Deadline: 3-May-22
The Recreation and Conservation Office (RCO) has announced the Farmland Preservation: Wildlife and Recreation Program to provide funding to buy development rights on farmlands to ensure they remain available for farming.
Typical Projects
- Buying a conservation easement on farmland threatened with development
Funding Information
- Funding comes from the sale of state bonds and is awarded every 2 years.
- Grant Limits: No grant limits, except for the following:
- Enhancement and restoration elements may not exceed more than half of the total acquisition costs, including match toward acquisition.
- Farm stewardship plans may not exceed $10,000.
Eligible Projects
- Land acquisition through easements and leases (required for all projects). Public access is not required.
- Enhancement or restoration, such as installing fences to keep livestock out of streams, replanting riverbanks, restoring historic water runoff patterns, improving irrigation, and installing solar good pumps. These activities must further the ecological functions of the farmland.
- Combination of land acquisition and either restoration or enhancement
- Stewardship plans
Eligibility Criteria
- Cities
- Counties
- Nonprofit nature conservancy corporations or associations
- State Conservation Commission
Ineligible Projects
- Acquisition of rights for less than 25 years, of land already owned by the government, or of property acquired via a condemnation
- Consumable supplies such as fuel, fertilizers, pesticides, or herbicides, except as a one-time application in an otherwise eligible restoration activity
- Elements that cannot be defined as fixtures or capital items
- Environmental cleanup of illegal activities, such as meth labs
- Indoor facilities
- Organizational operating expenses or overhead
- Purchase of maintenance equipment, tools, or supplies
- Restoration work is done before a grant agreement is signed
- Transfer of development rights
For more information, visit https://rco.wa.gov/grant/washington-wildlife-and-recreation-program-farmland-preservation/