President Donald Trump’s executive orders and funding freezes continue to impact the islands through various departments and organizations. The back-and-forth nature of the litigation process, i.e., lawsuits, stays, appeals, etc., is offering some relief to those in need of funds while also contributing to an overall atmosphere of uncertainty.

Health and community services

On March 27, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services announced sweeping employment cuts and department consolidations, under the direction of new Secretary of Health Robert F. Kennedy.

Kennedy and President Trump’s plan to “Make America Healthy Again” wasn’t well-received by many states, 24 of which joined together in a lawsuit on April 1 against the Department of HHS for “abruptly and illegally terminating $11 billion in critical public health grants to the states.”

Washington state could lose $159 million in public health from these cancelations if funding is not restored.

San Juan County Health and Community Services Department Director Mark Tompkins says that his department relies heavily on state and federal funding.

“We have a fairly large grant budget,” he said. “We are probably half funded by state and federal grants. Primarily the funds we do receive are used for staff salaries and benefits, so any reduction would be a potential impact to staffing. Clearly that’s something we are aware of and monitoring closely.”

Tompkins clarified that nothing has happened locally, yet – no grants have been pulled.

“As of right now, we are in wait-and-see mode,” he said. “We’ve not had any direct impacts. We haven’t received notifications saying any grants are ceasing immediately. At this point, it’s all speculation. We are continuing to monitor what, if any, reductions may be coming from state level or federal level that would impact our programs and services. For now, we wait.”

Agriculture

The San Juan Islands have 18,400 acres of active farmland, according to the Ag Guild, which produces “mixed vegetables, orchard crops and berries, lavender and other herbs, fiber, grains, hay, grass-fed meats (beef, pork, lamb, goat, poultry), dairy products and eggs, as well as value-added products, including compost, artisan cheese, and distilled spirits.”

Farmers frequently rely on reimbursement grants from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, meaning they invest their own cash upfront and then are paid back later. Many farmers on the islands use these grants, such as the REAP (Rural Energy for America Program) grant and EQIP (Environmental Quality Incentives Program) grant for infrastructure and operations.

The Island Grown Farmers Cooperative, which is the meat processor for almost all farmers on the islands, recently installed a new solar array on their Skagit County building. The improvement would ultimately result in $11K-plus in energy savings per year but would cost $92K, for which the REAP grant was approved prior to installation. With January’s executive orders, USDA funds were frozen after the solar installation, but before reimbursement.

According to IGFC members, island farmers started to get nervous not only about their own grants and reimbursement but about what a financial struggle their cooperative could potentially face if those funds didn’t come through. Having limited options for butchering means one big blow to one organization, through no fault of their own, could have countywide implications.

The relief felt by farmers with the March 25 release of USDA funding came with a side of confusion, as they were asked to “review and voluntarily revise their project plans to align with Trump’s Unleashing American Energy Executive Order,” which meant “eliminating Biden-era DEIA and climate mandates embedded in previous proposals.” It’s unclear the purpose of the request or the deadline, as in some places on the USDA website, it says that modifying grant proposals isn’t required in order to receive funding.

One local farmer, who preferred to remain anonymous, was extremely anxious to witness the chaos that occurred around grants that were technically a legally binding contract with the government.

“One of our grant officers was fired, but then rehired a week later, but they weren’t able to get back on the computer systems because the IT folks had been fired as well,” the farmer explained. “So we were communicating with our USDA contact on their personal cell phone, often late at night.”

Lauren Bigelow, executive director of the Ag Guild, has had a front-row seat to how funding cuts have impacted public farming programs. One grant in particular that has been frozen impacts the Ag Guild, the Food Hub, the Conservation District, WSU Extension and the Northwest Agricultural Business Center.

“Between all of us, we have important hands on farm planning and distribution logistics, workshops and resources,” Bigelow explained. “We put on the San Juan County Agricultural Summit, run the Farmer to Farmland program, work with WSU to provide workshops throughout the year, help people write grants, offer education. There’s a mentorship program where we partner new farmers with more established farmers and are able to pay the mentors for their time. Basically we are helping facilitate a passing down of knowledge within our farming community.”

The Farmer to Farmland program has been put on hold indefinitely while funding is established. They’ve had to cut their staff hours in half and let go of the Farmer to Farmland coordinator. Bigelow is wearing most of the hats, trying to run all of the programs and solve all of the problems while coming up with a new strategy moving forward, and dipping into savings that may never be reimbursed.

She, similar to the other executive directors who have been impacted by these cuts, is seeing this as an opportunity to figure out local fundraising and work with other agencies.

Libraries

The Washington Digital Library Consortium is a group of 40 small and rural libraries that provide broad access to e-book, e-audiobook and e-magazine collections – managing resources and materials that these smaller areas would not have the ability to administer otherwise.

The San Juan Island Library, Orcas Island Public Library, Lopez Island Library, Shaw Island Library and Guemes Island Library are all members of the consortium.

On March 14, an executive order was released by the federal administration making “deep cuts” to the Institute of Museum and Library Services, which funds the WDLC through the Washington State Library. Although the libraries here are primarily funded through voter-approved property tax levies, the consortium members and their patrons will still see the effects of federal cuts.

A WSL position would be eliminated from the consortium, which plays a key role in purchasing added copies, in meetings with the Executive Advisory Committee that sets terms for the service and budget planning and oversight for the consortium. The role of the Office of the Secretary of State as a fiscal agent for the WDLC would be discontinued. And there would be a $50,000-$65,000 decrease to the budget for acquiring copies.

WSL’s LibTech program could be cut, which would increase pricing and decrease quality of technology available to libraries. Employee trainings would likely decrease, consultants would be eliminated and grants for innovative programming and services could be impacted.

“Those wishing to voice concerns over the federal administration’s executive order against IMLS funding can find suggestions at the EveryLibrary Institute, a nonprofit corporation that supports library funding across the United States,” the island library directors said in a joint statement on March 27. “Our island libraries thank the community for its continual support, and we will continue to work to provide quality services and resources to the community.”