Washington Assessment and Key Programs

In Washington, several state incentive programs stand out as a result of exceptional agency coordination, participation, and technical assistance. These programs provide the potential to coordinate with other resources offered in the state to develop a more comprehensive approach to habitat conservation. These key programs are described below along with a table comparing them to the ten criteria for an effective program proposed by Defenders of Wildlife. Also included in the table is an assessment of the state's overall ability to meet the criteria given the current combined efforts of all programs in the state, including the five shown here. The statewide assessment is not an average of the performance of programs in the state, but rather an evaluation of state-led efforts to provide effective incentive programs.

Aquatic Lands Enhancement Account (ALEA) Volunteer Cooperative Projects Grants

This program provides funding for qualifying volunteer organizations and individuals who undertake activities which are beneficial to fish and wildlife across the state of Washington. To receive funding, participants enter a contract with Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife agreeing to complete a project in one of the following categories: habitat, research, education, facility development, and rearing and releasing fish or wildlife. The grants cover the costs of materials, goods, and services.

The program's main focus is on fish and wildlife habitat, however the majority of program participants are volunteer organizations like neighborhood associations and non-profits rather than private individuals. The program is mainly used as a way for volunteer organizations to perform projects on public lands, however there are also some projects on private land. Lack of funding is the major challenge this program faces, making it a very competitive grant process that is always filled to capacity.

Family Forest Fish Passage Program

This is a cost-share program that provides 75-100% of the cost of repairing, replacing, or removing fish barriers such as culverts, dams, weirs, spillways, or other artificial instream structures that block fish from migrating to upstream habitat. The program was formed as a partnership between the Washington Department of Natural Resources, the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife, and the Salmon Recovery Funding Board. These agencies try to coordinate this program with other federal funding programs. The Family Forest Fish Passage Program was formed to mitigate state regulations that require forest landowners to fix fish migration barriers before being allowed to harvest timber. The application process is simple and straight-forward. The landowner fills out a 1-page application and then the program finds local sponsors and contractors to complete the projects. The program is available to all small forest landowners, however, projects are prioritized annually and only the highest priority projects are funded each year. Priorities are based on: benefits for native fish species, the quality and quantity of upstream habitat opened, and the presence/absence of additional upstream or downstream barriers. Landowners with lower priority projects are placed on a waiting list until their project is determined to be a high priority. Landowners who voluntarily apply for the program are relieved of any obligation to fix their fish barrier until the state determines it is a high priority and provides funding.

Forest Riparian Easement Program

The focus of the Forest Riparian Easement Program is on conserving riparian habitat through 50 year easements. It was created to help small landowners recover financial losses due to an increase in the size of buffers that, by law, forest landowners must provide on their land. It is a compensation program that reimburses landowners for trees they must leave in riparian areas to protect water quality and wildlife habitat. Thus far, program funding has been insufficient to meet the demand of its applicants. Each year it is filled to capacity with a waiting list of applicants. That could change very soon however, with the governor supporting current legislation to increase its funding.

Public Benefit Rating System/Current Use Taxation

Washington state offers a current use assessment that provides property tax reductions to owners of open space lands. To qualify for the assessment, landowners need to specify what type of conservation they plan to practice on their land. The program is designed to permanently enroll lands in the open space land use classification for conservation purposes. Landowners wishing to remove their land from the open space classification are subject to fees of 7 years of back taxes plus interest, and a penalty for the removal.

The Public Benefit Rating System was designed as a way to coordinate the open space property tax assessment and the conservation futures levy into a system that could be used for strategic conservation at the county level. Counties enrolled in the program define conservation priorities for resources that occur on open space lands. Landowners enrolled in the open space property tax assessment receive higher tax breaks if their land contains "High Priority Resources" as defined by the county and lower breaks for "Low Priority Resources". This system enhances the open space assessment to a more strategic implementation and allows conservation to be addressed at the landscape level. It allows for more diverse or unique landscape characteristics to be identified as priority areas by the counties. Using the system, counties may also choose to purchase high priority lands for conservation through a "conservation futures" levy that allows for acquisition of open space land.

Currently, the program is facing a number of challenges that hinder its effectiveness. Participation is low with only 15 of Washington's 39 counties enrolled. Another challenge to the program is the minimum size of 20 acres for eligibility. Generally shorelines do not qualify because they are too narrow to meet the minimum acreage size. This prevents many key wetland areas from being eligible for the program. Also, the program has not been able to meet its goal of permanent enrollment in the program. Although landowners must pay back taxes and fines to leave the program, they often make enough money from a development sale to pay off these expenses. If changes could be made to the program to increase participation and eligibility, it could be a very effective opportunity for strategic conservation in the state.

Washington Salmon Recovery Funding Board Grant Program

The Salmon Recovery Funding Board runs a grant program designed to fund salmon recovery and habitat restoration projects. To apply for the grants, local citizen groups, or lead entities, develop project plans and submit their proposals to the Salmon Recovery Funding Board for approval. If individual landowners wish to apply, they must get a sponsoring agency to serve as the lead entity in their application. One goal of the Board is to have all the salmon recovery money available in one place by coordinating state and federal funds. This process allows local and regional citizen groups to set their own priorities for salmon recovery. After the applications are submitted, the Board gets the process underway by coordinating technical assistance and agency resources with the citizen groups to complete the projects.

Lack of funding is a challenge this program faces. Every year the Board awards all the grants they can and end up turning projects (often good ones) away. Also, due to the lack of funding and resources of the program, the ability to build the capacity of the local sponsors to help them take on larger or more complex projects is limited. Managing the limited funds creates uncertainty for both the Board and the applicants in the process. The Board is held accountable for managing the funds and making sure they are distributed for effective projects. Often they go through a thorough scrutinizing process to award the grants. At the same time, applicants are unsure whether or not their projects will be funded, and do not perform extensive preliminary work to refine the true cost estimates of their projects. Without this advance design work, many projects are not able to be completed with the funds awarded.