The following news story is courtesy of the Conway Daily Sun.
Effingham—May 8, 2025— The Green Mountain Conservation Group is among organizations that have been left scrambling for help after the U.S. Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) cut funding for AmeriCorps, the GMCG executive director told the Sun on Tuesday.
AmeriCorps is a federal agency for national service and volunteerism. It has focused on disaster services, education, economic opportunity, environmental stewardship, healthy futures and veterans and military families.
The Lakes Region Conservation Corps is made up of eight New Hampshire conservation organizations, which utilized the assistance of 27 AmeriCorps service members who are now terminated by the Trump administration’s DOGE cuts.
LRCC is led by Squam Lakes Association and includes Nature Conservancy, the Mount Washington Observatory, Green Mountain Conservation Group, the Lakes Region Conservation Trust, Camp Hale, the Newfound Regional Lake Association and the Squam Lakes Conservation Society.
AmerCorps funds Volunteer New Hampshire, which in turn funds LRCC, City Year, Goodwill and the Student Conservation Association. Only LRCC has been cut so far, said Elise Eifler of the Squam Lake Association.
GMCG Executive Director Nancy Ritger said normally AmeriCorps. funds four temporary positions for them. Two positions are for 10 months and two are for six months.
“We heard on April 26 that the program was cut,” said Ritger. “We want to keep the two 10-month positions. We had to let go of the other two before they arrived. So we’re trying to scramble together the funding for keeping the other two employed for the rest of the season.”
GMCG has two AmeriCorps members: Education and Outreach Assistant Mackenzie Sirrine and Water Quality Resources Assistant Emma Revenaugh.
Both Sirrine and Revenaugh are involved in water quality monitoring and education programs like Trout in the Classroom. Water bodies that are monitored include Loon Lake, Ossipee Lake, Bearcamp River, the Swift River.
On Wednesday, U.S. Rep. Maggie Goodlander (D-N.H.) told the Sun: “In recent weeks, $1 million in federal funding that has been promised and appropriated to New Hampshire under AmeriCorps has been clawed back,” said Goodlander, adding about $500,000 was cut to Lakes Region Conservation Corps and that some states, not New Hampshire, are suing the federal government.
“There’s a lawsuit, because this is just plainly unconstitutional for the executive branch to turn off federal funding spigots,” she said.
She added, “Congress has appropriated those dollars and promised them to the State of New Hampshire, and for New Hampshire, these dollars make a huge difference.”
She provided the Sun with a May 2 letter from the Trump administration to U.S. Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) who chairs the Committee on Appropriations. It says the Trump administration wants to reduce or eliminate AmeriCorps along with other “small agencies” like the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and the Institute for Museum and Library Sciences in a bid to save nearly $3.6 billion in the 2026 discretionary budget.
The White House told WMUR in a statement that AmeriCorps has “failed eight consecutive audits” and made “$45 million in improper payments in 2024 alone.”
Goodlander says the Trump administration is making the cuts so it can give tax breaks to billionaires.
Sirrine, of Raymond, and Revenaugh, who recently earned her BA in geology from Colorado College, were hired in January. Ritger said: “We’re going to be trying to raise money. We’re putting the word out there that this is a scramble.”
With the cuts to the program, water testing that was done every two weeks will now be done monthly, said Ritger.
“We’ve had to drop some educational programs,” she added.
Ritger said she is disappointed New Hampshire isn’t one of the two dozen or so states suing the Trump administration over AmeriCorps funding cut. They argue Trump didn’t have the authority to cut the program that was funded by Congress.
Meanwhile, the Observatory is hosting two full-time AmeriCorps members from January through November 2025: Alexander Templeton and Olivia Dodge, school programs educator.
A statement from the Observatory said the two directly support the observatory’s K-12 school day, after-school, field trip and community-based programs.
“Since January, they have helped us carry out 105 school day programs in the Mount Washington Valley and throughout the region, 28 after-school programs in SAU9 through Project SUCCEED, four field trips, our MWV Youth STEM Expo Camps and judging, and other community events such as Big Wind Day.”
Since learning of the cuts, the Observatory trustees decided to fund the positions with money from their operating budget. Beyond November, it will be seeking alternative funding for educational programs that were being funded through AmeriCorps.
The Appalachian Mountain Club is urging Congress to protect AmeriCorps.
“The Appalachian Mountain Club depends on AmeriCorps to maintain hundreds of miles of trails, build bridges and boardwalks, and steward public lands across the Northeast,” states AMC’s website.
“AmeriCorps members don’t just contribute muscle—they power local outdoor recreation based economies and connect young people to meaningful careers in conservation and public service.”
Goodlander said it’s her understanding funding for the AmeriCorps. volunteers that serves AMC isn’t part of the $1 million that was cut.
AmeriCorps also assists the North Conway Community Center by sending 15- 20 volunteers to clean up after Mud Bowl, said the NCCC Executive Director Phil Ouellette.