EPA has ended its partnership with a national nonprofit that supports state wetland programs, cutting off a crucial funding stream for the nonpartisan group and forcing it to cut four of its nine staff positions.
The agency this year declined to renew a cooperative funding agreement with the National Association of Wetland Managers (NAWM), according to the group’s executive director, Marla Stelk. The group has partnered with EPA for at least a decade to support state and tribal efforts to regulate, conserve and restore wetlands.
The cooperative agreement was worth $1.2 million, with EPA providing $893,890 a year and NAWM $297,966.
Stelk called the loss of support “devastating” in an email Monday to NAWM members and announced she would resign to help stabilize the group’s finances. Three other staff positions are being eliminated, leaving five staffers. The group is moving out of its office in Portland, Maine.
