At least $134 million in federal conservation funds approved by Congress for projects across South Dakota remain frozen in the aftermath of a January executive order, creating widespread operational uncertainty for local agricultural and environmental programs. U.S. District Judge Mary McElroy of Rhode Island ordered the Trump administration to release the funding, prompting a notice of intent to comply, though grantees report the money remains inaccessible.
### Federal Conservation Grants Remain Inaccessible
The funding in question flows through the Inflation Reduction Act, which was authorized by Congress and signed into law under former President Joe Biden in 2022. Department of Agriculture following an executive order issued by President Donald Trump on January 20. Judge McElroy, who was nominated by President Trump in 2019 during his first term, issued a nationwide order last week instructing the administration to release the withheld money. The administration filed a notice the following day stating its intent to comply. However, on Sunday, the organizations that filed the lawsuit over the funding freeze submitted a notice indicating that the grant funds remain inaccessible. Angela Ehlers, executive director of the South Dakota Association of Conservation Districts, noted that the pause affects voluntary programs rather than regulatory mandates. “They’re voluntary, and the fact that they’ve been frozen without explanation creates a chilling effect across the entire landscape.”
### Impacts on Beginning Farmers and Agricultural Programs
The funding freeze has directly impacted initiatives designed to support beginning farmers and alternative agricultural production in South Dakota. Ehlers’s association partnered with South Dakota State University on a grant-funded effort supporting young producers entering agriculture through sheep and goat production. That initiative offers a pathway into farming while functioning as a conservation measure, given that sheep and goat operations demand less land and capital than traditional cattle or grain farming. “There’s a real opportunity here, but we just don’t know if the grant funding will continue,” Ehlers said. Similar operational hurdles affect water quality and habitat restoration programming along the Big Sioux River. Jay Gilbertson, manager of the East Dakota Water Development District, explained that while most watershed project funding technically remains available, concurrent staff losses and hiring freezes have severely restricted on-the-ground delivery. “Even if you don’t reduce the program funding, who’s going to do the work?” Gilbertson said. “If you fire someone who’s approving payments or working directly with farmers, it creates a massive gap in capacity.”
### Broader Federal Budget Cuts and Health Screening Impacts
The conservation funding pause coincides with funding freezes and grant cancellations affecting state infrastructure and public health programs. In a separate reporting effort by Emily DeCock of South Dakota News Watch, a national program providing low-income women with free mammograms and Pap smears experienced administrative delays that temporarily disrupted scheduling. South Dakota’s program, known as All Women Count! and managed by the state Department of Health, distributes federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention funds to local partners. State health officials were notified on June 23 that partner agreements would terminate effective June 30 due to a lapse in previous funding. The South Dakota Department of Health received its notice of award on June 30, just one day before the third fiscal quarter began on July 1. Breast cancer remains the most frequently diagnosed cancer and the fourth leading cause of cancer deaths among women in South Dakota, where an estimated 613 women are diagnosed and 115 die from the disease annually.
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