NOTE:  Please wait to take the survey until after you have finished your visit to our site – you will end up at the Survey Monkey web sit.

Click here to take survey

Washington School Nutrition Association (WSNA) and the Washington State Department of Agriculture Farm-to-School Program are partnering to celebrate Washington agriculture on September 29^th with TASTE WASHINGTON DAY.  Schools around the state will be serving a locally-sourced meal and providing education and activities to celebrate the farms that feed us.

WSDA Farm-to-School Program will provide support to match up farms and schools and facilitate the purchasing process.  We would love to include your farm as a participating farm. Many school nutrition directors are off for part of the summer, so we’d like to start the process as soon as possible.

WSNA has recommended the two menus below, or schools can make their own menus.  We encourage schools to try alternatives if they have willing farm partners who grow other things.  For instance, a district might decide to use another kind of potato, or to do a bean or lentil chili, or to add carrots with tops or another available vegetable to round out the offerings.

We will also help schools add educational activities to the day, whether that’s posters in the cafeteria, inviting a farmer to lunch, or visiting or lunching in a school garden.  We want Washington’s kids to spend that day considering the farmers who grow their food, and we want you to help us bring that to life!

For more information, to be listed as a participating farm, or to get help linking to your local school districts, please contact Tricia Kovacs, WSDA Farm-to-School Program Manager, at tkovacs@agr.wa.gov or 206-256-6150.

The June newsletter has information on the recent executive order Governor Gregoire signed regarding food policy, updates to a guidebook for water right holders in Washington, action from the recent Lind Combine Derby, meeting times for the Farm Transition Network Annual Conference, the date for the 2010 Seattle Mariners Farmers Day, grant opportunities, and much more.

Also updated is the Washington Agriculture News and Views feature. This is a collection of news stories from around the state that relate to agriculture and efforts to preserve farming in our state. You can view this by going to: Washington Ag News and Views June 7 – June 23

Check out the National Tree Benefit Calculator web site to get an estimation of the environmental and economic benefits provided by the trees on your property. Six different values are assessed, including storm water interception, property value, and CO2 reduction.

Greetings:

I am happy to inform you that the 2009 Legislature allocated additional funding to the Department of Natural Resources (DNR) for the Riparian Open Space Program. This program offers an option to owners of timbered lands within unconfined channel migration zones (CMZ). A CMZ is the area where the active channel of a river or stream is prone to move in the near term. These areas typically have very high ecological value as spawning and rearing habitat for salmon and other fish species. Under the forest practices rules, no timber harvesting or road construction may occur within CMZs due to their ecological importance. The lands addressed by this program are essentially islands of timber within these segments of rivers or streams. As part of the Riparian Open Space Program, willing landowners can apply to donate or sell a permanent conservation easement covering the trees, or land and trees, to the DNR.

To be eligible for this program the land located in the project must be identified in county assessor records as “designated forest land” under chapter 84.33 RCW or “current use forest land” under chapter 84.34 RCW. Also the land in the project must be free of unacceptable liabilities, such as presence of hazardous waste on the site. For those projects that have multiple interests in the property, all parties must agree to convey or subordinate their interest to the state to the extent necessary for the purchase.

Applications and additional information will be available on the DNR website after March 8, 2010 and applications will be accepted for this funding cycle thru June 7, 2010. Applications received after June 7, 2010 will remain on file for the next funding cycle. The unfunded projects will remain on file to compete with any subsequent funding available in the future.

DNR will evaluate the project applications for eligibility and a selection committee will prioritize the projects based on the information in the application. The criteria for project priority will be:

• Ecological value, including importance to salmonids, water quality benefits, quality of habitat, site significance, etc.
• Immediacy of need on the part of the landowner (i.e. unexpected medical bills)
• Order of receipt of completed applications

The projects with the highest priority will be funded first and with limited funding available for this round of applications the number of projects to be funded in this round is unknown. For the projects that are selected, DNR will cruise the timber in the eligible area and value the easement based on the value used by the Dept. of Revenue’s timber tax stumpage value tables. The landowner will be responsible for the cost of the real estate excise tax and other closing costs involved in the transaction.

The application form and instructions, along with additional general information about the Riparian Open Space Program may be found at the following web site: http://www.dnr.wa.gov/BusinessPermits/Topics/OtherIndustryLandownerResources/Pages/riparian_open_space_program.aspx

If you would like me to mail you an application and instructions, contact me in Olympia at (360) 902-1427 or dan.pomerenk@dnr.wa.gov.

Dan Pomerenk

Conservation Easement Program Manager

Forest Practices Division

Washington State Department of Natural Resources

PO Box 47012

Olympia, WA 98504-7012

(360) 902-1427

Fax (360) 902-1428

dan.pomerenk@dnr.wa.gov

We offer Northwest Woodland Flowers (36 x 24), Northwest Native Broad-leaved Trees (36 x 24), Northwest Native Conifers (36 x 24), and Hummingbird Garden (24 x 18).

They normally retail for $14.99 to $19.99, but we are offering  them for only $10.00 each, including tax.

The policy applies to the NEW use of technology (procedures not previously used) and is paid on a per-acre basis.  The maximum cost-share available is $5,000.00 total over a maximum of three years.  Each practice listed below is eligible for $2.00 of cost-share per acre.

Auto Steer

Swath Management

Rate Control

Electrical Conductivity Mapping

Yield Monitoring Technology

Feel free to call the District office or one of the Supervisors for more information.