SPF Appeals Decision to Create Wetland Mitigation Bank on Farmland

Skagitonians to Preserve Farmland (SPF) has appealed a recent hearing examiner's decision that favors converting a 396-acre former dairy farm in the Nookachamps basin to a private commercial wetland mitigation bank. The appeal , which will go to the Skagit County Commissioners, comes after a hearing process that spanned nine days over ten months and included 201 exhibits and 27 witnesses."The hearing examiner's decision is disappointing as it perpetuates the fallacy that converting agricultural land is the solution to solving our community problems related to growth and urbanization," said Allen Rozema, SPF's executive director."Farmland continues to be looked at by county and city planners, elected officials and developers as first choice to increase their tax base and to replace critical habitat lost to subdivisions, parking lots and urban runoff. Skagit farmers have been stewarding their land for generations, providing food that feeds our families and our nation, providing wildlife habitat for thousands of shorebirds, waterfowl and raptors, and helping keep the watershed so healthy that the Skagit Watershed is the only one in the state with a steady and secure population of all six salmon species."SPF acknowledges that mitigation is a well-accepted practice than can assist in maintaining critical natural resources and holds promise in easing the administrative burden placed on regulators and developers to mitigate for the destruction of wetlands, but the organization disagrees that wetland mitigation banking is providing an ecological lift claimed by many advocates.Wetland mitigation banks merely “relocate” wetlands from one part of the county to another and transfer the ecological services of those wetlands from one area to another. Wetland banks are only “holding the line” ecologically—they are not adding to the ecological base. Development impacts are not mitigated where the impact is occurring, but transferred to farmland where the pressure increases to grow more food on less land."Our Board of Directors understands that in order to have an agricultural industry in Skagit Valley 100 years from now tough decisions need to be made today that stop the conversion of farmland to other uses," Rozema added."The SPF Board is committed to protecting every precious acre of farmland left in Skagit County. That includes holding our elected officials accountable for supporting land use decisions that favor the long-term survival of agriculture. Our appeal gives the County Commissioners the opportunity to review the project against the agricultural protection policies and rules currently in place, which to date have failed to be reviewed and considered."