Welcome to Skagit County

September 1st, 2010

Skagit County awarded farmland preservation assistance grant

Olympia, WA - August 30, 2010 - The Washington State Office of Farmland Preservation recently awarded Skagit County with a farmland preservation technical assistance grant of $25,000 to update the Farmland Legacy Program strategic plan and to gain additional community partners to leverage public and private funds. Skagit County is one of eight grant recipients statewide.

"Given the difficult economy at all levels of government, we wanted to be able to provide some financial assistance to counties so they can help their local farmers" said Ron Shultz, Policy Director of the State Conservation Commission.

A primary objective of the assistance grant is to formalize a partnership with Skagitonians to Preserve Farmland (SPF) to help better leverage the private funding SPF can bring to the Farmland Legacy Program.

The updated strategic plan, with its process for identifying priority farms to be protected with conservation easements, will also have a list of options for alternative ways to protect farms and the prime agricultural soils. It will have options that will help stretch the funding dollars and options for farmers to use as voluntary alternatives.

Carolyn Kelly, Manager of the Skagit Conservation District and Conservation Futures Advisory Committee Chair said, "The Farmland Legacy Program has been a huge success in Skagit County. We need to be able to continue that momentum as we address opportunities and challenges that we face today. This grant for strategic planning and collaborative partnership input will help the Conservation Futures Committee take the program to the next level."

Added Shultz, "Agriculture is the number two industry in the state and with the growing interest in locally produced food, we want to encourage and assist counties in planning for these economic opportunities."

Work accomplished through the grants will be completed by June 30, 2011.

Grant funding is provided through the Washington Wildlife and Recreation Program, a statewide grant program administered by the Recreation and Conservation Office.

The Office of Farmland Preservation is a program within the Washington State Conservation Commission. For more information on the Office of Farmland Preservation and the Washington State Conservation Commission, visit http://ofp.scc.wa.gov/ and http://www.scc.wa.gov/.