From Allen's Desk

Welcome to From Allen’s Desk - a look at what’s happening in the world of Skagitonians to Preserve Farmland.

SPF’s mission of preserving farmland, while simply stated, is complex, balancing the work of farming with the shared community values of clean water, healthy salmon and common-sense policies and regulatory structures. We hope you enjoy this issue of our quarterly newsletter, with some of the work we do to achieve that balance.

Thank You For Your Support at Our Fall Auction

We were blown away with the incredible outpouring of support for our mission and those who came to our sold-out event in September to celebrate Dave Hedlin, one of the founding members of Skagitonians to Preserve Farmland (SPF).

Together we raised over $150,000 to help permanently protect 80 acres of the Boling Family Farm near the Conway Freeway Interchange, through the Skagit County Farmland Legacy Program, and to support SPF’s work on the many complex issues that threaten our agricultural industry.

Your support that September evening and throughout the year adds strength to our collective voice as we advocate for the protection and preservation of farmland and the continued economic viability of Skagit agriculture.

Recognized as one of the strongest agricultural economies remaining in the Puget Sound region, Skagit Valley has supplied the region, state and world with a diverse mix of seed and specialty crops for over 150 years. Your support ensures that work will continue.

80 Acres of Farmland Protected

We are pleased to report that on Friday, December 30th, Skagit County’s Farmland Legacy Program closed on Boling Farmland Preservation Project – permanently protecting another 80 acres near the Conway Freeway Interchange. The property is immediately adjacent to another 31.5 acres of protected farmland, creating a 113-acre block of protected farmland at a critical freeway interchange – further ensuring that Skagit Valley’s famous Coming Home View will be protected for generations to come.

We offer our heartfelt thanks to Chris Boling and the Boling family for their commitment to the viability of agriculture in the Magic Skagit!

Agritourism

Skagit County has completed another round of public forums and an updated Community Survey regarding agritourism. We are anticipating County staff will release a draft code revision within the next few months.

When the revisions are finally released to the public, the SPF Board of Directors will evaluate them based on the following policy concepts:

1. Agritourism activities must be accessory to the primary use of agriculture on the site as evidenced by providing proof of farm income (Schedule F or other).

2. Any proposed tourism-related activity must be evaluated on the following criteria:

a) Must relate to and support the primary use of agriculture on the site,

b) Must not interfere with surrounding farming operations and practices,

c) Will provide experiences to visitors that promote and enhance Skagit agriculture overall, and

d) Will not result in the permanent conversion of farmland.

3. Agritourism permits should be required and issued on the basis of level of impact to the long-term viability of agriculture, agricultural soils, the environment, and adjacent farming operations. Activities that have the potential to be large in scale and impact should be required to obtain permits subject to review and renewal every three years.

You can read more about the SPF Board’s thinking around agritourism in our April edition of The Dirt: Agritourism One Year On.

Be Bird Wise Initiative

In April of last year we launched a new Initiative to bring awareness, educate, and promote responsible behavior while viewing migratory birds on the agricultural landscape.

The genesis for the Be Bird Wise program came from Stephanie Fernandez of Skagit Guided Adventures, who first contacted SPF following conflicts resulting from the Birds of Winter Festival circa 2018. Stephanie asked if SPF could host some meetings to see if there was interest in creating an information program similar to the Be Whale Wise for folks who visit the Skagit for bird watching. It is important to let visitors know the land they are parking on / driving on / tromping on is not public land. In addition to providing information about birds, there would be requests for visitors to be respectful of the land and landowners. The educational program would also address safety concerns such as parking on the side of the road.

Current partners who have been meeting with SPF to help shape and develop the fledgling program (pun intended!) are Western Washington Agricultural Association, Washington State Department of Fish & Wildlife, Skagit County Tourism Bureau, La Conner Chamber of Commerce and Skagit Guided Adventures.

A big thank you to Skagit County Lodging Tax Fund, HF Sinclair Puget Sound Refinery, Marathon Petroleum Corporation and Richard and Sherral Hartung for providing support to this new initiative.

Skagit Water Task Force

As part of our participation in the Skagit Water Task Force, in partnership with the Skagit County Drainage and Irrigation Districts Consortium (Consortium) we continue to appreciate the opportunity to sit at the table and actively participate in a process intended to address multi-benefit water needs in the Skagit Basin.

In 2020, the Skagit Water Task Force authorized the Washington State Academy of Science (WSAS) to conduct a peer review of the Estuary portion of the 1999 Duke Study. The WSAS peer review identified “several issues with the study’s methods,” including “the methods used in watershed site selection, data collection and use, water level and tidal data analysis and evaluation of low-flow conditions, measures of water quality, evaluation of fish ecology and habitat, and modeling.” (WSAS 2021) As part of this peer review, WSAS made several recommendations to the Skagit Water Task Force. Based on these recommendations, in 2022 the Water Task Force authorized a Comprehensive Hydrological Study of the Skagit Estuary (Estuary Study).

At the time of the original studies in 1999, the science did not exist to accurately evaluate river flows in the tidally influenced portion of the Skagit River and they had to rely on information from above the river gauge in Mount Vernon with limited information from the lower river to inform decisions/rule making.

The lower Skagit River is the only place in Washington State where an instream flow rule is applied downstream of a river gauge and in a tidally influenced portion of a river. Additionally, the 1999 study did not include a study or analysis of agriculture and agricultural needs.

The Estuary Study is being conducted by a Research Team comprised of experts from the University of Washington Salish Sea School, Washington Water Research Center, NOAA Fisheries, and Skagit River System Cooperative. The Research Team is also tasked with an evaluation of up to three alternative water supply scenarios and will report on the effects each alternative water supply scenarios may have on baseline physical parameters and fisheries resources in the lower Skagit River and estuary.

Since July 2022, SPF and the Consortium have expanded and broadened our Skagit Agricultural Water Advisory Group of stakeholders to include more farmers of all scales, types and locations, in addition to members of local irrigation districts. This was done to ensure representative voices were heard to help inform and advise our work and advocacy on the Taskforce.

As members of the Skagit Water Task Force, and with the Consortium participating directly in the Estuary Study workgroup, we have developed two alternative water withdrawal scenarios to be considered for evaluation.

These alternative water withdrawal scenarios were developed to help provide more information about two primary issues facing agricultural operators in the Skagit Delta area:

1) Many agricultural water rights, and the remaining water rights under the 2001 Skagit Instream Flow Rule were made arbitrarily interruptible until Best Available Science became available better understand river flow in the tidally influenced portion of the Skagit River, and

2) The total allocation available for the purpose of irrigation in the 2001 Skagit Instream Flow are not adequate to meet demand.

You can stay updated on the progress of SPF and the Consortium’s work on the Taskforce by going to the Studies & Reports page on SPF Website where we are posting information about the Water Task Force and related information. You can get to our Taskforce page directly by going HERE.

Crop Identification Signs

Through tremendous work by SPF volunteers and staff, we have been able to launch an interactive map of all our current crop identification signs. The online map allows you to see where our crop sign identification routes are, then click on a sign icon to see what is currently growing in the field and what was last grown at the location.

Most of the fields in the Skagit and Samish deltas will typically have two commercial crops planted within any 12-month period, or a cover crop in-between commercial crop rotations, keeping our volunteers busy chasing down the growers to find out what has been planted next! You can see Skagit Crop ID Map HERE.

A Big Shout Out to Bob Raymond for bringing the interactive map idea to us and helping to keep it updated! And thank you to MacKenzie Unick of Mu Creative for making all the magic happen.

We also put out our new Gateway signs in Conway and at the Farmhouse Restaurant to alert motorists they are traveling on a road with Crop Identification Signs.

Volunteer Opportunities

From our Crop ID signs and Youth InFARMation programs to Farm Tours and our auction and breakfast, we count on our volunteers. SPF has been very blessed with the dedication of our community, and are always open to working with new people.

Among our volunteer opportunities:

We are looking for volunteers to help with tracking the crops and updating the signs as farmers rotate crops in and out of fields along our Crop Identification Sign routes.
Our business breakfast and auction rely on volunteers to keep the events running smoothly.
Our Youth InFARMation program is a very fun event for our volunteers, engaging with third graders on farm tours and helping create STEM kits for young learners.

We hope if you have some time on your hands and you would like to engage with SPF that you’ll be in touch!

Please contact us at rachel@skagitonians.org, ellen@skagitonians.org or call (360) 336-3974.

Save the Date!

Mark your calendars now for some important dates for our events and happenings!

· May 19, Spring Farm Tour

· June 21, Our Valley Our Future Business Breakfast

· Sept. 16, Celebrate Skagit Harvest Dinner & Auction

Thank you for your continued support!

We are grateful for the support of our SPF members, donors, funders and sponsors - and for the community as a whole as we work together to protect and preserve Skagit farmland and farming—and all that comes with it!

With gratitude,