Current Projects
One of the ways that WICD helps out in the community is through grant-funded projects. The projects we do can vary in scope, size, and involvement, but they always follow our mission of working to conserve our island's natural resources. Check out the links below to get the details on our current grant projects.
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Island County Stormwater Assistance & Outreach Network
This project will create and coordinate a network of local organizations and volunteers focused on increasing community awareness and engagement to implement and evaluate the effectiveness of stormwater best management practices (BMPs) across Island County. Project elements include staff, volunteer and contractor training, public outreach & education, and technical assistance including BMP design and implementation assistance.
Click here to go to the project page. |
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National Association of Conservation District's Technical Assistance Grant "Agland Stewardship Program"
It is especially important now more than ever to increase access to and effectively deliver on conservation technical assistance and Farm Bill Program funding opportunities for our small, beginning, and historically underserved farmers. USDA's Census of Agriculture shows that Island County has one of the largest percentages of Historically Underserved (HU) producers when compared to surrounding counties - 97% small, 50% women, 34% beginning, 17% veteran, and 7% minority. Whidbey Island Conservation District (WICD) is collaborating with the state and Northwest Area Team USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) on the design and launch of an integrated outreach, education, and technical assistance pilot project for small farms and Historically Underserved producers through a Fiscal Year 2021 NACD Technical Assistance Grant.
Click here to learn more and access the program page. |
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"Land Stewardship 101" Webinar & Video Series
To better accommodate an unprecedented volume of requests Whidbey Island Conservation District has been receiving for its technical assistance program in recent fiscal years - and to serve more clients in a safer manner through this continuing pandemic - WICD will be creating a webinar series that delves into the most common questions we receive as assistance requests as part of a 2021 Whidbey Community Foundation Grant. This “Land Stewardship 101” series will give participants a concise overview of popular topics as well as provide tools to learn more about their own properties. Our new Land Stewardship 101 series will include 6 webinars based on frequently asked questions in each of our core service areas, one held every two months. Each of the six webinars will be recorded to become the basis for videos on the six topics. The videos will be edited to concisely cover each topic to provide a thorough yet time efficient overview for viewers. They will be made available through our website and will become useful resources to send directly to future clients to orient them to relevant topics and empower them to make more informed decisions about their properties.
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Island County Shore Friendly Mini-Grant Program
Providing technical assistance to eligible applicants Island County's Shore Friendly Program promotes alternative strategies for shoreline residential properties that provide both the use and enjoyment of the property while promoting and maintaining the nearshore ecosystems for the support of fish and wildlife. A WICD staff member is providing technical assistance at part of support for this program to eligible mini-grant applicants as directed by Island County Public Health staff who administer the program. To learn more about the mini-grant program, visit here.
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Puget Sound District Caucus
Regional Forestry Pilot Program As one of nine participating Puget Sound Conservation Districts, we helped to launch a Regional Forestry Program. The program is funded through the Puget Sound National Estuary Program. See our process for prioritizing our work and our Engagement Strategy for reaching out to forest landowners at www.betterground.org/pscd/.
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Multifunctional Working Buffer Practices on Marginal Farmlands Increasing Income Potential and Addressing Natural Resource Concerns
Working collaboratively with producers located in Skagit, Island, and Snohomish counties and in partnership with WSU Extension Forestry Southwest, Washington State University, Snohomish and Skagit Conservation Districts, this three-year research grant through the Washington State Department of Agriculture's Specialty Crop Block Grant will focus on establishing on-farm working buffer trials to increase income potential and address natural resource concerns. Agroforestry is a system of practices that utilizes perennial tree crops to increase farm income, resiliency, and ecosystem services. The project will focus on combining two temperate agroforestry practices - multi-story cropping and native riparian buffers, to create multifunctional "working" buffers. The utilization of this practice to protect critical water resources while mitigating losses for agricultural producers has garnered regional attention from natural resource agencies. These efforts will demonstrate agroforestry as a multi-faceted solution to maintaining productivity in seasonally ponded and saturated fields while sustaining the principles of environmental stewardship.
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Washington State Conservation Commission's
Center for Technical Development Leadership Team The Center for Technical Development in Washington state was created for the purpose of ensuring that Conservation districts and employees have the proper tools and expertise to consistently plan and implement conservation programs in collaboration with the Washington State Conservation Commission (WSCC), other Conservation Districts in Washington state, Washington Association of District Employees (WADE), the Washington Association of Conservation Districts (WACD), and other key conservation partners. The CTD, via its Leadership Team of which one of our WICD staff serves on, provides access to professional development opportunities to advance technical expertise and supports conservation district program staff so they are able to create resources unique to their clientele, available resources, and geographical influences of their regions.
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Past Projects
Over the past 50 years that we've been inspiring natural resource conservation on Whidbey, we've had the privilege of working all over the island, with so many great partners. Here are a few of the past projects we've been involved in.
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Penn Cove
Near Term Action (NTA) WICD had grant funding through the Washington State Department of Ecology, from the National Estuary Program Stormwater Strategic Initiative, to improve water quality through outreach, technical assistance, and Best Management Practices (BMPs) in Penn Cove, Whidbey Island.
Click here to go to the project page. |
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Greenbank Marsh Project
From 2012-2020, WICD assisted Greenbank Beach and Boat Club (GBBC) to address the deteriorating outfall on GBBC property. GBBC, with support from WICD, received funding to develop the “Greenbank Marsh Restoration Design”, to refine the GBBC member-supported conceptual design into a “permit-ready” design for the subsequent construction phase. Primary tasks of this phase 2 were to hire geotechnical and coastal engineering consultants to support WICD’s completion of 90% engineered designs and apply for construction permits.
Learn more about the project here. |
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Better Ground
Puget Sound District Caucus Outreach Project Better Ground is a broad-based communication and education campaign spanning all 12 districts of the Puget Sound to increase conservation outcomes in our region, and to enroll more citizens in conservation efforts.
Visit the project page here and check out the Better Ground website or follow on social media. |
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Lone Lake Algae Management Project
WICD has grant funding from the WA Department of Ecology's Freshwater Algae Program to develop an Algae Management Plan for Lone Lake. The overall goal of this project is to produce a management plan focused on reducing nutrient loading to Lone Lake, allowing restoration of native aquatic vegetation and fish habitat, and improving water quality to restore and enhance recreational uses of the lake.
Learn more about Lone Lake on the project page here. |
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Farmers to Farmland Beginning Farmer Grant
Over a three year period ending in 2019, WICD and the San Juan Islands Agricultural Guild partnered to support and connect new farmers with farmland owners seeking to transition their farmlands to the next generation. This work was part of a larger USDA Beginning Farmer Rancher Grant to assist new farmers with establishing, growing, and improving farm enterprises on Whidbey and San Juan Islands. More info on the grant here. WICD continues to offer Beginning Farmer and Farmer to Farmland services. More info is available here.
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Historical Mapping Project
When the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) closed it's Whidbey office, WICD inherited several sets of historic aerial photographs of Whidbey Island and Island County from the 1940s, 1963, and 1990. Recognizing the important historic value of these aerial photos, WICD secured funding from the Washington State Conservation Commission (WSCC) in 2015 to electronically archive the images. Hard copies were donated to Island County Historical Society.
View the historical maps here. |
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Maxwelton & Livingston Watersheds
Near Term Action (NTA) In partnership with Snohomish Conservation District, this project focused on providing technical assistance and public outreach to two Island County watersheds to encourage and support stormwater and agricultural best management practice (BMP) implementation, improve surface water quality by using a watershed-based approach to reduce and/or prevent bacterial contamination originating on private lands in these basins. Work included a watershed characterization study, workshops, technical assistance, and both targeted and non-targeted outreach.
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Ebey's Prairie Watershed Projects
WICD worked on this multi-phase project from 2013-2016. In Phase 1, funded by the National Estuary Program (NEP) and the WA Department of Ecology (Ecology), we assessed stormwater drainage issues in the Ebey’s Prairie watershed and identified ways to improve water quality. Staff monitored water quality and storm flows, identified potential sources of pollutants, and provided outreach to farmers, homeowners and others about water quality issues in the watershed and actions to improve it. In Phase 2, WICD staff identified locations within the watershed where water quality treatment technologies could be applied, and worked with farms, landowners, and partners such as National Parks Service, Island County, and Ecolotree Inc to implement projects, including designing and constructing a system to pump stormwater into a lagoon for irrigation and designing a bioswale system along Engle Road.
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Whidbey Island Drought Plan
In 2016, WICD developed a comprehensive drought plan with support from the Washington State Conservation Commission and the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service. WICD worked extensively with San Juan Island Conservation District, who also designed their own drought plan. View the final plan here.
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Central Whidbey Island Wildfire Hazard Assessment
In 2016-2017, WICD worked in partnership with Central Whidbey Fire & Rescue and WA Dept of Natural Resources – Wildfire Division, to develop a hazard assessment of 7 communities in Central Whidbey and provide the highest priority communities with Firewise resources and education. To read the project results on the old WICD website, click here. We continue to offer Firewise resources and free site visits to all landowners on Whidbey Island – find more information on our Firewise page.
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