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CapitalPress.com
February 5, 2016
Agencies help farmers improve stream habitat
By MITCH LIES
For the Capital Press
The
stream
running
through Ralph Duyck’s Wash-
ington County, Ore., farm is
fully shaded, the ash trees and
brush helping improve aquat-
ic habitat by keeping the wa-
ter cool.
As recently as 10 years
ago, that wasn’t the case.
When Duyck irst signed a
15-year contract with the En-
hanced Conservation Reserve
Enhancement Program, or
ECREP, the stream was fully
exposed to sunlight, which
threatened water quality and
increased the water tempera-
ture.
The situation on Duyck’s
farm has been repeated again
and again by Washington
County landowners working
with project managers at the
Tualatin Soil and Water Con-
servation District. Through
ECREP, a program unique
to Washington County, extra
funding assistance is avail-
able from Clean Water Ser-
vices, the Oregon Watershed
Enhancement Board, Oregon
Department of Forestry and
the Freshwater Trust, provid-
ing a boost to the inancial in-
centives available in the fed-
eral CREP.
Statewide in Oregon,
1,683 projects involving
41,920 acres are participating
in federal CREP, according to
Taylor Murray, outreach coor-
dinator for the Farm Service
Agency in Oregon. In Wash-
ington County, 46 projects in-
volving 467 acres are enrolled
in ECREP.
The programs help land-
owners improve water qual-
ity by providing inancial
and technical assistance that
enhance the conservation
performance of riparian ar-
eas. ECREP brings additional
dollars to the table from local
sources to further reduce eco-
nomic barriers, said Jennifer
Nelson, a program manager
for the Tualatin SWCD.
Duyck, who was the sec-
ond landowner to enter into
an ECREP contract in Wash-
ington County, said he was
skeptical of the program until
he met with representatives of
the local and federal agencies
that administer and imple-
ment the program.
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Washington County farmer Ralph Duyck, left, and Ken Bierly of the Oregon Watershed Enhancement
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Duyck said ECREP of-
fered several improvements
over its sister packages, CREP
and the Conservation Reserve
Program, which is more suit-
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Duyck said.
Duyck ielded several calls
from neighbors after the word
got out that he was signing an
ECREP contract.
“There were a lot of people
that I talked to who were very
skeptical,” he said. “I told
them I was happy with it, and
within two or three months,
everyone I talked to signed up
and went with it.”
Despite the complications
that can arise when sever-
al agencies are involved in a
project, Duyck said he found
it easy to participate.
“I never had any problem
with it,” he said. “It was very
relaxing and I enjoyed work-
ing with the Tualatin SWCD
very much. We went to work
and put together a program,
planted the trees and the veg-
etation, and it is all growing.”
The project involved plant-
ing upward of 25,000 trees
and shrubs on 29 acres.
The rental fee generated
by the project “isn’t going to
make you rich,” Duyck said.
“But it pays the bills.”
In 2020, when the con-
tract expires, Duyck will be
required to leave standing the
trees and shrubs nearest the
stream, but will be allowed to
harvest trees outside the buf-
fer zone.
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