Skip to main content

Main menu

  • Home
  • Content
    • Current Issue
    • Early Online
    • Archive
    • Subject Collections
  • Info For
    • Authors
    • Reviewers
    • Subscribers
    • Advertisers
  • About
    • About JSWC
    • Editorial Board
    • Permissions
    • Alerts
    • RSS Feeds
    • Contact Us

User menu

  • Register
  • Subscribe
  • My alerts
  • Log in
  • My Cart

Search

  • Advanced search
Journal of Soil and Water Conservation

  • Register
  • Subscribe
  • My alerts
  • Log in
  • My Cart
Journal of Soil and Water Conservation

Advanced Search

  • Home
  • Content
    • Current Issue
    • Early Online
    • Archive
    • Subject Collections
  • Info For
    • Authors
    • Reviewers
    • Subscribers
    • Advertisers
  • About
    • About JSWC
    • Editorial Board
    • Permissions
    • Alerts
    • RSS Feeds
    • Contact Us
  • Follow SWCS on Twitter
  • Visit SWCS on Facebook
OtherFeatures

Saving farmland

The King County program

Richard W. Dunford
Journal of Soil and Water Conservation January 1981, 36 (1) 19-21;
Richard W. Dunford
  • Find this author on Google Scholar
  • Find this author on PubMed
  • Search for this author on this site
  • Article
  • References
  • Info & Metrics
  • PDF
Loading

The King County program

Excerpt

FARM numbers and acreage in King County, Washington, have declined precipitously in the last three decades. Much of this farmland has been absorbed by commercial, industrial, and large-lot residential land uses. In an effort to retain the remaining farmlands in the county, a proposition authorizing a $50 million bond issue to purchase the development rights on 10,000 to 15,000 acres of eligible farmlands was put before the voters. It passed by almost a 2-to-1 margin in November 1979 despite widespread tax-revolt sentiments.

A policy evolves

In 1964 King County adopted its comprehensive plan in which specific areas were established as “agricultural” zones. Six years later, the State of Washington enacted the Open Space Tax Act in an effort to preserve farmland and open space by providing property tax relief to landowners who keep their land in farming or open space uses (1). In spite of these policies, the agricultural land base in the county, which now contains about one-third of the state's population, continued to decline steadily.

Passage of County Ordinance 3064 in February 1977 marked the first important step in development of the current farmland preservation program. This ordinance identified …

Footnotes

  • Richard W. Dunford is an assistant professor in the Department of Agricultural Economics, Washington State University, Pullman, 99164. Scientific paper No. 5756.

  • Copyright 1981 by the Soil and Water Conservation Society

This article requires a subscription to view the full text. If you have a subscription you may use the login form below to view the article. Access to this article can also be purchased.

Log in using your username and password

Forgot your user name or password?

Purchase access

You may purchase access to this article. This will require you to create an account if you don't already have one.
PreviousNext
Back to top

In this issue

Journal of Soil and Water Conservation: 36 (1)
Journal of Soil and Water Conservation
Vol. 36, Issue 1
January/February 1981
  • Table of Contents
  • Table of Contents (PDF)
  • About the Cover
  • Index by author
  • Front Matter (PDF)
Download PDF
Article Alerts
Sign In to Email Alerts with your Email Address
Email Article

Thank you for your interest in spreading the word on Journal of Soil and Water Conservation.

NOTE: We only request your email address so that the person you are recommending the page to knows that you wanted them to see it, and that it is not junk mail. We do not capture any email address.

Enter multiple addresses on separate lines or separate them with commas.
Saving farmland
(Your Name) has sent you a message from Journal of Soil and Water Conservation
(Your Name) thought you would like to see the Journal of Soil and Water Conservation web site.
CAPTCHA
This question is for testing whether or not you are a human visitor and to prevent automated spam submissions.
3 + 0 =
Solve this simple math problem and enter the result. E.g. for 1+3, enter 4.
Citation Tools
Saving farmland
Richard W. Dunford
Journal of Soil and Water Conservation Jan 1981, 36 (1) 19-21;

Citation Manager Formats

  • BibTeX
  • Bookends
  • EasyBib
  • EndNote (tagged)
  • EndNote 8 (xml)
  • Medlars
  • Mendeley
  • Papers
  • RefWorks Tagged
  • Ref Manager
  • RIS
  • Zotero
Request Permissions
Share
Saving farmland
Richard W. Dunford
Journal of Soil and Water Conservation Jan 1981, 36 (1) 19-21;
del.icio.us logo Digg logo Reddit logo Twitter logo Facebook logo Google logo Mendeley logo
  • Tweet Widget
  • Facebook Like
  • Google Plus One

Jump to section

  • Article
  • Info & Metrics
  • References
  • PDF

Related Articles

  • No related articles found.
  • Google Scholar

Cited By...

  • No citing articles found.
  • Google Scholar

More in this TOC Section

  • Youth water education: Programs and potential in the American Midwest
  • Working toward sustainable agricultural intensification in the Red River Delta of Vietnam
  • Soil science beyond COVID-19
Show more Features

Similar Articles

Content

  • Current Issue
  • Early Online
  • Archive
  • Subject Collections

Info For

  • Authors
  • Reviewers
  • Subscribers
  • Advertisers

Customer Service

  • Subscriptions
  • Permissions and Reprints
  • Terms of Use
  • Privacy

SWCS

  • Membership
  • Publications
  • Meetings and Events
  • Conservation Career Center

© 2023 Soil and Water Conservation Society