Office of Rural and Resource Programs
Section Services
The Office of Rural and Resource Programs combines major program areas that directly serve or affect residents and land in the unincorporated, rural areas of King County. Program staff assist private landowners to better steward and benefit form the resources on their lands through Farm, Forest and Rural Stewardship Plans and property tax incentives programs. Staff provide free technical assistance, education and outreach, grants and cost-share agreements, and also coordinate efforts with other agencies who provide complimentary services including the King Conservation District and the Washington State University King County Extension Service. The Office also directs or participates in programs to maintain agricultural and forested lands and improve the rural economy in these resource-based areas in balance with local and regional efforts to protect natural habitats and restore precious salmon resources.
The Office also combines in one place staff who: identify priority natural resource lands for acquisition and restoration; secure funding for purchase and to construct those projects; conduct the real estate transactions to acquire the land or easements; and manage those properties over the long term. Staff work with individual landowners and communities during acquisition as well as during the planning, design and construction of restoration projects. Stewardship of both public and private lands is further enhanced through organizing volunteer projects to restore and maintain sites, to monitor and restore community lakes, and through the State-mandated Noxious Weeds Program also housed in the Office.
Acquisitions
- Agricultural land use regulations
- Farmland Preservation Program
- Identification of farmlands on which development rights have been purchased
- Monitoring of preserved farmlands
- Restrictions on preserved farmlands
- Incentive Programs
- Livestock
- Best Management Practices (BMP) cost share program
- Educational opportunities
- Manure management programs
- Marketing and promotion of agriculture products -
Puget Sound Fresh
- Resources for raising livestock
Community Outreach and Grants
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- Financial alternatives to developing rural farms, forests, and open space
- Forestry education
- Forest management/stewardship plans
- Rural forest retention incentives
- Rural forestry support & incentive programs
- Technical assistance to property owners (harvest, stand improvement, tree planting)
- Urban forestry program
- Educational presentation
- Information on weed identification, biology and control techniques
- Noxious weed control and prevention
- State and County noxious weed lists
- State Weed Law information
- Volunteer weed pulls
- Open space and timber land conservation
- Property tax reduction in exchange for resource protection
Watershed Stewardship
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