Trump's 2018 budget proposal could hurt Chattanooga area outdoor projects

The sun sets beyond cannons that mark the position of Slocomb's Confederate Battery during the 1863 battle of Chickamauga.  President Donald Trump's budget could have a impact on the management of the Chattanooga area's Federal Lands such as Chickamauga and Chattanooga National Military Park.
The sun sets beyond cannons that mark the position of Slocomb's Confederate Battery during the 1863 battle of Chickamauga. President Donald Trump's budget could have a impact on the management of the Chattanooga area's Federal Lands such as Chickamauga and Chattanooga National Military Park.

Local outdoor advocates are monitoring the proposed federal budget and encouraging fans of the outdoors to do the same.

Proposed cuts to the Environmental Protection Agency have grabbed headlines, but other cuts in President Donald Trump's preliminary 2018 budget proposal could hurt regional outdoor projects, too, advocates say.

A locally based conservation organization that finished a trail to a Civil War site in East Chattanooga last year could have its operations damaged by the proposed budget.

The Southeast Conservation Corps put 120 members to work around the region in 2016 on trail projects, including the East Chattanooga trail. Many of those members came to the agency through AmeriCorps, which is slated for elimination under the proposed budget.

SECC program director Brenna Kelly said AmeriCorps members contributed 44,000 service hours to SECC as the organization improved 107 miles of trails or waterways around the region in 2016. SECC also helped remove invasive species on hundreds of acres and sent a disaster relief crew to Louisiana for 30 days to help with flood relief in 2016, Kelly said.

She said that if AmeriCorps stopped existing, SECC could survive.

"But it would very much alter the way our program operates, and we would lose some funding," Kelly said. "It would definitely have an impact on us."

AmeriCorps is a program of the Corporation for National and Community Service, which is slated for elimination under the proposed budget. AmeriCorps members also participate in Chattanooga's Retired and Senior Volunteer Program and the city's Foster Grandparent Program.

With SECC now entering its fifth year, Kelly has two full-time staff members. She said that will allow her to raise more awareness about the conservation work SECC is doing in the region with the help of AmeriCorps, as politicians in Washington hash out the final 2018 budget.

"I need to spend time educating people on AmeriCorps," she said. "A lot of people don't understand that it's at work in their community."

Kelly is originally from Kentucky but moved to California through AmeriCorps after college to work with a conservation corps there before returning to the south.

"The fact that something like this didn't exist in the South made me come back," she said. "I thought it was frustrating, because not everybody can move to California or Colorado."

Several dozen Chattanoogans gathered last week in Miller Park for a rally called "Protect Our Parks," which decried a possible reduction to the Land and Water Conservation Fund. The fund has helped fund projects on federal lands surrounding Chattanooga.

Attendees held signs with messages like "Nature is our greatest resource."

The Department of the Interior, which manages National Parks, would also have its funding reduced by 12 percent under the proposed budget.

A summary of the proposal from the White House says the proposed budget "reduces funding for lower priority activities, such as new major acquisitions of federal land."

The footprint of Chickamauga and Chattanooga National Military Park is slated to expand this year with the finalization of a management plan for the Moccasin Bend Archaeological District. The land is already in federal control.

Friends of Chickamauga and Chattanooga National Military Park Executive Director Tricia Mims said the group hopes the military park will continue to receive adequate funding from the federal government.

"I think we're all kind of in a wait-and-see pattern at this point, because it's all still preliminary," Mims said. "We would hope that the resources would be available to the park to continue doing the important job of educating the public about our history and protecting the landscape."

Mims noted that the park estimates its annual visitor total at roughly 1 million.

"So I think Chattanoogans, in particular, should pay close attention to the budget," she said, "and maybe encourage their Congress people to pay particular attention to our park and all the good things it does for our community."

Contact staff writer David Cobb at dcobb@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6249.

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