Managing population growth and development ​

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• Our state’s Growth Management Act (Chapter 36.70A RCW) requires all counties to develop plans for managing population growth and development.

• The plans must identify and protect five types of critical areas, including places where critical areas occur on agricultural lands.

• Plans also preserve farmland by preventing urban growth from crowding out agriculture. ​

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Supporting agriculture and natural resources 

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• Before 2011, the main tool for counties to ensure protection of critical areas on agricultural land was regulation.

• Regulation of agricultural landowners can threaten farm viability and lead to legal battles.

• VSP was created in 2011 to give counties the option to use locally driven watershed plans and voluntary, incentive-based tools to protect critical areas on farmland. ​​​

• Ferry County's VSP plan was approved in 2018.

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