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
Okanogan Land Trust has preserved 3,242 acres of working lands in the Tunk Valley via a conservation easement that supports long term agricultural viability. The placement of this easement provides a public benefit with sweeping scenic views of the Synarep Conservation Easement from the main highway that runs north to south in the Tunk Valley. Though this is an agricultural easement, there are a multitude of conservation values associated with the property. The Synarep Conservation Easement is comprised of predominantly shrubsteppe habitat with riparian corridors (freshwater emergent wetlands) in low-lying draws. Both of which are priority habitats for state agencies based on state wildlife action plan. The wetland draws support the growth of water birch, an important winter food for the state-listed Columbia Sharp Tailed Grouse. In addition, the open shrubsteppe habitat is suitable for lek sites for these birds during the breeding season. Going forward, there are opportunities to collaborate with Washington Department of Wildlife to add winter forage such as water birch on this property. In addition, this easement provides excellent habitat for golden eagle. Finally, the Tunk Valley is an important biodiversity corridor for deer, wolves, and bears as they move seasonally between the higher elevation vegetated areas in the south of the Tunk Valley and the main Okanogan Valley, where access is located in the north end. With water rights from the numerous springs on the property to support stock watering and healthy rangeland for cow calf operations, the placement of this easement conserved this operation and its associated agricultural viability. The landowners plan to continue their cow calf operation. Good fence lines are present throughout the property and sorting corrals allow for easy farm to market access for the producer. RCO grant funding played a huge roll in the placement of the Synarep Conservation easement. The 50% match paid for half of acquisition costs and staff time to craft the easement and develop the project according to RCO milestones. There were a few changes that occurred to the initial agreement during the easement development process. In June, 2023, there was a cost change amendment where sponsor match was reduced from 55 to 50% due to the rezoning in the Tunk Valley affecting valuation where the overall cost of the easement was reduced. In addition, the amount of match required by OLT was reduced. Additionally, the recent rezoning in the Tunk Valley to r-160 (one development right per 160 acres) changed the number of development rights extinguished from 18 development rights in the initial application down to 14 development rights under the current zoning regulations.