Farmland protected on county's ag scenic corridor

Skagit County’s Farmland Legacy Program finalized a conservation easement on an 80-acre farmland property to permanently protect the land for agricultural use in July. The property sits along the state’s only designated Agricultural Scenic Corridor at the Chuckanut Drive and I-5 interchange.

Landowner Mark Houser, part of the Houser family co-ownership of siblings and their children, expressed his family’s commitment to safeguarding agriculture in Skagit County. Houser notes he received calls weekly about developing the 80-acre property.

“I want to see farmland set aside for my kids and for our farmers,” said Houser. “We need our working lands for our working farmers.”

“The Houser family’s decision guards this keystone property on the ag corridor as prime farmland,” said Commissioner Ron Wesen, who represents the northwest district of Skagit County. “Their decision is to the benefit of us all.”

The land’s prime Skagit and Sumas silt loam soil is now protected from non-agricultural use. The land has been in a rotation of potatoes and grains since Skagit Valley Farm leased it eight years ago.

Farmland under conservation easement protection through the Skagit County Farmland Legacy Program now totals 14,820 acres.

Partners in protecting farmland

The Chuckanut farmland project was made possible by the joint efforts of Skagitonians to Preserve Farmland and the Skagit County Farmland Legacy Program. The land is part of the Agricultural Scenic Corridor that runs from Starbird Road in Conway to Bow Hill.

“There’s a lot of pressure to expand development on farmland along the I-5 corridor,” said Commissioner Peter Browning. “You just have to look up and down the interstate to see what could happen in Skagit County.”

“For 25 years, Skagit County’s Farmland Legacy Program and its partners have helped permanently protect one of our most precious and finite resources, our farmland,” added Commissioner Lisa Janicki. “We are grateful for the amount of support our community has for the preservation of agriculture.”

Since 1997, the Skagit County Farmland Legacy Program has sourced $23.7 million in compensation to farmland owners for the permanent protection of agricultural land in Skagit County. The funds are $14 million in Skagit County conservation futures tax funds and $9.7 million in local and federal grants and nonprofit contributions.

Skagit Agricultural Scenic Corridor

The state’s first agricultural scenic highway was designated February 2010 in Skagit County. It remains the only designated agricultural scenic highway in the state, offering sweeping views from I-5 of Skagit farmland.

Former state Senator Mary Margaret Haugen sponsored the bill to classify this section of the highway system as scenic and included specific language for Skagit County’s designation. The state defines an agricultural scenic corridor as an area that showcases the state’s historical agricultural area and promotes the maintenance and enhancement of agricultural areas.

Approximately eight miles of prime farmland line the designated corridor between Conway and Bow Hill. More than 2,200 acres within a quarter mile of the agricultural scenic corridor is permanently protected by Skagit County Farmland Legacy easements. That is 3.5 square miles of protected farmland.

Skagit County’s Farmland Legacy

The Farmland Legacy Program is a county-funded initiative that compensates landowners for placing a perpetual conservation easement on their land. Landowners retain ownership of their land and continue their farming operations. The program’s primary goal is to protect Skagit County’s vital agricultural productivity and character.

The county has budgeted $3 million in conservation futures tax funds for the purchase of easements in 2024 and 2025.

Information: skagitcounty.net/­farmland; 360 416-1417.

Source: Skagit County government