mid-valley-farm

By Pepper Fisher

SEQUIM – Prime farmland in Clallam County continues to be converted to other uses, and that prevents it from ever being farmed again. There will always be that struggle to find the right balance between developing the homes and businesses needed for our growing communities, and maintaining the working farmlands and open spaces that make people want to live here in the first place.

Thanks to the work of the dedicated folks at North Olympic Land Trust (NOLT) and others, 22 working farms have been permanently conserved over the last two decades.

The Land Trust is now working to double their farmland conservation pace over the next 10 years, and this year they’re kicking off that increased pace by buying conservation easements on the 56 acre Mid Valley Farm, across the road from Sunland in Sequim, and the 10 acre Dungeness Hub, the location of Nash’s Farm Stand north of Sequim.

North Olympic Land Trust’s Executive Director Tom Sanford says that small 10 acre farm is especially valuable to the community.

“Most of it is farmland, but what’s so valuable about this property is, on a couple acres, is what has been used for years as Nash’s Organic Produce’s packing shed. This has all the infrastructure that, as produce comes out of the fields, it can get packaged, refrigerated, and then moved on to market. Whether that’s local farmer’s markets, restaurants, wholesale, or even leaving the peninsula to other community marketplaces.”

Together these two farms make up what they call the Center Stage Farmland, and stand to protect 45 acres of farmland, almost 10 acres of natural habitat, and provide surrounding farmers with infrastructure to process and refrigerate their yields.

NOLT is now preparing to purchase a portion of the value of the land from the landowners, and that will legally ensure that the land will be preserved as farmland into perpetuity. It’s about a one million dollar project, but much of that is being made possible thanks to a grant from Clallam County and their Conservation Futures Fund, state funding, and the Washington Wildlife and Recreation Program.

But Sanford says that still leaves about $60,000 in business expenses they’ve been trying to raise. On Friday, Sanford made a special announcement to potential donors.

“And a local donor of ours, who is so excited about our land conservation and our position now to double the pace of farm land conservation, she’s come forward and said, ‘I want to create a match for the next five thousand dollars that are donated, and I will double that. I will match that dollar for dollar so we’re doubling donations to double the pace.’ And that goes live today, September 23, and you can go to the North Olympic Land Trust website, northolympiclandtrust.org, and make a donation. Alternately, you can call our office at (360) 417-1815, and we’ll get you set up.”

Donate here

(Photo of Mid Valley Farm by John Gussman)