Dennis Becker, Ph.D., NAUFRP President
It would be an understatement to say that it has been an eventful spring. Despite the challenges, we remain steadfast in our mission and continue the important work of the organization. The following are a few key updates and upcoming actions in lieu of the spring NAUFRP newsletter.
McIntire-Stennis Allocations
The second quarter McIntire-Stennis allocations were distributed to member institutions in late March. The funding levels from Q1 and Q2 appear to reflect pre-Continuing Resolution (CR) calculations. We have confirmed through APLU that the CR, which passed on March 15, is intended to fully fund McIntire-Stennis at the FY24 level. NIFA Q3 guidance is forthcoming.
For those following President Trump’s skinny budget, you saw the proposed cut to NIFA of $602M with priority to competitive programs over formula funding for McIntire-Stennis and other capacity programs. This is due in part to the misperception that capacity programs are being used to subvert the President’s Executive Order on DEI Programs and Preferencing. There is also a lack of awareness for what McIntire-Stennis does fund, like reducing the impact of wildfires on public and private forestlands, developing new forest products, and the many other ways we provide benefit to our states and local communities. I encourage you to work with your university’s government affairs office to share the impact of your McIntire-Stennis projects.
Now would be a good time to update those one-page project summaries. House members are especially interested in hearing about impacts to their districts. Senate members will be more interested in hearing about statewide impacts.
NAUFRP leadership will continue to work with our Washington Counsel, Randy Nuckolls, and with APLU to advocate for our McIntire-Stennis appropriation.
NAUFRP Website Update
The NAUFRP website continues to experience some technical difficulties that we are working to resolve. We are also looking for a new contractor to help rebuild and modernize the website to better reflect and promote our collective work. I welcome your ideas and offers of help for this reboot. A big thank you to Michigan Technological University for agreeing to host the site.
