Serving Whitman County since 1877
Serving Whitman County since 1877
Critical land areas include wetlands and deer habitat.
COLFAX - Commissioners approved a two-year contract for $235,000 with the state to administer the Voluntary Stewardship Program (VSP) for Whitman County.
The county sub-contracts with the Palouse Conservation District to run the entity, which allows agriculturally critical areas to be voluntarily maintained.
Palouse Conservation District is comprised of the Whitman Conservation District, Palouse-Rock Lake Conservation District, and Pine Creek Conservation District.
The districts work from a benchmark of 2012 to evaluate conditions of critical areas as improved or deteriorated from that point.
"We are on track and being successful," said Alan Thomson, Whitman County planner.
Brad Johnson runs the program for the Palouse Conservation District. The VSP began locally in 2016.
State funding comes from the Washington State Conservation Commission.
The VSP grew out of a state legislature referral to a think tank to find a way to conserve land and waterways without over-regulating farming. Eligible property includes wetlands, floodplains, critical wildlife habitat, aquifer recharge, and geologically hazardous areas.
The VSP was formed after the 2006 failure of Initiative 933, a property rights matter calling for exemptions for landowners of critical areas ordinances.
Afterward, the state legislature referred the matter to the Ruckelshaus Center to find a solution for counties trying to manage environmental and agricultural concerns.
Beginning in 2007, a Ruckelshaus facilitator worked with representatives from environmental groups, farm organizations, and counties to create the VSP, which was the first of its kind nationwide.
The term "critical areas" came into prominence among county ordinances in 1995 as part of a strengthening of Washington's 1990 Growth Management Act.
Garth Meyer is a former Whitman County Gazette reporter.
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