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Grants to Secure the Future of Farming and Salmon

Well-managed agriculture is good for the environment. American Farmland Trust and the agricultural community have long understood that statement, but it has been harder to get sound public policy to reflect that truth.

Economically vital agriculture and forest industries are needed to sustain the intact, open, semi-natural landscapes vital to the long-term survival of fish, plants, and wildlife whose populations may be in decline. Included among these is the Pacific Northwest’s keystone species - the wild salmon. However, those working landscapes must also be managed in a way that reduces environmental degradation and protects and restores aquatic and terrestrial habitats so that both wildlife and our farm & forestry communities can thrive for generations to come. If burdens of such management are excessive, we risk losing farm & forest businesses and accelerate conversion of their lands to much more environmentally problematic development.

The Washington State Conservation Commission and the National Fish & Wildlife Foundation 2008 Pioneers in Conservation grants are intended to help fund projects that restore or protect salmon habitat on agricultural and forest lands while helping the farm or forestry business. The program is designed to help farmers and small, family foresters provide on-the-ground benefits for salmon in Washington watersheds, and to facilitate implementation of the various salmon recovery plans that have been completed throughout the state.

Pioneers in Conservation will provide matching grants of up to $35,000 per project or up to $75,000 for projects with regional impact.  We are seeking projects that address outstanding needs for long-term salmon habitat restoration and protection such as water quality, in-stream or riparian habitat, marine shore lands, and in-stream flows while also helping the farm or forestry business.

Program Goals

The Pioneers in Conservation grants program was created to support salmon recovery projects that help fulfill this vision:

Landowners, environmentalists, and governments working together so actions on private farms and forest lands to improve and protect salmon habitat are conducted in a way that also enhance the economic future of the agricultural or forestry business. Salmon and other wildlife will benefit through improved conservation stewardship on these lands and through avoidance of fragmented, unmanageable, and increasingly developed watersheds.

Projects should provide benefits both to the farmer/forester and to the environment by helping the farmer or forester address one or more of the following needs for long-term salmon habitat restoration and protection:

• Water quality (e.g. filter strips, wetland protections, ponds & swales),
• In-stream habitat (e.g. woody debris placement, expansion of usable habitat and habitat diversity, innovative ditch maintenance, tide-gate replacement, culvert replacement and fish passage barrier removal),
• Riparian habitat (e.g. riparian plantings, fencing, livestock crossings),
• Marine shore lands (e.g. restoration of estuarine habitat), and
• In-stream flows (e.g. water conservation, water trust acquisitions).

The program is intended to demonstrate the innovative, economically beneficial, and socially constructive habitat solutions that are possible on agricultural and forest lands, thus helping the farmer/forester participants become “pioneers in conservation.”

Download the Request for Proposals here

Applications are due by November 10, 2008. Applicants will be notified of decisions by February 2009.

More Information

Cara Rose, National Fish and Wildlife Foundation, Western Partnership Office
(p) (503) 417-8700
cara.rose@nfwf.org

Don Stuart, American Farmland Trust
(p) (206) 860-4222
dstuart@farmland.org

Brian Ferrasci-O'Malley, Evergreen Funding Consultants
(p) (206) 691-0700
bferrasci-omalley@evergreenfc.com

The Pioneers in Conservation program is funded by the National Fish & Wildlife Foundation and the State of Washington through the Washington State Conservation Commission and is supported by The Nature Conservancy, Washington State Dairy Federation, Whatcom Farm Friends, Skagitonians to Preserve Farmland, Western Washington Agricultural Association, and American Farmland Trust.

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