BIG BEND RESOURCE CONSERVATION & DEVELOPMENT COUNCIL

(RC&D)

2004 - 2009 Area Plan of Work

for

Adams, Grant, Franklin and Lincoln Counties, WA

The BBRC&D Council Area Plan of Action was developed with the assistance and cooperation of the Big Bend RC&D Full Council. All programs and assistance of the BBRC&D Council are available without regard to race, color, national origin, age, sex, religion, marital status, or disability

Amended 9/11/07 to meet 2007 national standards

TABLE OF CONTENTS

                        (Page/Topic)

                        3/Introduction

                        4/Organizational Overview

·        Mission for the RC&D Area

·        Vision for the RC&D Area

·        Background and Council Structure

·        Overview of the Area

·        Demographics

·        Natural

·        Resources

·        Agriculture

·        Socio-Economic Information

                        9/Resource Needs and Opportunities

·        Public Participation Activities in the Development of the plan

·        Summary of Findings by RC&D Program Elements

·        Land Conservation

·        Water Management

·        Community Development

·        Land Management

                        9/Goals, Objectives, and Strategies                                     

                        15/Current and Potential Partnerships with USDA and others

                        16/Linkages to the USDA NRCS Strategic Plan

                        17/Signature Page with Compliance Statements and Signatures

                        18/Appendix

·        Documentation of Public Participation

·        Budget Estimates

·        Staffing Plan

2004-2009 LONG RANGE AREA PLAN FOR

BIG BEND RESOURCE CONSERVATION AND DEVELOPMENT COUNCIL

Serving Adams, Franklin, Grant and Lincoln Counties – Washington State.

(iii)           INTRODUCTION

In 1993 County Commissioners, Conservation District board members, and community leaders began meeting on a regular basis to discuss the economic future of the region including Adams, Franklin, Grant and Lincoln counties.  In 1994 the group developed articles of incorporation and By-laws which were filed with the State of Washington.  The State of Washington granted incorporation on June 9, 1995 to the Big Bend Resource Conservation and Development Council (BBRCD).

The Council began working with USDA staff to conduct public meetings and outreach to identify the needs and opportunities of the four county area.  The needs and opportunities were incorporated into an application for an RC&D area.

In 1998, the RC&D area was approved by USDA and a coordinator was hired to assist the council in developing their area and annual plans.  Their first project was to work in partnership with the Washington State Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW) and Sprague Lake community partners to install a public boat launch on the lake.  Their next project was to secure funding through the Department of Natural Resources to conduct a community tree planting program in Washtucna.

In following years, projects have included the development of a shrub steppe outdoor classroom, promotion of the Coulee Corridor National Scenic Byway, a multi-species grazing for weed control study funded by the Sustainable Agriculture Research Education (SARE) program, and the partnership with TRANSCO; a transportation cooperative which address farm to market transportation issues, regional traffic congestion issues and public trail and recreation needs. 

The council has received a great deal of interest in assisting their small rural communities with sustainable enterprises and tourism projects including the Adams County Museum, Inland Empire Historical Railway, Ritzville Historic Preservation Trades School, and the Connell Heritage Museum. 

An area wide project involving the depletion of the Odessa sub-aquifer has received state and national awareness through legislative funding to secure thorough hydro-strategic and economic studies reviewed and overseen by a local stakeholder working group.  The RC&D is providing assistance with grant research and writing, and participates in conference administration.

The future for the RC&D includes Rural Community Entrepreneurism and Sustainability, and the development of alternative on farm fuel production using existing crop wastes that are otherwise unused.

(iv)           ORGANIZATION OVERVIEW

Mission:    “Working to develop human and natural resources through cooperative efforts.”

Vision:  “To empower local people to take a proactive role in improving their standard of living and quality of life.  To serve as a “catalyst” in creating the partnerships needed to successfully achieve economic and natural resource development while maintaining an environmental ethic.

Background and Council Structure:  In 1998, the Big Bend RC&D was established by USDA.  The Bylaws developed and approved by the State of Washington in 1995 establish an executive board consisting of President, Vice President, Secretary, and Treasurer.  In 2006 the board amended the articles of incorporation to include a 1^st and 2^nd Vice President in order to provide leadership training and involvement for their members.

Membership to the RC&D includes county governments, soil and water conservation districts, cities and towns, non-profit organizations, Indian Tribes, and special use districts. 

General Description of Area:  The Big Bend RC&D Area encompasses a vast and diversified portion of Central Washington.  It is bordered on the north, south and west by the Columbia, Snake and Spokane Rivers.  To the east is the city of Spokane and to the west is Seattle on the Puget Sound.

The total population of the area is approximately 133,400 people with roughly 47 percent of the population located in rural areas.  Minority residents account for more than 33 percent of the populations.  Major population centers include Pasco, Moses Lake, Ephrata, Quincy, Othello, Davenport and Ritzville.

Agriculture is the major enterprise and land use comprising approximately 4,556,400 acres.  It is dominated by production of livestock, small grains, and corn, potatoes, and alfalfa, vegetable and seed crops.  Over 70 different crops are produced.  Industrial and business enterprises include food processing, manufacturing, and retail trade.  Support services such as recreation and tourism are also vital.

The unemployment rate in the four county area ranges from 7.2% to 16% with Lincoln and Adams counties designated as “Distressed Areas”.    New technology businesses coming in to the area will improve the employment opportunities for the region.

Important resources include a desert landscape transformed into intensely cropped irrigated agriculture; lakes, streams and reservoirs, and wetland wildlife habitat created as a result of the Columbia Basin Irrigation Project.  Other important resources include extensive grazing lands, hydroelectric power generation, historic and cultural sites.

Soils/Topography:  Soils in Adams, Franklin, Grant and Lincoln counties formed on basalt lava, granite, glacial deposits, and loess (wind blown silts).  Loess covers large areas of rolling hills typically used for dry land wheat production.  These loess soils range in depth from very shallow (to bedrock or other restrictive layer) to very deep depending on location, aspect and slope.  Several hundred thousand acres of coarse textured sands and gravels overlay the basalt.  These soils were largely unproductive until availability of water, beginning in the 1950s, turned them into valuable irrigated cropland.  Non-irrigated soils and loess soils on steeper side slopes are primarily used as rangeland.  All soils have additions of small amounts of volcanic ash from the Cascade volcanoes including several inches of ash from the 1980 eruption of Mt. St. Helens.  Soils in this area have low organic matter and high wind and water erosion potentials.  Landscapes vary from relatively flat to somewhat rolling hills and are characterized by an arid desert climate.  Elevations range from about 300 feet to 2000 feet above sea level.

Geology:  The northern portion of the Area is formed from granite.  This is the oldest material in the Area.  As you travel south, the underlying rock is basalt that flowed up through cracks or fissures in the earth’s crust and is up to 10,000 feet thick in places.  The land surface was shaped by massive catastrophic floods as recently as 13,000 years ago when ice dams broke that were holding back lakes the size of the Great Lakes.  These massive flows of the Ice Age Floods carved great coulees in the basalt and deposited sediment, sand and gravel, and rocks over a vast area.  These floods are responsible for creating the Channeled Scablands of Central Washington.

Climate:  The climate is arid with approximately 6-15 inches of precipitation per year.  Most of the annual precipitation comes November through March in the form of rain and snow.  The growing season varies from 175 – 205 days in the Area.

Winds come predominately from the southwest, with November through March being the critical time of year for strong winds.  During this period it is not uncommon to receive winds of 50 miles per hour for extended periods of time.  In 1990, there were several wind events that exceeded 100 miles per hour.  Dust storms are common when the fields are clean fallowed causing I-90 to close down on occasion due to blinding conditions.

Heavy rain associated with summer thunderstorms result in flash floods, causing crop damage, gully erosion and carries sediment into fish bearing water bodies, irrigation canals, etc.

Land Use:  More than 4.5 million acres or 93 percent of the Area is devoted to agricultural production.  Even though livestock grazing is an important industry, the production of agricultural crops is the predominant land use in the Big Bend RC&D Area.  Primary crops produced are wheat, barley, corn, alfalfa and potatoes.  Over 70 other crops are grown in the Big Bend RC&D Area, including vegetables, seed crops, apples, cherries, pears and peaches.

Land Use by Areas:

            Dry Cropland                                     1,861,090 acres

            Irrigated Cropland                                            797,610 acres

            Pasture                                                                76,200 acres

            Range                                                             1,751,000 acres

            Forest Land                                                         70,500 acres

            Water                                                                 137,400 acres

            Urban                                                                   45,000 acres

            Transportation                                                    70,400 acres

            Miscellaneous Other Use                                 112,500 acres

                                                                                    _______________

                                                                                    4,922,400 acres                     

State and federal holdings account for approximately 696,063 acres or 14 percent of the Area.  This has a tremendous impact on local economies and infrastructure due to reductions in tax base.

Water Resources:  The Columbia Basin Irrigation Project, contained entirely within the Big Bend Area, has changed the face of the Columbia Basin since it began in 1948.  Water diverted from Grand Coulee Dam brought irrigation water to a desolate desert area creating some of the most productive agricultural land in the United States.  Today, more than 560,000 acres are irrigated by the first half of the project allowing the production of more than 70 different crops.

The second half of the project was scheduled to bring another 538,600 acres under irrigation.  Because of the salmon issues this expansion was postponed for many decades.  With the depletion of the Odessa sub-aquifer and the finding of the Columbia River Initiative, the project has been rejuvenated.  Under the leadership of the Columbia Basin Development League and the newly formed Columbia Basin Water Initiative work group the long term investments made by counties, cities, and communities to prepare for growth and change are moving forward.

Over 80 percent of the domestic rural and city water consumed in the Area comes from underground water wells.  Approximately 200,000 acres of farmlands are irrigated from underground wells.  With continued agricultural use, these underground aquifers are declining each year affecting quality and quantity of water.  The dropping water tables are also resulting in high sodium concentrations that are affecting drinking water and water quality problems.  Control and maintenance of the underground aquifer, water quality and water resource management are high priority concerns to the Area.

The project has created more than 137,000 surfaces acres of lakes, and reservoirs in the Area.  This in turn has created opportunities to hunt, fish, bird watch, swim, water ski and other outdoor recreational activities.  Wildlife habitat has been modified to the benefit and detriment of tremendously diverse species.  The Area has created enhanced habitat for 22 species of game fish and over 155 species of song birds, migratory waterfowl and upland birds.

Agriculture is dependent on available irrigation water, affordable hydroelectric power and access to markets by barging materials and products up and down the Snake and Columbia Rivers.  These resources are monitored closely to protect native salmon runs in the Snake and Columbia Rivers.  Only 6 percent of the 79 million acre feet of water that flows in the Columbia River each year are available for agricultural purposes.  The Columbia Basin Project utilizes only half (2.7 million acre feet) of the allotted water for agriculture.  (USGS Survey Water Data Report WA 93-1).

Lakes, Streams, Rivers:  Rivers of importance include the Columbia, Snake, and Spokane.  These rivers border the Big Bend Area on three sides.  Damming of the Columbia and Snake Rivers created 8 reservoirs.  The rivers are used for transporting 34 million tons of cargo annually, generating 62 percent of the Northwest’s power needs, irrigating over a half million acres of the nation’s most productive land.  In addition, a multi-million dollar recreation and tourism industry exists in the Big Bend Area.

Climatic and market changes have played a tremendous role in the economic instability of the dry cropland portions of the Area.  The Columbia Basin has had to deal with fluctuating precipitation.  Lower than normal yields and low wheat prices and high corn and hay prices have put some family farms on a financial rollercoaster.  Many of the seep lakes and waterways in the channeled scablands have dried up and re-hydrated, putting additional stress on wildlife and livestock and affecting migration and use of the resource.

Fluctuating reservoir levels are impacting irrigation, salmon habitat, salmon migration, and hydroelectric power generation.

The Area is also home to the longest stream in the United States.  Crab Creek begins in the eastern portion of Lincoln County and flows approximately 144 miles before entering the Columbia River. 

Recreation and Tourism:  Recreation and tourism play an important role in the economies of the four county Area.  The reservoirs and lakes created by the Columbia River, Snake River and the Columbia Basin Project make the Big Bend RC&D Area a popular vacationing destination for the rest of Washington State as well as the rest of the country.  Over 2 million visitors come to the Big Bend RC&D Area every year.  This is adding additional stress to the resources and the ecosystem.

Several festivals in the Area call attention to the diversity and sensitivity of these valuable resources.  The Coulee Corridor project addresses agro and ecotourism in communities along highway 17 from Othello to Grand Coulee Dam.  Some of these festival and outreach activities include the Sand hill Crane Festival, Bald Eagle Festival, and Farmer Consumer Awareness Day.

Agriculture groups in the Columbia Basin have formed the Agfarmation network.  This group provides radio broadcast of the types of crops and trivia to help educate travelers.  Many of the growers display identification signs in the fence rows labeling the crops grown along the highway.  The colorful and animated Christmas decorations adorn the center pivot end sprinkler gun enlightening and entertaining travelers passing through on the I-90 corridor.

Twenty two species of game fish are available in the Big Bend RC&D area.  The most common fish are largemouth bass, smallmouth bass, walleye, crappie, bluegill, trout, salmon and steelhead.  Moses Lake, located in Grant Count, was the premiere bass and crappie lake in the State of Washington until 1982 when the fisheries started declining.  In 1991, a study was completed that concluded the economic loss to Moses Lake for that year was 2.8 million dollars.  Other areas within the Big Bend Area are starting to see similar economic and recreational losses.  There will be many opportunities to regain a quality fisheries resource with a corresponding surge in the economy.

Population:  The total population of the four county RC&D area is approximately 133,400.  Rural residents account for 47 percent of the total population.  In addition, minority residents account for approximately 33 percent of the total population.  (Big Bend EDC Comprehensive Economic Development Plan 2003)

Major and minor population centers include:

Adams Co                   Franklin Co                            Grant Co.                                Lincoln Co.    

Othello    5,240            Pasco-    22,500                      Moses Lake-12,490                 Davenport-1,739

Ritzville 1,745               Connell    2,690