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
This project successfully conserved 261 acres of farmland composed entirely of prime agricultural soils in the scenic dairy community of Trout Lake, Washington. Located in the shadow of Mt. Adams, within the White Salmon River watershed, a community that is renowned for its extraordinary beauty, the easement protects not only productive farm and forestland, but also seasonal habitat for state-listed sand hill cranes and scenic open space for the community. The conservation easement brings the total dairy acreage under easement in Trout Lake to 680 acres–ensuring conservation of a scale that is sufficient to sustain multiple viable dairy operations into the future. The Trout Lake Valley Phase 3 project conserved land used by two dairy operations including one that provides local milk and eggs for the community and one that provides milk to the Organic Valley producer cooperative. It helps to ensure that the dairy will remain a primary economic resource in the Valley.