The Plateau will be receiving a large slice of nearly $10 million in tax funds allocated to South King County for conservation projects.

The King County Council approved this years’ Conservation Futures Tax investments during its Dec. 5 meeting, with more than $6.6 million coming this way.

Among those investments includes protecting farmland in the Enumclaw and Green River area.

The overall project aims to eventually purchase close to 1,800 acres‚ or close to 3 square miles, of farmland on the Plateau so that it can be reserved for farming, and not developed.

This years, the county’s Farmland Preservation Program plans to use its share of the tax funds, $3.75 million to purchase the easements and developments rights to permanently protect nine farms (totaling 209 acres) in the area.

Three of the farms are located directly south of Warner Avenue, right outside city limits; the rest are scattered west and north of the city.

The funding application notes that protecting these farms not only reserves the land for food production and keeps the Enumclaw area undeveloped, but also protects salmon habitat, as some of the farms the county hopes to protect border the White River, Boise Creek, or Newaukum Creek (or its tributaries).

“Negotiations with landowners will include discussion of possible aquatic resource improvements,” the funding application reads. “Habitat restoration projects along watercourses that eventually flow to the White River and Green River, and their floodplains, are critical to the recovery of ESA-listed salmonids.”

According to FPP manager Ted Sullivan, the program has used conservation tax revenue to protect more than 2,000 acres of farmland since 2013.

KANASKAT PARCEL PURCHASE

King County’s Department of Natural Resources is hoping to use its $1.25 million grant to buy, after 25 years, the last remaining bit of private land in the Kanaskat Natural Area (east of Kanaskat-Palmer State Park), which is roughly 3.5 acres on the riverfront. The project is also receiving $425,000 from the county Parks Levy.

“The property includes the mouth of fish-bearing Fire Creek and Green River frontage. This reach of the river is one of most important spawning reaches in the Green River Watershed for Chinook and steelhead,” the project application notes. “Additionally, the site supports habitat for 10 State Wildlife Species of Concern and the Green/Cedar River Winter Elk Range.”

If purchased, the log house and outbuildings on the parcel will be disassembled and removed, and the access road, which crosses multiple streams, would be replaced with a river-access trail.

BLACK DIAMOND OPEN SPACE EXPANSION

The county’s Department of Natural Resources is also hoping to use conservation and parks levy funds to acquire 196 acres in undeveloped, forested land adjacent to both sides of the Black Diamond Open Space.

The project asked for $1.6 million from both the Conservation Futures Tax program and another $556,000 in King County Parks Levy revenue.

“This completes a long-term vision to protect the Ravensdale Creek uplands and the Lake Sonia/Ginder wetland complex while expanding the recreation opportunities at a popular open space,” the project application reads, noting that the Open Space is one of King County’s “most beloved and popular”. “The properties would be a huge benefit to the community and protect the natures resources from the site from future development. It is likely the properties will be developed, and/or resources extracted if King County Parks is not able to secure funding.”

King County hopes to purchase the sole remaining private piece of land inside the Kanaskat Natural Area, east of Kanaskat-Palmer State Park. While this parcel is only a fraction of the overall natural area, the county holds that it’s location on the riverbed is crucial to help spawning fish. Screenshot