Collaboration Tools For Conservation

Client: Washington Farmland Trust & American Farmland Trust

Location: Pierce County, Washington

Pierce County Ag Roundtable (PCAR) is a collaboration of partner organizations interested in preserving and protecting agricultural lands in Pierce County, Washington, which has the highest rate of farmland loss in the Puget Sound Region. We were contracted by partner organizations Washington Farmland Trust (formerly PCC Farmland Trust) and American Farmland Trust to perform a multi-scale analysis across the landscape to identify different strategies for farmland protection. These strategies include identifying properties designated as high-quality farmland for targeted landowner outreach and creating a larger overlay region for policy advocacy and incentive-based approaches to farmland protection.

“FLO has been an excellent resource to our organization – because they understand our core conservation goals and issues as a land trust, they were able to provide us with a land prioritization that has greatly expanded both our internal GIS capacity as well as our role in larger conservation partnerships.” – Washington Farmland Trust

The resulting GIS datasets and Web-based map portal have helped PCAR formalize collaborations, leverage partnering opportunities, and increase their capacity to streamline grant applications, as well as informing their regulatory strategy. This has been a flagship project with real, on-the-ground impact for farmland preservation on multiple fronts!