Welcome to Skagit County

September 13th, 2007

STATE SUPREME COURT RULES IN FAVOR OF SKAGIT COUNTY ON AGRICULTURAL BUFFER ISSUE

County required to improve monitoring system as part of adaptive management program

SKAGIT COUNTY – Ruling this morning on a lawsuit by the Swinomish Tribe, the Supreme Court of Washington held that farmers are not required to create new riparian buffers on actively farmed agricultural land. The court ruled that the Growth Management Act, while requiring farmers to protect streams from harm and degradation, does not require farmers to create new buffers corridors on existing farmland where they did not previously exist. “We’re happy that the Supreme Court upheld the careful balance we struck between fish and farms,” said Skagit County Commissioner Sharon Dillon.

Although the County prevailed in almost all respects, the Supreme Court’s ruling does require the County to make adjustments to its current program of monitoring streams and correcting actual problems identified by the monitoring. Specifically, the Supreme Court held that the County’s program needs more precise benchmarks that will trigger adaptive responses. “Even before the Supreme Court’s ruling, Skagit County has been working to fix the technical deficiencies called out by today’s Supreme Court’s ruling. We’ll use the data we’ve collected to date, improve our data, create appropriate benchmarks, and continue our ongoing commitment to recover salmon stocks in the Skagit River Basin,” said Skagit County Administrator Gary Rowe.

For further information, contact: Dan Berentson

Communications Director

(360)419-3461