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October 2017 Update

Welcome to the second e-update of the Agriculture Resilience Plan project! The Snohomish Conservation District will send this e-update every few months to provide Snohomish County farmers and other interested parties with information about what is happening and how they can get involved or provide input. We will also share information, results, and tools generated to help farmers plan into the future.

The Agriculture Resilience Plan will lead to on-the-ground projects that improve agriculture's resilience to future changes - climate related changes, development pressure, population growth, etc. This is a farmer-led process that is being facilitated by the Snohomish Conservation District. The goals of the plan are to:

  • Provide information and project funding for farmers to manage for future risk on their farms
  • Develop landscape-scale projects to improve agricultural resilience
  • Protect agricultural lands from subdivision or development
For more detailed information on the scope of this work, visit our website.
(Photocredit: Nichlos Pate/Photovoice 2017)
River Flooding Modeling Work Underway
The University of Washington Climate Impacts Group (Guillaume Mauger) has begun the process of modeling the impacts of climate change on flooding in both the Snohomish and Stillaguamish Rivers. Maps of flood depth will be available to farmers in the floodplain showing depth of water during 2- and 10-year floods for today, 2040, and 2080. This will be available online for farmers to access this spring.

Resilient Soils - New Biochar Tool Available!

The Farming into the Future component of the Ag Resilience Plan is aimed at providing farmers with the tools they need to determine if certain farm management techniques are right for their farm.  We hope to provide farmers with the latest information on soil health practices such as biochar and compost amendments, cover cropping, no-till, and agroforestry. These practices build up the organic matter content in your soils which increases the water holding capacity.  If we continue to get dry summers, your soils’ ability to store water equals added resilience.

We are currently pulling together this research into a series of fact sheets for farmers. The soils information referred to above will compliment fact sheets on water storage (cisterns, drain tile valves, etc.) and flood protection (vegetative water breaks, flood fencing, etc.).

At a recent conference, we came across a great new tool that the USDA created called the Pacific Northwest Biochar Atlas to help you determine if biochar is right for your farm. You can enter information for your farm and it will tell you how much to add, what type, and what the cost-benefit is based on what you are growing. The tool is more accurate if you have soil test results for your farm.  Click on “Tools” and “Select a Biochar.”  Check it out and let us know what you think!  If a tool like this is helpful, we could pursue creating tools for other practices or amendments as well.

Photovoice Exhibition Held on August 14th

Agriculture Resilience: A Photovoice Exhibition presented a unique opportunity for decision-makers and the public to listen to farmers express their concerns for the future through photography. The event took place on August 14th at Skip Rock Distillery and was attended by close to 60 participants – the local farmers that participated in the project, their families and neighbors, elected officials including Washington State Representatives June Robinson and Steve Tharinger, reporters, and staff from various agencies and non-profit organizations.  This was the farmers’ opportunity to share “why agriculture is important to our community” and “what are the major challenges facing farmers in Snohomish County” through their photo exhibit. 

“This event was truly inspiring,” said Cindy Dittbrenner, Snohomish Conservation District. “The photos were beautiful, the conversation between farmers and decision-makers was eye-opening, and the community that was built around these important issues was uplifting.”

Press for the event was extensive. Click the media entity name for their stories - The Arlington Times, The Everett Herald, KING-TV, Public News Service.

The images are currently on display at the Snohomish County Administration Building (West) in the lobby near the Human Resources office. Show continues through October 30th. On November 1, they will be available for viewing at the Focus on Farming event at the Evergreen State Fairgrounds in Monroe. You can also view them on our website.
 
Funding Secured for Groundwater Modeling

We were recently awarded National Estuary Program (NEP) funding to complete modeling of predicted groundwater levels in the estuaries and floodplains of both the Snohomish and Stillaguamish Rivers. The USGS (Eric Grossman) will use flood and sea level rise predictions to forecast the impact rising waters could have on the level of the groundwater on our farmland. If you farm in the estuary and notice certain times of year that water is ponding in your fields and is not due to flooding or rainfall, please contact Cindy (see below). Your real-world observations will help us calibrate the model so the results are more accurate.

We were originally hoping to use funding from the state ESRP program to fund this work but that grant proposal was stalled when the state was unable to pass a capital budget. This new funding from NEP saved the day! The rains are starting so we are working with USGS to quickly determine which data is available and where we might need to install more groundwater wells.  Thank you to our partners who are in process of providing existing data:  Tulalip Tribes, Snohomish County, Stillaguamish Tribe, WA Dept. of Fish and Wildlife, NOAA, and Cardno. (Photocredit: U.S. Geological Survey)


Farmland Protection Map Approved by Steering Committee

The Ag Resilience Plan Steering Committee reviewed the draft Farmland Protection Map at their meeting in July. This Steering Committee is comprised of 12 Snohomish County farmers representing various types, sizes, and locations of farms; they will be representing the farming community and guiding the overall development of the Plan. They provided input into the criteria that PCC Farmland Trust used to determine which farmland is the highest priority and in need of protection from conversion to non-ag uses. These criteria include farm viability information such as size of farm, zoning, and soils, as well as data indicating the threat of conversion such as proximity to growing urban centers.

The map is not final and will incorporate the flooding and groundwater level modeling data once that is complete next spring. For now, it provides us with a place to start as we try to secure funding to protect loss of farmland in our County. This work would be in partnership with willing landowners only. The mechanism that would be used to protect farmland will likely be the Transfer of Development Rights or Purchase of Development Rights programs. Each of these would reimburse the farmer for voluntary removal of development rights from their property. One important part of this work is to secure a larger source of funding as the existing programs for land protection are under-funded. (Photocredit: Forterra)

Know other farmers who would like to receive these E-Updates? Know other partners in our area who would like to be added to this list?

 
Please forward this to them and ask them to click the appropriate Subscribe button at the bottom of this newsletter. Or they can contact Cindy Dittbrenner, Snohomish Conservation District at cindy@snohomishcd.org, 425-377-7005.
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