What would the Snoqualmie Valley look like if we had the perfect balance of farming and wildlife habitat? How different would it look from how it looks today? As long as farmers have been farming, there have been conflicts about farmland and fish habitat across North America. Here in the Snoqualmie Valley, environmentally conscious farmers and landowners have planted many acres in shrubs and trees for fish habitat improvement. Despite the benefits of these plantings, when they occur on productive farmland, they take that land out of production, permanently.

King County created the Fish Farm Flood Advisory Committee in the Fall of 2013 in order to get advice on how to balance the competing needs of farms, fish, and flood risk reduction. Four Snoqualmie Valley farmers are volunteering their time to serve on that Advisory Committee and are working with other committee members to find solutions and come to a mutually beneficial agreement. I got involved in the process about a year ago, when one of those farmers came to SnoValley Tilth and explained the pressure they were under. The four farmers were increasingly worried about making major decisions without broader community consultation. It was clear they needed support. 

The King Conservation District (KCD) stepped forward with some funding to actively engage the community in the conversation. This initiated a project to talk with landowners and residents across the Snoqualmie Valley about their thoughts on issues surrounding the Fish Farm Flood process. Two KCD staff, the Executive Director of the Snoqualmie Valley Preservation Alliance, and myself are the team conducting these discussions.

We have now spoken to about 50 Snoqualmie Valley landowners and residents and I am amazed by the amount of consensus there is in our community. The large majority of landowners and residents are concerned about predicting and managing flooding and fixing drainage issues on farmland. 

Many exciting and innovative ideas have come from these discussions, such as the idea to create a distributed flood monitoring system that would allow people in the floodplain to upload pictures and other data in real-time, during a flood event. This information would be invaluable to people located downstream where that flood has not yet reached, and it would also create an archive of flood data that would help us understand how floods are changing over time. 

The data we’ve collected through these consultations has helped the farmer representatives feel more comfortable representing local landowners and farmers as they grapple with an agreement, which the Advisory Committee is now drafting. The County’s intention is to have that agreement signed by all Advisory Committee members by the end of May 2016. 

Hannah Cavendish-Palmer

SnoValley Tilth Board President

hannah.acp@gmail.com

For more information:

Come to our April Potluck and Presentation if you would like to learn more about this process.

April Potluck Topic: Fish Farm Flood Progress Report

April 11 @ 6:30 pm – 8:30 pm

Carnation Tree Farm  |  31523 NE 40th  |  Carnation, WA 98014

Learn about the Fish Farm Flood project, its potential outcomes and the structure of the agreement that is coming together.  There will be a discussion and a Q&A session. This first hour is for sharing a potluck meal; the second hour is devoted to our discussion or presentation for the evening.

Visit the county’s Fish Farm Flood website for additional information: King County Fish Farm Flood Website