Mississippi Creates Fund To Invest In Outdoors

Mississippi legislators voted to create a fund to invest in the outdoors and conservation. A pair of similar bills, (HB 606 and HB 1064) voted on by the House last week, would establish the Mississippi Outdoor Stewardship Trust Fund with no new tax to fund it. 

“We applaud the House leadership for passing this legislation – without it, Mississippi loses out on tens of millions of federal dollars. For example, Mississippi only receives $300,000 yearly from the Regional Conservation Partnership Program, a very successful program in the Farm Bill,” Ed Penny with Ducks Unlimited said. “Other surrounding states are receiving approximately $6 million a year from this same program for the same efforts. That is $6m a year – or $60m over ten years – that we’re missing out on all because we lack the matching funds needed to secure these federal dollars. This is just one program, there are many others like it that could literally bring millions more for conservation to Mississippi. This House legislation addresses this issue head on because it will invest the needed dollars necessary to secure these additional federal funds.”

This bipartisan legislation dedicates more than $10 million a year to long-term conservation efforts and secures tens of millions more in federal dollars that would maximize the overall impact of the program. This bipartisan legislation passed with nearly unanimous support by a vote of 117-4.

“When we conducted polling on this issue, over 75% of Mississippians supported this approach for a conservation and outdoor program. This would potentially triple the overall amount of dollars for the outdoors and conservation coming to our state, which in turn would create more jobs and help strengthen our economy,” Alex Littlejohn with The Nature Conservancy said. “These investments would ultimately place Mississippi exactly where we are supposed to be – as a leader in the outdoors and conservation.” 

Read the full article from The Natchez Democrat here.