Do you have problems with mud in the winter months?  Are your pastures filled with more weeds than grass?  Is your manure mountain growing?  These and others are problems that the District can help you solve.  All assistance we offer is free of charge and without obligation! 

The District employs five Resource Planners to assist you in solving problems on your farm.  Each Planner covers a different area of the county.  To contact the appropriate planner for your area, use the clickable map.  

After contacting the appropriate Planner, we will set up an initial site visit to evaluate the resources on your property, and talk to you about what problems you have experienced.  After we have completed an inventory with you and discussed your objectives for what you see for the future on your farm, we can create a farm plan that specifically addresses your needs.  

Farm plans are set up in two parts.  The first half details current conditions on your farm and inventories these resources:  soil, water, air, plants, animals, and human concerns (i.e. cost considerations, desires for future).  The second half of the plan lists the different Best Management Practices (BMPs) that could be implemented to solve your challenges.  These could include BMPs such as heavy use area protection, waste storage structures, roof runoff management, or nutrient management, among others.  We will discuss with you whether the recommendations fit your plans for the farm, and try to tailor our recommendations to fit your needs.  As we are a non-regulatory agency, the farm plans are strictly for your own use.  We do not require any BMPs to be implemented, though we are certainly happy and willing to assist you if you decide to implement any of the practices.  

When you have decided on a course of action and are thinking of starting a project, we are available to give you detailed designs and assistance to get the practices implemented.  In certain cases, cost share funds may be available to help finance up to 50% of the cost of implementation.  We are also sometimes available to come to your farm to help you implement.  In the last few years, we have also been fortunate to have the services of a Washington Conservation Corps crew.  This crew is available for a month or so in the summer to provide labor to implement practices, free of charge to the landowner.

We have a successful history of helping landowners solve problems on their farms.  We have designs for many different types of fencing, heavy use areas, and other practices.  Our district is also part of a 4-district cluster which shares the services of a District engineer, in the event that one of our existing designs will not work for your site.  In additional to helping with livestock problems, we also provide assistance for landowners on salmon streams, whether it be using buffers for fish habitat, or replacing culverts that block passage.  If you are interested in having a Planner visit your farm and help you with a farm plan, please contact the Planner in your area.  

1386 SE Lund Ave. Suite 1, Port Orchard, WA  360-337-7171 FAX 360-337-7172