Colorado agriculture programs feeling federal funding freeze

Quick links: Stalled agriculture programs | SBA changes in Denver | Tipped workers speak out | Take the reader poll | Colorado business briefs

Michael Nolan wasn’t holding back in the Facebook post he made Feb. 18 about a hit his conservation district took during President Donald Trump’s first round of federal funding cuts.

Nolan is president of the Mancos Conservation District in the town of Mancos about 30 miles from Durango. He and his partner, Mindy Perkovich, also run a flower and vegetable farm that’s been their livelihood for a decade. And they’re the recipients, like many producers in the 73 other conservation districts scattered throughout Colorado, of federal funding through cost-share programs to improve things like soil health, water quality and wildlife habitat.

But on Feb. 14, Nolan got the dreaded letter so many federal employees and recipients of federal grants had received some version of.

It was from the acting chief of the National Resources Conservation Service, Louis Aspey, terminating its $630,000 grant to the district, which had been using the money for the past 10 months. The NRCS grant was to reach underserved producers and provide equitable access to conservation resources. But, Nolan said, “it does not align with current agency policies regarding DEI.”

Some of the money was earmarked for the creation and distribution of 2,000 copies of a Rural Living Guidebook — 500 of which would have gone to historically underserved producers.

Nolan identified them as “beginning farmers and ranchers (10 years or less in production … aka the next generation we need), limited-resource farmers and ranchers (less than $170k annually gross), veteran farmers and ranchers, and socially disadvantaged, which around here in Montezuma County would be our tribal community of Ute Mountain Ute.”

Other dollars would have gone to workshops, movie screenings and a festival about water.

But this wasn’t the year for the district to complete its many projects. And the only positive was that, unlike many producers, it didn’t have to pay back money it had spent with the understanding that the federal government would reimburse it.

How the federal freeze has stalled Colorado ag programs

Many millions of funding dollars are administered to programs like the Mancos Conservation District’s through the Colorado Department of Agriculture. And Olga Robak, department spokesperson, said the federal government’s decision to pull back funds that are already committed to helping Coloradans is impacting individuals and small businesses across the state.

The confusion and uncertainty caused by pulling back these funds is impacting CDA’s partners and the important work they’re doing, Robak added.

Frozen funds have already resulted in the termination of four positions within the Working Lands Conservation Corps, which provides young adults and veterans the opportunity to serve through projects on public lands and in rural and urban communities, she said.

Another 41 full-time district conservation technicians and Climate Smart Commodity Grant staff positions funded through the Inflation Reduction Act are no longer funded, she added.

Any future funding for the Specialty Crop Block Grant, which Robak says strengthens Colorado’s supply chain and supports smaller producers and manufacturers, has been put on hold.

And the agriculture department has “no clarity on whether we can hire seasonal workers funded by federal funding for several programs, including a pest survey and noxious weed management staff who perform critical conservation and plant health work over the summer,” Robak said.

But it’s stories like this one from Marisa Neuzil, district manager for the Teller-Park County Conservation District, that put a human face on the funding freezes.

Neuzil said through a Working Lands Conservation Corps grant, her district had brought on an intern, Rachel Post, a University of Wyoming grad, in mid-November, who was supposed to stay for a year.

Through the grant, Post was learning about forest management, stream erosion and range management — all Environmental Quality Incentives Program practices through NRCS, she added. “She was just on-boarding with government systems that would have enabled her to take online USDA training and get certifications through the process. And she was working closely with our partner biologist on forest planning on a large project in Park County.”

The NRCS has been working with conservation districts for decades in outreach and education. But by Feb. 18, 1,400 NRCS probationary employees nationwide were thought to have been fired.

On Feb. 13, the Park-Teller district was informed the plug had been pulled on the Working Lands Conservation Corps program. And now, even though the district came up with money to pay Post for three months to stay on as an employee, “she won’t have any of the things that we anticipated she was going to have,” like an $8,000 award she could have put toward paying off college or going to grad school, Neuzil said.

“Rachel came to us with an undergrad in natural resources. She has the skills and the desire to learn anything thrown her way. She was the first person to sign on to this program in Colorado. And she came to work with a smile every day.”

“It’s just heartbreaking. She was a poster child for this program.”

Take the poll: The Feds are still coming to Colorado

Federal agencies like the National Park Service and U.S. Forest Service have lost workers as the Trump administration seeks to cut waste. But other, lesser-known Colorado agriculture programs are feeling the heat, too. What’s important to you?

Help us understand what Coloradans care about by taking our reader poll. >> cosun.co/WWcoloag

Big changes to small businesses agency in Colorado

Days after the U.S. Senate confirmed Kelly Loeffler as the new leader of the Small Business Administration, the Georgia businesswoman and former senator released her “Day One Priorities” to the public.

As with other federal overhauls, SBA employees must return to the office full time and face workforce reductions.

But of note for Colorado, and especially Denver, was a priority to move regional offices “out of sanctuary cities,” and to cities that are “less costly, more accessible locations in communities that comply with federal immigration law.”

Denver, which a Congressional committee called “a sanctuary city,” wasn’t called out in Loeffler’s memo but the city is the current home of SBA’s Colorado District Office.

SBA officials did not respond to questions for clarification on whether the district office will leave Denver.

But U.S. Republican Rep. Jeff Crank welcomed the agency to make its new home in Colorado Springs.

“The short move to Colorado Springs would allow the SBA to comply with President Trump’s executive orders and your Day One Memo while minimizing reduction in services or loss of personnel,” Crank said in his letter. “President Trump has prioritized hiring military spouses to federal jobs to address the 20% unemployment rate they face. Moving the District Office to the Springs would allow it to recruit spouses from the five military installations located within El Paso County.”

Meanwhile, Democratic U.S. Sen. John Hicklooper sent a letter to Loeffler demanding to know the reasons the SBA fired, rehired and then “re-fired” employees. Some workers had supported disaster assistance and loan programs. Some were service-disabled veterans and getting fired “by email, is not how our country should treat public servants, especially our heroes,” Hickenlooper wrote.

Neither have heard a response from the SBA, nor have we.

MORE: Federal transition and Colorado

➔ NOAA’s Boulder operation was hit Thursday. Mass firings of probationary federal workers begin at NOAA, including many in Boulder. >> Read

➔ Social Security. The Social Security Administration announced “significant workforce reductions” agency wide in a news release and clarified Friday that this means cutting 7,000 jobs to get the agency to 50,000 employees. In Colorado, there were nearly 960,000 people benefiting from Social Security or about one-sixth of the state’s population, according to the latest data from 2023. >> See where Colorado’s beneficiaries live

➔ Some National Park and Forest service jobs restored. More seasonal hires promised. >> Read

➔ $3.2B in funding for Colorado rural electric co-ops and Tri-State frozen as clean energy programs are reconsidered. New ERA program grants to help close coal power plants and add renewable generation are stalled. >> Read

➔ Two Colorado historic sites fear they could become anti-diversity targets amid federal firings. Federal cuts trimmed staff at Amache and Sand Creek Massacre sites. Could the locations’ difficult stories put them in political crosshairs? >> Read

Tipped workers speak out against a bill to change tipped wages

Diners eat at Henry’s 16th Street Tavern in Denver in in May 2020 as restaurants reopened with social distancing and servers wearing masks. (Eric Lubbers, The Colorado Sun)

A bill to help Colorado’s struggling restaurant industry would reduce some minimum wage earners’ tips by up to $4 an hour. And workers and their advocates are fighting back and opposing House Bill 1208, which would flatten the tipped minimum wage to the statewide minimum of $11.79 an hour.

In a news conference Friday, Dave McGuire, a restaurant worker who relies on tips, said he’s worked at seven hospitality companies since moving to Colorado in 2016. Three have closed, including two that closed with no notice.

“I understand that the industry is difficult, especially post COVID-19,” said McGuire, who lives in Thornton. “But the answer is not further cuts to your employees who already have the least job security and least guaranteed income.”

The bill has bipartisan support and for some Democrats who approved raising the minimum wage years ago, it’s a chance to fix unintended consequences of past laws and help restaurants survive, especially in areas where the minimum wage is higher than the state’s.

Right now, tipped workers in Denver make $4 more in hourly base pay, or $15.79. If the bill passes, a server’s tips must cover that $4 difference though if workers don’t earn at least $4 in hourly tips, the employer would cover it.

The bill, which passed out of its first committee on Feb. 20, will be heard Monday afternoon in the House Finance Committee. >> Listen on Monday

➔ Confused about tipped wages? Most people are. In the most recent What’s Working reader poll, 70% of 130 respondents didn’t know what a tipped wage in Colorado means, or they picked the wrong response. Many of those who didn’t pick the answer that $11.79 is the tipped minimum wage in Colorado still had some sort of vague idea: “There’s controversy over it,” said one person.

The tipped wage is typically lower than minimum wage due to an allowed offset for employers. Called the tipped credit, this is the tip amount that employers can expect tipped workers to make while on duty. And if they don’t, the employer covers it. In Colorado, that amount is $3.02.

As the minimum wage has increased in Colorado and certain cities like Denver, the tipped wage has increased at a faster rate. Worker advocates with One Fair Wage have taken the position that everyone needs to make the minimum wage — and not get there through tips.

Only Boulder County and the cities of Denver, Boulder and Edgewater have adopted higher minimum wages so this bill would only impact those workers, which the state labor department estimates at 21,000.

Sun economy stories you may have missed

Members of the Colorado Youth Advisory Council pose for a photo in a Capitol committee room. (Handout)

➔ Colorado lawmakers, amid tight budget, plan to shut down 20-year-old program getting teens involved at Capitol. Shutting down the Colorado Youth Advisory Council would save about $50,000 a year. That’s a relatively paltry amount, but it’s meant to send a message that costs must be trimmed wherever possible. >> Read

➔ Does Colorado get back more or less than it spends in federal taxes? We break it down. >> Read story

➔ Lake County’s Ski Cooper sees surge in visitors, spending after slashing midweek lift tickets by half. A $45 lift ticket is good for the ski resort industry, says the boss at Ski Cooper. >> Read story

About 60 Keystone ski patrollers staged a demonstration Dec. 18 in solidarity with patrollers at Park City Mountain Resort and to protest the lack of merit-pay increases for dozens of Keystone ski patrollers last season. (Courtesy photo)

➔ Vail Resorts gives union Keystone ski patrollers a new contract with up to $8/hour increase. The largest ski resort operator avoids a possible strike >> Read story

➔ Another $1.2M awarded to help replace thirsty grass, leaky sprinklers in Colorado. There is an additional $474,000 left from the last go-round, but money is flowing out fast as 2028 spending deadline looms >> Read story

➔ Colorado Democrats split over payday borrowing services as consumer groups raise concerns. Industry officials insist “earned wage access” services aren’t a loan >> Read story

Other working bits

➔ Happy 30th Denver International Airport! Since opening Feb. 28, 1995, DIA, which now calls itself DEN, has become the sixth busiest in the world for passengers coming and going or staying, according to Airports Council International. It’s also a major economic driver for the region, supporting 244,172 jobs in and around its 53 square miles. Of those jobs, 41,000 are airport employees, according to airport officials. >> More

➔ Consumer alert: 9 unlicensed online investment firms. Colorado Securities Commissioner Tung Chan issued a warning this week naming nine online investment sites that are unlicensed in Colorado but are operating as if they were. Staff also alleges that eight “are fraudulent and using false statements on their websites to cloak themselves in legitimacy to lure in victims.” The firms are:

Globeville Financial, LLC (also doing business as globevillefinancial.com)
Reginamariahoward.com
Deanwilsonlarsen.me
Uniontradepro.com
Gallanttradepro.com
Gloprimes-invests.com
Irontradepro.com
Vvestfurt.com
Zinccoinspro.com

>> Details (Note: The agency corrected the number in the news release to nine companies after we asked about the number mismatch.)

➔ Startup offering in-home physical therapy gets noticed. Denver-based Roaming Rehab was the only Colorado company honored by payroll and HR provider Gusto’s impact awards for helping aging adults get back on their feet and stay active. Roaming Rehab, founded by physical therapists Derek Smith and Katie Sage two years ago, received a $10,000 grant and a marketing campaign valued at $40,000. It’s since added 10 full-time employees and hopes to launch community fitness classes in the Denver area.

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