Category Overview
Farmland Preservation protects valuable farmland and habitat for recreationally important animals, like salmon, birds, deer, and elk. These projects allow families to continue farming the land they have worked on for generations, and provide Washingtonians with healthy local food and a diverse economy. WWRP is the only source of farmland preservation funding in the state budget.
Project Highlights
North Olympic Land Trust seeks to acquire farmland conservation easements on a 133.6 acre farm, composed of fully irrigated USDA Prime farmland (94.8%) and Statewide Important soils (5.2%) in Sequim-Dungeness, Washington. The Lotzgesell family homesteaded the farm in 1859, and it has remained in perpetual agricultural use since that date. Since 1996, the Smith family has been farming Heifer Farm to support their dairy–one of the two remaining dairies in a county formally know as the “milk basket” of Washington. Farmed for silage, hay, crop seeds, and to raise young heifers, the Smith family relies on Heifer Farm to raise and feed heifers they milk for Darigold. Heifer Farm features a historic barn, and because of it’s positioning in the valley tucked under the Olympics, is frequently photographed to represent Sequim, WA. Preservation of this farm has both cultural and historic value. Heifer Farm also supports important wildlife habitat for Tundra Swans (Cygnus columbianus), Trumpeter Swans (Cygnus buccinator), many birds of prey, and Western Bumblebees (Bombus occidentalis).With willing landowners ready to extinguish 23 development rights, now is the time to protect Heifer Farm, which meets all the needs of a thriving farm.