Henry Bierlink WFF Executive Director

An Open Letter to Whatcom County Executive Candidates

This fall's election of a new County Executive is an important milestone in our County's history.  We are thankful for the stated commitment to preserving our natural resources that County Executive Pete Kremen provided during his 16 year tenure.  We need to know that we can expect at least the same level of commitment from our new Executive.

Our County is blessed with diverse and highly productive natural resources.  Our native tribes sustained their communities for centuries from the abundant fish and shellfish in our fresh and marine waters. Early pioneers were amazed at the immense forestlands and built new communities based on timber production.  Farm communities followed the timber harvests and turned the fertile soils of our valleys and plateaus into some of the most productive farmland in the world.  

We are privileged to be the managers of the large percentage of these resource lands.  We are committed to management that provides for our children, grandchildren, and their descendants.  We also recognize that how we manage these resources impacts the entire community.  What we do affects each other, our open spaces, our natural beauty, and the wonderfully diverse economy that sustains our entire county.

Because of our responsibilities in resource management we expect our County leaders to be partners with us and not impediments.  The new County Executive needs to assure us that his priorities include:

• A commitment to protecting our water.  The County has abundant water resources.  They need to be protected and managed to ensure they are clean, adequate to met diverse needs, and respectful of those who have a history of dependence on these waters. 
• A commitment to protecting our resource lands.  Conflicts over land use priorities are a given in growing areas.   This fact underscores the need for a clear land use vision that respects the need to protect enough land to sustain healthy forest, farm, and fish economies.  This requires protecting an adequate base of resource lands from conversion to non productive status and ensuring that irrigation, drainage, and flood protection are provided so that resource managers can be sustainable. 
• Public policies that clearly and consistently advance these commitments and our abilities to achieve them.   Disjointed policies that confuse and frustrate resource managers are far too prevalent.  This is both your and our opportunity to outline what we will do together.

We call on each of you to outline your vision for what you will do as County Executive to address our concerns.  And we ask the voting public to hold you accountable to your commitments.  Help make sure the County is our partner and not another challenge to overcome.  

We are always adapting to weather, economics, and changing expectations.  We are resilient!  We will be here for centuries to come and Whatcom will be a wonderful place to call Home because of it. 

Whatcom County Chapter of WA Farm Forestry Association

Whatcom Farm Friends      

The Whatcom County Council has two significant items on their agenda that are of great interest to our farmers.  We expect that, beginning with their July 26th meetings, we will have a timely opportunity to outline what the County can do to provide a positive future for our farms.

The first item to be considered will be culmination of a year of work by Whatcom's Planning and Development Services (PDS) department, the Ag Advisory Committee, and Farm Friends - an Agriculture Strategic Plan.  You can peruse the document here.

This plan summarizes and incorporates years of work and outlines a clear path on what we need to work on in the future.  It seems everyone supports farms and farmland and wants to keep them thriving into the future.  But what exactly is the County's role in helping to do that?  Farm Friends has worked with County administration and County Councils for many years to help answer this question. 

Our strategy can be summarized in these logical steps:

1. Help the County recognize that agriculture needs a critical mass of agricultural land and the water management (water rights, drainage, flood management) to support it.
2. Set clear goals - 100,000 acres of farmland that farmers can actually farm.  This includes the water rights and ability to drain and protect from flooding in the growing season.  The Council endorsed the land supply goal in a 2009 Resolution.  Water management work continues in supply and in drainage and flood management with the Flood Advisory Committee, drainage and irrigation districts, and the Whatcom Conservation District carrying the bulk of this effort. 
3. Identify what farmland is the priority for protection.  All farmland is important but some is more important than others.  We have identified the ag zone and several rural zone areas that merit this protection.  The results of this study were published in 2007 and have been essentially reinforced by a recently completed Land Cover mapping exercise completed by the PDS department.  See the following links:
   • The 2007 Rural Land Study 
   • The recent Agricultural Land Cover Analysis 
4. Identify "tools" the County could use to help farmers meet the goals of environmentally responsible farming and a clear respect for the property rights of the landowners.  The report to the County, endorsed by the Ag Advisory Committee, was completed in 2009, and can be accessed here.  

The County's Ag Strategic Plan incorporates all these steps and outlines what needs to be done to implement them.  We will remain actively involved in ensuring this work does not go to waste by simply sitting on a shelf.  We expect the County Council and Administration to enthusiastically support the path towards full support of our farmers that is clearly outlined for them. 

The second and closely related item for Council consideration this summer will be the initiation of a Water Supply Planning effort this fall.  This plan will incorporate all out-of-stream water uses including farms along with municipal supplies and residential and industrial uses.  This plan will provide the same clarity on the priority for water that the in-stream-flow negotiations with the Tribes and the State are seeking to provide for stream flow needs.  Farm Friends has been in the middle of these discussions for our entire existence (1993) and we see this as a needed element in the continued discussions and cooperation with agencies, Tribes, cities, PUD, and water districts on resolving the water supply issues in the County. 

The Council will be considering how to help fund this effort through their Economic Development Investment Fund.  An outline of the strategy to accomplish this goal is available here.  County Executive Pete Kremen's endorsement of the strategy is available here. 

It will be an interesting and hopefully productive summer and a busy fall as we implement these plans.  We encourage your continued questions and involvement.  We'll keep posting notices of upcoming meetings on these topics on our website at www.wcfarmfriends.com.  We encourage farmers and farm supporters to attend and participate in Council discussions on these topics.  The current calendar anticipates the following:

• July 12 - Natural Resource Market update to Natural Resources Committee
• July 26 - Introduction of Ag Strategic Plan to Natural Resources Committee
• August - Council consideration of the EDI funding request for Water Supply Planning

We need your help in communicating your support to the County Council.  Pick up a phone, send an email, and attend the County Council meetings.

Natural Resources Market Update

Nooksack Falls

Farm Friends has been facilitating the development of one of the more innovative "tools" recommended to the County to support farmers.  The Natural Resource Market (NRM) has the potential to benefit much more than farmers but since we are the prime instigators the early trades in this market will likely be with farmers.

Throughout 2009-2010 the NRM Working Group met with landowners, community-members, technical support staff, and policy-makers to learn more about their concerns regarding a Natural Resource Market for Whatcom County.  Along the way, the Working Group found both a healthy skepticism and keen interest in these types of tools and approaches.  A September, 2010 Symposium on the concept brought 85 attendees together for � a day.  78% of those attending left with an opinion that "market-based or incentive-based approaches in resource management can be an effective means to address the land and water challenges we face in Whatcom County". 

While the complexity of establishing a market may present many an obstacle, early opportunities have been identified to test early NRM trades including:

• Water credits, such as water contracts
• Density credits, working with existing purchase and trade of development rights programs
• Ecosystem service credits, such as habitat, water quality, endangered species, wetlands
• Flood management credits

2011 and 2012 work will focus on taking the idea from the abstract to the concrete.  Three pilot projects are being developed where we can illustrate the value of the idea:

Lower Fishtrap Creek floodplain (Fishtrap from Guide Meridian to Nooksack confluence)

This project would include creation of additional habitat through levee setbacks and enhancement of habitat through buffer vegetation, as well as potential for managing flood waters more effectively within the floodplain downstream of Lynden.  Some limited potential for including irrigation in the package.  An "open house" discussion was held with landowners during May, to explore possible design of a package that might generate a supply of credits.  A clear net gain of farmable land for landowners will have to result for Farm Friends to find this project a success. 

Bertrand Creek surface to groundwater conversions 

The purpose is to examine where both surface and groundwater rights exist near the Creek between H Street and Loomis Trail.  Then compare to where water is being used and where it is needed to support ag production.  Finally, we hope to design a package including water right transfers, surface to ground water conversions, and habitat improvements.  A meeting was held with landowners in May to discuss options.

Double Ditch realignment and restoration

This project concerns the realignment of Double Ditch (Pepin Creek) into a single, restored channel, as envisaged by City of Lynden and WDFW. There is now a potential connection with DOT proposed intersection projects at Badger and Bender Roads and Badger and Depot Roads, for which DOT will be seeking mitigation opportunities.  

Market based resource management is not entirely new.  A leader in this field has been the Willamette Partnership.  They have been in close contact with us and have offered assistance this summer.   The end product of our joint efforts would be an example of calculated credits for the projects, to enable us to demonstrate what might be offered to potential buyers, and for us to learn how to undertake similar assessments for other projects and/or credit types. 

Detailed information on the development of the NRM concept and where we plan to take this concept in 2012 are available on the NRM page of the Farm Friends website.