April Jones Thatcher grew up just down the road from the 24-acre property on the outskirts of Ridgefield, Washington, that she now owns.

She purchased the land in 2003 and started April Joy Farm with her husband a few years later.

“I’ve always had a deep passion for, like, ‘How can I leave it better than I found it?’” she said on a brisk November morning.

Thatcher and her husband have a flock of about 75 egg-laying hens and grow a plethora of fruits and vegetables — asparagus, figs, pears, radishes, rhubarb, tomatoes, and more.

Much of what they grow goes to a charitable program they started called Farm to Heart, which distributes locally-grown products to Southwest Washington families facing food insecurity.

But even with support from community donations and grants, their farm’s margins are thin. To maintain Farm to Heart, Thatcher has relied on a somewhat obscure local agency — the Clark Conservation District, which is at risk of cutting services to growers like her if the county doesn’t approve stable funding during a public hearing set for Nov. 17.

The district is asking county councilors to approve a 10-year parcel fee that would be collected with property taxes. It’s a familiar request and one the council has shot down multiple times before, most recently in 2018.

But the stakes are higher now, according to Clark Conservation District Executive Director Zorah Oppenheimer. Federal and state grants that have supported the agency in the past are drying up, while region-wide, small-scale farms face development pressure to accommodate a growing population.

Lately, Oppenheimer said, when she drives out to rural parts of the county that she hasn’t visited in a while, she sees new subdivisions between fields. She worries that more farmland will be fragmented under the county’s recently-adopted land-use plan.

‘Agriculture in Clark County is struggling’

There are 45 conservation districts in Washington. They offer free, voluntary natural resource expertise and financial help to farmers and other land managers. They also do things like water quality work and habitat restoration.

“We will do anything from a $130 septic inspection to a $175,000 manure storage facility to a $500,000 bridge,” Oppenheimer said.

One of the biggest projects her agency has worked on with Thatcher is a static aerated compost structure, which makes it easier to safely turn manure and other organic materials into compost that can be used on crops.

These setups can cost tens of thousands of dollars, and the Thatchers were only able to make it happen with the help of the conservation district.

“That was pretty transformational,” Thatcher said. “Those are the types of investments that really pay off, and not only just for me, but whoever stewards and farms this land after I’m here.”

Despite having one of the highest concentrations of farms in Washington and abundant fertile soil, Clark County’s agricultural community is struggling, Oppenheimer said. One stressor she pointed to is land use planning for population growth, and the county council’s latest 20-year growth plan that will open some farmland to development.

“In the comprehensive planning process, the councilors spent a lot of time talking about agriculture and the importance of it,” Oppenheimer said. “Having a robust conservation district is, in my opinion, the No. 1 way to support agriculture in Clark County.”

Of Washington’s 10 most populous counties, Clark is the only one that doesn’t provide stable funding for its entirely grant-funded conservation district.

Oppenheimer said changing that is urgent. Her agency just lost a federal grant she says effectively makes up more than 40% of its budget.

The cost of conservation

Clark County’s elected officials have been reluctant in the past to raise fees to support the conservation district.

At an Oct. 28 county work session, Councilor Glen Yung said he was supportive of the agency but had concerns about charging property owners who are already facing high costs.

And even if the county does approve a fee, Yung questioned how sustainable that would be.

“The natural tendency is, once you do get that sustainable funding, you start relying less on those grants,” he said during the session, adding that such a change could pose problems for the agency down the line if a future council doesn’t renew funding.

Under the proposed rate system, most property owners would pay less than $25 annually. Thatcher would pay $24.52 for her land. Those fees would bring in more than $3.5 million for the district next year. To Thatcher, the benefit of a thriving conservation district far outweighs this cost.

“You think about a time like COVID,” she said. “We never missed one week of distribution. Grocery stores are cleaned out, and where do you fall back on? You fall back on the farms.”

The Thatchers distribute most of their farm’s products through the food access program they co-founded, Farm to Heart.

They rely on community donations and grants to supplement their own offerings with food purchased from a network of 34 other local farms. Then, they provide boxes of produce to families facing food insecurity through their community-supported agriculture program, and set up free markets at local elementary schools.

“We basically see ourselves as a matchmaker,” Thatcher said. “We’re connecting families that need food with farmers that need healthy, strong markets that are also equitable.”

For the last few years, Thatcher has worked to ensure her land will continue to be farmed into the future.

With help from the Washington Farmland Trust and Clark County’s Legacy Lands Program, this summer she established April Joy Farm as a “forever farm,” which means it’s protected from development and must remain available for agriculture.

Her farm is the first in Clark County to be protected through this partnership.

If the conservation district wins its funding fight, Oppenheimer said, her agency will be able to help other farmers protect their land from development too.

News Source : https://www.opb.org/article/2026/11/14/clark-county-conservation-district-funding/