The nationwide Resource Conservation and Development (RC&D) program was established through the Agriculture Act (P.L. 87-703) to assist multi-county areas in enhancing conservation, water quality, wildlife habitat, recreation and rural development.
What will become the WRCD is founded as the South Central Washington RC&D in Yakima and Kittitas counties.
The Yakima/Kittitas Resource Conservation and Development Project Plan is published.
Throughout this time, the RC&D supported several projects, including the rehabilitation of the Manastash Irrigation Ditch in 1976, the development of Irene Rinehart Waterfront Park in Ellensburg in 1986, and the implementation of an international trade development strategy in 1993.
Yakima Tributary Access & Habitat Program (YTAHP) is established. To date, YTAHP partners have worked to develop, design, permit, and construct more than 221 salmon habitat restoration projects in Yakima River tributaries.
The RC&D achieves 501(c)(3) non-profit status. Until 2001, the RC&D had been a program under the U.S. Department of Agriculture Soil Conservation Service.
The National Association of RC&D Councils receives permanent authorization with 368 RC&D areas located in all 50 States, the Caribbean, and the Pacific Basin.
Tapash Sustainable Forest Collaborative was officially designated with the signing of a memorandum of understanding between the five land management agencies, with fiscal management provided by WRCD.
Congress removed all funding from the budget for supporting the national RC&D program. Funding has never been restored since that time. Many Councils in Washington and across the United States did not survive the loss of funding.
WRCD fiscally sponsored the Chumstick Wildfire Stewardship Coalition (CWSC), an integral player in the fire adaptation process in the greater Leavenworth area. CWSC was founded in 2009 and the first organization in Washington to become a member of the National Fire Adapted Communities Learning Network (FACNet) in 2013.
WRCD fiscally sponsored the Washington Prescribed Fire Council (WPFC). The WPFC was established in 2011 to protect, conserve, and expand the use of prescribed fire in the state of Washington.
Washington Fire Adapted Communities Learning Network (WAFAC) is established as the first state-wide Fire Adapted Communities Learning Network in the nation with continued support and connections as a member of the national Fire Adapted Communities Learning Network.
Now serving a broader area than just south central Washington, the organization expands its scope to the whole state and updates its name to the Washington Resource Conservation and Development Council.
House Bill 2928, or the Forest Resiliency Burning Pilot Project, was passed by the Washington State Legislature to further understand the impacts of burning on ambient air quality, develop recommendations for continuing or expanding the use of prescribed fire in Washington, and build community understanding and support for prescribed fire. WRCD managed and sub-awarded funding and supported several aspects of project management and communications.
The first Prescribed Fire Training Exchange (TREX) is held in Leavenworth, WA as a part of the Upper Wenatchee Pilot Project with training burns on federal, NGO, and private lands in Roslyn, WA. WRCD has planned TREXs throughout the state in each subsequent year.
As a part of the Upper Wenatchee Pilot Project, WRCD assisted in the completion of a landscape NEPA assessment, a significant planning milestone that laid the path for meeting forest and aquatic restoration goals on Forest Service lands.
Co-led by WRCD, Forest Service, and Tapash members, the Taneum Restoration Project EA led the way in Washington State by successfully integrating terrestrial and aquatic restoration while finding collaborative solutions to achieve shared restoration goals across a large landscape with diverse ownerships.
WRCD staff, along with seven partners from Washington, traveled to Northern California for a week to learn about Prescribed Burn Associations (PBAs), which led to WRCD overseeing the launch of the Washington PBA website. To date, three PBAs have formed in Washington.
The Kittitas Fire Adapted Communities Coalition, one of WRCD’s fiscally sponsored groups, worked with the Kittitas Conservation District to apply for a Community Wildfire Defense Grant to support fuel reduction and wildfire preparedness efforts. Kittitas Conservation District was awarded $10 million.
The WRCD creates a new position to support Community Wildfire Protection Planning throughout the state.
The Washington Resource Conservation and Development Council is a non-exempt IRS section 501(c)(3) charitable organization.
109 South 3rd Street • Yakima, WA 98901
