Ephrata votes to leave county conservation district

EPHRATA — The Ephrata City Council voted unanimously Wednesday evening to withdraw from the Grant County Conservation District.

“The work they do is important, but it’s not essential to government functions for the city,” said Wes Crago, Ephrata city administrator.

The vote to leave the conservation district would save Ephrata residents a levy of roughly $5 per parcel plus 10 cents per acre passed two weeks ago by the Grant County Commission to help fund the ongoing operations of conservation district.

The conservation district assists county residents with design and finding funds for improvement projects — such as habitat restoration, planting of windbreaks, raising trout for release, or special linings for manure lagoons.

Harold Crose, a resource conservationist with the district, told the Ephrata City Council last month that the district was established in the early 1940s to help farmers deal with soil erosion, and the district considers the planting of cover crops to reduce dust as one of its greater accomplishments.

Crose also told the council that the city, which joined the district when it was formed, could vote to leave the district.

“If we vote to opt out, would you oppose?” Crago asked.

“We’d let you out. We’re not going to oppose that,” Crose responded.

Earlier this week, Lyle Stoltman, the livestock program coordinator with the Conservation District, outlined for county commissioners the kinds of projects they had voted to fund as well possible future projects the district was looking at.

“Our number one project was getting a dairy lagoon dug at a dairy near Moses Lake, close to a fish hatchery,” Stoltman said.

The district was able to get the dairy farmer $50,000 to help pay for the $200,000 project, Stoltman said, which was needed to protect groundwater. The lining was so expensive, Stoltman said, because a layer of heavy felt was needed to protect the plastic lining from rocky soil.

Stoltman said the district also recently helped the City of Soap Lake redo Soap Lake Park, including removing dying trees.

“We planted a better species of trees, mulched for weed control, and we even planted some pollinator species at City Call,” Stoltman explained.

“They aren’t part of the district but we helped them anyway,” he said.

Charles H. Featherstone can be reached via email at countygvt@columbiabasinherald.com.