Executive Director Hannah Clark traveled to Washington, DC last week to meet with staff of nearly every member of the Washington State Congressional Delegation to talk about WALT’s top federal priorities: agricultural land protection in the upcoming Farm Bill, and the Land and Water Conservation Fund. In the frenzy of DC right now, it’s critical that our lawmakers are standing up for conservation.
Farm Bill
In Washington state, and across the nation, agricultural land is at risk due to generational transition in land ownership and development pressures. In response, land trusts are working to protect our agricultural land base for the future, while helping new and beginning farmers access land.
The Farm Bill provides the only federal grant funding for agricultural land protection, through the ACEP-ALE and RCPP programs. ACEP-ALE aims to protect the long-term viability of agriculture by preventing conversion of productive working lands to non-agricultural uses. The program provides grants to purchase development rights through conservation easements on private lands, which are held and managed in perpetuity.
A 2015 survey of ACEP applicants in Washington State found that there were 27 ready-to-go projects that were awaiting over $10 million of funding. This means that in 2015, nine out of ten landowners in need of funding to protect their land through an easement did not receive it. These projects would have protected over 22,837 acres of agricultural land in Washington. According to NRCS, ACEP-ALE funding was only able to address 26 percent of the demand nationwide.
WALT joins the national Land Trust Alliance in advocating for at least $500 million for ACEP in the next Farm Bill. We are also advocating for steps to simplify and streamline the program to make it easier for landowners to apply. See our 2018 Farm Bill Priorities here.
Land and Water Conservation Fund
It seems like only yesterday that the Land and Water Conservation Fund (LWCF) expired in 2015 and was saved by Congressional champions (including much of the Washington Delegation) by a short term three-year extension. However, the program is set to expire once again in September 2018 – less than a year away.
The LWCF is our nation’s primary federal grant program for conservation and recreation. It uses offshore oil and gas lease royalties to fund everything from working forests to neighborhood parks to national parks and wildlife refuges.
There are several pieces of legislation moving in the House and Senate to reauthorize and fully fund LWCF. Senator Maria Cantwell has introduced S 529, the Land and Water Conservation Authorization and Funding Act, joined by Republican Richard Burr of North Carolina.
And Congressman Dave Reichert has joined bipartisan colleagues to introduce HR 502, a bill that would permanently authorize the Land and Water Conservation. This bill now has 212 bipartisan co-sponsors – only six away from half of the House!
Finally, Senator Patty Murray in her role on the Senate Appropriations Committee helped to get $400 million for LWCF in the Senate Appropriation Bill.
In DC, WALT was able to thank our champions from the Washington delegation for continuing to fight for LWCF, and discuss a path forward for full funding and permanent reauthorization.