Palouse Conservation District partnership: Fund increase will expand project list

The Washington state legislature and Washington State Conservation Commission recently upped funding for the Palouse Watershed Regional Conservation Partnership Program (RCPP). The program seeks farmers, producers and landowners to voluntarily enroll in incentive-based conservation practices.

Funding was increased by $350,000 to bring the total to $850,000 for the year.

“Prior to that, we had $500,000,” said Laura Heinse, conservation partnership manager with the Palouse Conservation District. “We can fund 14 additional projects with these funds.”

Last year – the first of five years in the program – the conservation program was able to fund nine projects, with the majority of them being in Whitman County. This year, with the additional funds, Heinse estimated they will be able to fund around 30 projects.

“Almost twice as many as we were going to be able to do,” she said.

Sixty-one applications were received for projects including riparian buffers and filter strips, direct seed and mulch till practices and offsite water and fencing for livestock. The RCPP is currently in the process of ranking the applicants based on conservation benefits. Last year, 54 applications were received.

Heinse said a majority of applicants this year again came from Whitman County.

“That's still the case, especially around St. John,” she said. “And all of southwestern Whitman County. It's really popular.”

According to a press release from the RCPP, the “incentives are designed to compensate for loss of ground and production and to help protect plantings and control weeds.”

Heinse said the program is slated for five years, as long as the legislature continues to fund it.

“It's going through 2020,” she said.

The chosen applicants will work with RCPP staff during the winter to develop their conservation plans and implement projects.

For more information, contact Heinse at the Palouse Conservation District.

509-332-4101 ext. 105.