2008 Feature Accomplishment

District Cost Share for Wildfire Victims:

Resource Challenge

Eastern Klickitat Conservation District (EKCD) provided Cost Share to landowners after a wildfire burned 29,000 acres and hundreds of miles of fence. Most of the land that burned was winter pasture for livestock growers in the District, which left them without pasture.

Project Summary and Results

In the aftermath of the fire, over twenty landowners were left with a shortage of either winter range or summer pasture. In response to their call for help, EKCD Supervisors and staff initiated meetings where landowners could get first-hand information about programs that might help them with fencing, purchase of additional hay, and other programs that could help them make it through the coming winter. In response to EKCD inquiries, Natural Resource Conservation Service (NRCS) provided much needed cost share for emergency pasture management, which gave a per-acre payment to the landowners through the EQIP Program.

In addition, EKCD provided 50% cost share for the purchase of hay that would not have been required under normal circumstances, or for the purchase of fencing materials. Eleven landowners applied for and received cost share assistance for this program.

Key Project Partners

Key partners in this cost share program included NRCS, who worked in conjunction with Eastern Klickitat CD, and Klickitat County Commissioners, who worked with EKCD at the state level to try to obtain state funds for assistance.

Other Accomplishments

Tree Planting Field Day

Tree planting day continues to be one of the highlights of the year for Eastern Klickitat Conservation District. Each year EKCD hosts 2nd grade and 5th grade students to a day of planting trees. Prior to the field day, EKCD staff spends time in class teaching students about trees, their importance in the ecosystem and how to plant them. Each year the District holds a tree and shrub sale that makes native trees and shrubs, as well as ornamentals, available to the public. As part of that program the District supplies up to 1,000 Ponderosa Pine trees for the students to plant and pays for school buses so they can take the field trip to the planting site.

More Work To Do

• EKCD has a new Department of Ecology Water Quality grant that requires additional water quality monitoring on the streams in the District.
• Most of the streams are on the state 303(d) list for temperature and require several years of study and monitoring as well as implementation of Best Management Practices. EKCD hopes to establish baseline data for future reference.

For more information on current projects and programs please contact the District Office. Information taken from the Washington State Conservation Commission 2008 Annual Report.