Farmers can still plow near rivers

Herald staff

Snohomish County farmers don’t need a permit to plow fields next to rivers and streams, county officials announced Wednesday, hoping to ease fears that development regulations could interfere with long-standing farm practices.

"We have a deep concern for agriculture and a desire to keep agriculture viable," Steve Holt, director of the county’s planning and development services, said in a prepared statement.

Concerns about county regulation of farming were sparked in 1999 with the listing of Puget Sound chinook salmon as threatened under the federal Endangered Species Act.

That listing triggered tighter county regulations. Among the restrictions was a requirement that people get permission from the county before grading earth within 150 feet of a stream inhabited by the fish.

Farmers feared "grading" could include plowing fields they have worked for decades. County officials initially said they were uncertain whether the farming practices fell under the restrictions.

A letter from the International Conference of Building Officials cleared the air, prompting county officials to say such work on existing fields didn’t count as grading. The organization, which interprets the building codes that underpin many development regulations, answered a query from county officials by stating that activities such as tilling, plowing and harvesting aren’t grading.

Holt said the ruling confirmed his belief that farm work did not count as grading and noted the county hadn’t required the permits.

Mike Ashley, a farmer and chairman of the Snohomish County Agricultural Advisory Board, described the ruling as "a great relief, because we have tied up so much time in this particular issue."