Agricultural Conservation Easement Sponsorship (ACES)

The Washington State Conservation Commission (SCC) is soliciting applications from conservation districts for the 2024 Agricultural Conservation Easement Sponsorship (ACES) Program. ACES provides a pathway for conservation districts to access grants made available by the Recreation and Conservation Office (RCO), Washington Wildlife and Recreation Program (WWRP) to permanently protect farmland in their district.

To submit a project for sponsorship, you must complete the 2024 Application for Agricultural Conservation Easement Sponsorship by 7 p.m. on Feb. 16, 2024.

View the informational webinar held on Jan. 8, 2024.

Background

The Office of Farmland Preservation (OFP) is housed within the SCC and is responsible for activities identified in the OFP statute, RCW 89.10. SCC has identified agricultural conservation easements as an important tool to assist in farmland protection and advancing conservation with willing landowners. RCW 64.04.130 authorizes SCC to acquire and hold an interest in land for farmland conservation purposes.

SCC works with conservation districts to identify and, where appropriate, seek funding to purchase development rights on farmland conveyed as an “agricultural conservation easement.” Agricultural easements prevent conversion of agricultural land into non-agricultural uses through a restriction of certain real property rights, including the right to subdivide and develop.

SCC is an eligible applicant to the Recreation and Conservation Office (RCO), Washington Wildlife and Recreation Program (WWRP) Farmland category, RCW 79A.15. Conservation districts are not eligible applicants.

Eligible lands for the easement program must be devoted primarily to the production of livestock or agricultural commodities for commercial purposes. If SCC successfully purchases an agricultural conservation easement through WWRP funding, the SCC assumes the legal liability as the primary holder of the real property right.

SCC’s three priorities for consideration of an agricultural conservation easement are:

1. The parcel proposed for preservation is expected to continue to be used for, and is large enough to sustain, commercial agricultural production.
2. The land is also in an area that possesses the necessary market, infrastructure, agricultural support services, and the surrounding parcel sizes and land uses that will support long-term commercial agricultural production.
3. Without preservation, the land proposed for protection is likely to be converted to nonagricultural use in the foreseeable future.

‍