Farmland Zero Net Loss

The Sustainable Thurston Plan – “Creating Places Preserving Spaces – a Sustainable Development Plan for the Thurston Region” – articulates the importance of our resource lands:

Priority Goal
Preserve environmentally sensitive lands, farmlands, forest lands, prairies, and rural lands and develop compact urban areas.

Supporting Target
No Net Loss of farmlands, forest lands, prairie habitats (in addition to environmentally critical areas that area currently protected) while providing for a range of densities within rural Thurston County.

The Thurston Regional Planning Council recently set 2016 priorities, which includes exploring tools and strategies for reaching 0 Net Loss. The Thurston Food Systems Council also selected 0 Net Loss as a priority activity in 2015-16.

Farmland Zero Net Loss - Setting the Stage (PDF)

For more information contact:
Loretta Seppanen
Thurston Food System Council Member
laurel.lodge@comcast.net

Programs and Policies

Programs and Policies	Permanence of protection	Acres protected or enrolled in Thurston County	Opportunities to make program more effective	Who needs to make a change
Agricultural and Conservation Easements A voluntary legal agreement between a landowner and a land trust which permanently limits the use of the land to protect its agricultural or conservation value.	High	2,095	More $	County, State, Federal
Fee Simple Purchase by a land trust or conservation agency Acquisition of land by a land trust or conservation agency.	High	302	More $	County, State, Federal
Purchase of Development Rights (PDR) Thurston County has the potential to purchase and retire development rights from resource land owners as it did in the 1990’s.	High	942	Fund & Increase Awareness	County
Transfer of Development Rights (TDR) Allows owners of property in a designated sending area to gain credit for unused development rights that can be sold and transferred to another property in designated receiving area.	High	181	Improve Policy & Increase Awareness	County, Local, Jurisdictions
Rural Resource Cluster Development Mitigates the loss of farmland by clustering residential lots in a development, and setting aside 60% to 90% of the land area into a large resource parcel.	High	875	Policy Change & Increase Awareness	County
Current Use Open Space Farm and Agriculture Tax Program Protects farm lands by allowing taxation at current use rate rather than highest and best use.	Low	34,237	Policy Change	State
Current Use Open Space Tax Program Protects farm lands that currently do not meet the farm and agricultural requirements but have a high potential of returning to farming in the future by allowing taxation at current use rate rather than highest and best use.	Low	736	Increase Awareness & Reduce Fee	County
Long-Term Agriculture Zoning Designates areas within the county where agriculture is intended to be the primary use.	Medium	12,320	Add Land to Zone	County

Funding

Funding	Existing/ New	2015 Amount (varies by year)	Potential Amount	Who needs to make the change?
Conservation Futures Open space and farmland conservation program funded by property tax revenues.	Existing	$1 million per year	Additional $400,000 per year	Thurston County with voter approval
Washington Wildlife and Recreation Program (WWRP) Farmland Preservation Grants Comptetitive State Grant - farmland purchase of easement to ensure the land remain available for farming in the future.	Existing	$4 million per biennium statewide	?	State
US Department of Agriculture Natural Resource Conservation Services - Agricultural Conservation Easement Program (ACEP) Competitive Federal Grant - specifically to fund the purchase of agricultureal conservation easements	Existing	$700,000 statewide	?	Federal
Seek special US Department of Agriculture funding via a grant from the Regional Conservation Partnership Program (RCPP) Competitve Federal Grant - designed for local partners to design and invest in conservation projects specifically tailored for their communities including farmland preservation projects.	New	n/a	Multi-million dollars over several years	Local coalition of partners
Additional Real Estate Excise Transfer (REET) Tax New Tax - up to 1% of selling price paid by the purchase of real property.	New	n/a	?	Thurston County or voter initiative
Individual Impact Investors Investment Fund.	New	n/a	?	?
Portion of recording fee for farmland preservation Reallocation of existing fee.	New	n/a	?	?
One-time or special legislative funding Such as $s for the Agricultural Conservation Easement Account, State Conservation Commission.	Special	$9 million	?	State

Farmland Zero Net Loss

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