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News & Highlights

KCD Honors Mirro for Service

Interim Executive Director Cynthia Setel presented KCD Senior Resource Planner Jay Mirro with a plaque honoring his 20+ years of service at a recent staff meeting. Mirro has written over 600 Farm Conservation Plans in his tenure with KCD, as well as assisted cooperators with technical assistance and connected them with cost share through various programs available to farmers. Many staff and countless cooperators have given Mirro credit for their success in the workplace as well as on their farms.

Find Out More about KCD Farm Conservation Planning

Orca Recovery Day 2021

In 2020, we brought #OrcaRecoveryDay to your home. We asked that you be a part of the solution by joining countless others who are creating habits and taking steps to make a better, healthier environment than the one we have now.

Every action taken mattered for the Eco Challenge teams, but most importantly they showed our collective impact and inspired others to join the effort.

This year, you can get involved in person. Be sure to save Orca-tober 16 on your calendar!

AgDrainage Projects Under Way

King County Councilmember Kathy Lambert visited the Gaisford Farm project site in the Snoqualmie Valley with KCD staff in late July for a tour. Gaisford farm is working with KCD and King County ADAP to clean an agricultural drainage ditch which will restore farmable acreage and improve fish habitat once completed.

In the coming months, additional projects are being completed in rural King County, including the Enumclaw plateau.

Regional Food System Grant Program Requests for Proposals Due Soon

King Conservation District (KCD) is pleased to announce a competitive solicitation process to award Regional Food System Program Grant funds for projects that support the economic and environmental sustainability of working agricultural lands in King County.

Proposals are due by 4pm on August 17. No late submissions will be accepted.

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Trees for Rail in Shoreline

King Conservation District, Sound Transit, and the City of Shoreline are pleased to announce Trees for Rail, a partnership to re-green the Lynnwood Link light rail corridor with native trees and shrubs as it passes through Shoreline.

The first of its kind partnership seeks to utilize King Conservation District’s County-wide Urban Tree Canopy program to establish native vegetation and tree canopy to reduce the impact on corridor-adjacent homeowners. This partnership leverages the resources of Sound Transit and will serve to meet Shoreline’s landscaping requirements.

Eligible residents along the rail corridor in parts of the Ridgecrest, North City, and Ballinger neighborhoods can volunteer to receive native trees and shrubs, installed by KCD experts, free of charge. Households also receive training on how to care for their plants with additional assistance if needed.

Poverty Bay–Vashon Island Septic Maintenance Rebate Program

King County is offering a rebate of up to $300 for septic maintenance activities performed in the project focus areas of Northwest Vashon Island and Poverty Bay. KCD is administering the rebate for the County. Eligible maintenance includes maintenance inspections, riser installation, and pumping. You can receive $200 toward a septic system inspection, $50 toward a riser installation (up to 2 per property), and/or $100 toward septic tank pumping. All work must be performed by a King County certified provider.

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Cultivating Success™: Growing Future Farmers

Learn how to develop a sustainable small farm

Interested in farming? Not sure how to begin? Do you dream of beginning or expanding your own small farm? The Cultivating Success™ series of courses combines workshop and farmer-direct learning experiences to help foster the success of new and existing farms by helping participants explore the unique advantages available to small and mid-size farms.

Sustainable Small-Acreage Farming and Ranching is the first course in the series and will be held on Tuesdays, 6:30pm to 8:30pm, September 21 through December 7, 2021 via the Zoom online platform.

Weekly presentations include local growers, organizations, and agriculture professionals with expertise in direct marketing, value-added processing, production planning, agronomy, livestock production, and more. Sponsored in collaboration with Snohomish Conservation District and Snohomish County Farm Bureau, Cultivating Success™ provides students with the tools necessary to create/develop/expand a sustainable farm operation.

Class size is limited and usually fills quickly. Pre-paid registration of $200 per farm/family is required for the twelve-week course.

Course facilitators Bobbi Lindemulder, cattle rancher and District Operations Program Manager for Snohomish Conservation District, and Kate Ryan, grower and Agriculture Program Coordinator for WSU Snohomish County Extension, have been helping encourage and support new farmers through programs like Cultivating Success™ for well over a decade.

For more information visit snohomish.wsu.edu/SSFAR or contact Kate Ryan, kate.ryan@wsu.edu or call 425-357-6024.

KCD Online Self-Guided Learning Modules Now Available

KCD is offering our popular education courses online in an easy to use format that enables you to learn at your own pace. Each course allows you to start, stop, and pick up where you left off, whenever you like.

Start Learning Now

Employment Opportunity: Washington Conservation Corps AmeriCorps Positions

If you are interested in working outdoors to plant native trees, remove invasive plants, and participate in salmon recovery projects, apply for one of several openings on the KCD WCC Restoration Crew or for an Individual Placement.

Crew Positions

Individual Placement

Webinar Recording Available

Managing Wildfire Risk to Your Western Washington Home is now available to watch on KCD’s YouTube Channel.

Visit KCD’s YouTube Channel

Get Involved This Summer

Summer WSU Extension Forest Stewardship Webinars

Take an hour to learn something new about your forest with the FREE webinars this summer. The webinars will be offered twice each day.

August 12: Variable density thinning
August 17: Forest health highlights
August 19: Lions and fishers and bears, oh my! Current events in Northwest wildlife management
August 26: Healthy forest understories and the weeds that get in the way

Lunch Session: 12noon – 1pm
Evening Session: 7pm – 8pm

King County Chomp!

King County’s CHOMP! returns to Marymoor Park on August 21 for a full day of local food, hands-on activities and live music. Participate in the Scavenger Hunt and take home a special prize from KCD!

Find Out More

Wildfire Preparedness for Farms

Join KCD’s Wildfire and Forest Resiliency Project Coordinator Matt Axe for a free webinar to learn how you prepare your Western Washington farm for wildfire season.

Watch the Events Page to Sign Up

Farm Tour: Mud, Manure and Pasture Management

Join KCD and Horses for Clean Water for a farm tour in Enumclaw and learn how to effectively manage mud, manure, and pasture for the upcoming winter season.

Watch the Events Page to Sign Up

WSU Cultivating Success™: Sustainable Small-Acreage Farming and Ranching

WSU Snohomish County Extesion present the first course in the series and will be held on Tuesdays, 6:30pm to 8:30pm, September 21 through December 7, 2021 via the Zoom online platform.

Find Out More

Do you know of an event to highlight on KCD’s Partners’ Events page? Please let us know.

See All KCD and Partner Events

At King Conservation District, we’re all about Better Ground. Better Ground means taking important stewardship actions at home and in our communities to create healthy soil and water, to provide healthy food, and to conserve land, water, forests, wildlife and related natural resources. And you don’t have to go at it alone. You have a partner, your local conservation district.