Your Advocacy Matters – Received from Audubon Great Lakes
We wanted to give you an update on the passing of the 2023 State Budget and the provisions that we have worked hard to pass.
As the Indiana General Assembly session wraps up, we wanted to update you on some of our policy priorities for 2023. In January, Audubon advocates from across the state gathered at the Indiana Statehouse to ask their representatives to support investments in land conservation and oppose any new rollbacks of protections for Indiana’s wetlands.
On April 28, Indiana state leaders seized a tremendous opportunity to invest in the future of our state by passing one of the largest investments in land conservation in 30 years.
Prioritizing conservation can ensure the long-term survival of our most vulnerable species while protecting our quality of life. The Indiana General assembly did just that by including $10 million in the President Benjamin Harrison Conservation Trust Fund to conserve important natural areas across Indiana, and $30 million to expand state trails in the 2023-2024 budget.
With the passage of this year’s state budget, Indiana can start to meet the incredible demand for conservation across our state. In 2019, Governor Holcomb launched Next Level Trails, a $150 million grant program to develop new trails across the state. Applications for the grant program have exceeded available funding. In addition, virtually every grant proposal for Indiana’s Regional Economic Acceleration and Development Initiative (READI), which dedicates millions of state dollars to promote economic growth, contains trail, greenway or park projects.
In order to guarantee that these investments in conservation are not undermined, it is imperative that we have policies in place that protect our natural resources. Indiana ranks fourth among states with the greatest loss of wetlands, with 85 percent of its original wetlands already gone. In 2021, lawmakers passed shortsighted policy that rolled back protections of our state’s wetlands and this year special interests once again attempted to add language to unrelated bills that would deepen those rollbacks even more.
These policies and attempts to remove wetlands protections are out of step with the concerns of everyday Hoosiers. Polling released by Audubon Great Lakes last year found that 94 percent of Indiana voters believe that state leaders should either strengthen or maintain Indiana’s current wetlands protection. We applaud Indiana lawmakers for listening to concerned residents and ensuring that there were no new rollbacks of wetlands protections in this year’s budget.
Preserving our shared spaces and natural resources is vital to ensure a healthy and flourishing way of life for birds, wildlife, and people in the Hoosier state. Thank you for your on-going advocacy and playing a major role in a state budget that was a step in the right direction for Indiana’s land, air, and water.