Thurston County to grant Conservation Futures funding to two land preservation projects

For the second cycle of this year’s Conservation Futures Program, Thurston County’s Board of County Commissioners (BoCC) will fund the Lower Deschutes River Floodplain Expansion Acquisition and the MK Valley Acquisition  

“Conservation futures is a program authorized by the state legislation to support the protection of a variety of lands including wildlife habitat, forestlands, agricultural properties, historical, recreational properties,” said Senior Planner Andrew Deffobis during a meeting yesterday. 

As a land preservation program, the Conservation Futures Program will protect threatened open space areas, timberlands, wetlands, habitats, and agricultural lands. 

Conservation Futures Funds are collected through a property tax levy and used to purchase future development land or rights. 

Progress in the past years 

Since 1990, $20,80,000 was awarded to fund approximately 52 projects, conserving an estimated 5,700 acres. 

“There is also one project on the pipeline that was funded last year but has not yet been completed. That is a 228-acre conservation easement. The board had awarded $750,000 last year,” said Deffobis. 

The county awarded these funds for the Hudson Cove Habitat Protection project, sponsored by the Capitol Land Trust. 

For this year, the county’s taxpayers spent approximately 3.0 cents per $1,000 assessed value, and the board allocates $500,000 for its annual project award cycle. The BoCC will decide how to use these funds, alongside a ranking committee.  

For the first 2023 award cycle, BoCC received one application for the funds – the Powell Creek  

Acquisition project, sponsored by Nisqually Land Trust. 

This project received $391,000 in funding and was completed this November. It acquired 32.5 acres of forest, wetland, and the salmon-bearing Powell Creek shoreline. 

Because the funding allocation was not fully utilized in the first cycle, the board opened a second cycle for another conservation opportunity.  

The Board of County Commissioners met yesterday to discuss the second funding cycle of the Conservation Futures Program.

Second cycle 

The BoCC received two applications for the second cycle – the Lower Deschutes River Floodplain Expansion and MK Valley acquisitions. 

The Lower Deschutes River Floodplain Expansion acquisition sponsored by Olympia Ecosystems was ranked first with a 40.9 average score and a cumulative fund request of $121,500. 

The MK Valley acquisition sponsored by Creekside Conservancy was ranked second with a 37.0 average score and $256,500 cumulative fund request. 

“The ranking committee did want to pass on some impressions to the board—they wanted to highlight that both projects present opportunities to add to existing blocks of conserved land. They wanted to communicate that these are both good conservation opportunities,” said Deffobis.  

The BoCC and the ranking committee unanimously approved the funding for both projects.