior Rivers Watershed Association and what they can do to help.
Will a potential pause on federal funding affect Superior Rivers?
The answer is yes, but at this time, we simply don’t know how much. We rely on federal grants for many of our projects, but our core water quality monitoring program is mostly donation and foundation funded. We currently have three projects which are funded by federal awards:
- Our Fish Creek Slough Cattail Removal project is funded by US Fish and Wildlife through the EPA’s Great Lakes Restoration Initiative.
- Our Education Coordinator and participation in the Rivers2Lake Program is funded through a National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) grant subawarded from the Lake Superior Estuarine Research Reserve.
- Our upcoming Flood Risk Assessment in the White, Montreal, Fish Creek, and Nemadji Rivers is funded through a NOAA grant subawarded from the Northwest Regional Planning Commission.
The US-Fish and Wildlife service briefly required a pause to all grant activities last week, but at this time, all our federal grants are operating as normal unless we learn otherwise.
What is the organization doing?
We are currently reviewing our expenses and developing contingency plans based on the variety of scenarios that could happen in the weeks and months to come. This pause may affect us very little in the end, or it may affect the projects listed above as well as our ability to hire and employ staff. We will keep our community informed as the situation develops.
What can you do?
As the situation evolves, we may be reaching out to our membership for ways they can help. In the meantime, you can contact your representatives to let them know how this impacts people and work in their district, and that the work that matters to you.
Thank you so much to all of our members and donors.
Your donations really do matter and help us continue our work and weather times of uncertainty like this. Because of you, we are able to withstand a short pause on funding.
No matter how the coming weeks, months, and years progress, we will continue to connect people, land, and water as we have for the last twenty four years. For further questions, please contact Alex at alex@superiorrivers.org or 715-682-2003.
Thank you,
- Alex Faber, Executive Director
- April Stone, President
- Diane Daulton, Vice President
- Doug Lowthian, Treasurer
- Abi Fergus, Secretary
- Ulf Gafvert
- Bill Route
- Allissa Stutte
- Rob Croll
- Brian Nowak-Thompson
- Michelle Carlile
