Mason - Posts still stand where waterfowl and goslings were once raised, the old, rusted fencing and barbed wire lying nearby.
Just across the trail, the remnants of last season’s prairie grasses stick up above the small amount of snow cover.
The Ingham Conservation District has worked to clean up the land since receiving it two years ago but executive director Susan Tangora said there is still a lot to be done.
Eventually the district wants to restore the 200-acre plot to a mix of beech-maple woodland, grassland and wetland areas.
But a lack of funds limits the amount of work the small district can do.
“Volunteers are a really good resource,” Tangora said. “But your hands are always tied and utilizing volunteers for the real technical work has its drawbacks because they don’t have the background.”
The district receives $34,000 each year from the county and a small amount from the state but relies mostly on grants to fund its staff and pay for equipment.
It’s not an uncommon situation for conservation districts, Tangora said.
The district began as a soil conservation district developed by the federal government, but is now funded by local governments.
“It’s that unfunded mandate,” Tangora said. “But they funded us so low I think they really tied our arms.”
Tangora said there are advantages to relying on a multitude of incomes, like an increase of partnerships and resources, but having a solid base would help.
But the possibility of an increase appears slight as many of the county commissioners see the district as an antiquated group.
“It’s kind of like the county inherited a group of Masons, except the Masons have funny hats and handshakes,” County Commissioner Mark Grebner said. “You think, ‘Boy, that’s left over from 1945.’”
Grebner added that the district still serves a New Deal-type purpose.
“Think ‘The Grapes of Wrath,’” he said.
Such a purpose doesn’t fit with the county’s purpose but integration with the county drain commission would increase the district’s usefulness.
As an independent group, the district can do much of the local field work that the Department of Natural Resources cannot afford to focus on, DNR spokesman Brad Wurfel said.
“The local folks often are the on-the-ground people,” he said. “There have been some budget changes and those have certainly impacted our ability to address some of those issues.”
Many districts provide assistance for farmers and other private landowners to control soil erosion and bring in money from various organizations to address land use issues, said Gordon Wenk, deputy director of the Michigan Department of Agriculture’s environmental stewardship division.
“They help promote good sound conservation and stewardship on farms that help farmers farm,” he said.
