Nearly half of Illinois’ 97 soil and water conservation districts have just one staffer because of uneven state funding and low pay that makes hiring and retention more difficult.
According to the Illinois Department of Agriculture’s directory for the districts, 47 districts have only one staffer. In 21 of those, that one person serves two roles.
In the other districts without two employees, the district simply goes without. The districts generally follow county boundaries, although some serve multiple counties and are grouped together.
Staff at Illinois’ Soil and Water Conservation Districts do important work to help landowners carry out conservation work, connect them to resources and teach them how to implement different strategies.
Each district should ideally have two staffers — a resource conservationist and an administrative coordinator — according to Eliot Clay, the executive director of the Association of Illinois Soil and Water Conservation Districts.
The resource conservationist primarily works in the field with landowners to determine which conservation projects work for them and then connect them to the appropriate programs. The administrative coordinator generally handles office administration work, education and offers landowners advice and assistance with applications. Both employees can be certified in conservation and work in the field.
Clay said funding shortfalls are largely behind the staffing shortage.
“The big problem is that we do not have enough money to retain people for long periods of time at competitive salaries,” he said.
People working at the districts often have four-year degrees and levels of certification on top of that, which can influence how much money a district receives from the state. The base amount of operations money allocated for every Illinois district in 2026 was $40,000.
Clay and some Illinois lawmakers such as Sen. Koehler of Peoria are working on strategies to boost funding for the districts so conservation efforts can grow in Illinois.
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