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- Supplemental Budget Webinar Recording available and open for comments!
- Joint TP & SAC meeting on June 9 @ 9 a.m. - mark your calendar!
- Quarterly reports due June 10!
- Still seeking an environmental representative for SAC.
- Join us for the VSP Session at the WADE annual conference!
- A reminder about VSP cost share.
- Open Public Records Act training is required! Learn where you can get it.
- Do you have a new member on your workgroup? Make sure they have the training they need.
- Monitoring guide now available.
- Communications survey live! Take the survey today.
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Joint TP & SAC meeting
June 9, 2022 @ 9 a.m.
Meeting ID: 859 7490 0192
Passcode: 434300
Quarterly Reports due!
Your report is due June 10, 2022.
VSP Session at WADE
June 14, 2022 @ 1:30 p.m.
Attending the WADE Conference? Don't miss our VSP session! Get more info below.
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If you have comments about the new supplemental budget guidelines you can learn more about that process here. Comments are due July 1.
The webinar on the VSP FY 21-23 supplemental budget was held on May 25, and is up in case you missed it.
The webinar reviewed the supplemental VSP funding SCC received from the legislature, examined the timeline for spending the funds, and discussed the guidelines for receiving funds for VSP projects, including project cost limits, vouchering, deliverables, responsible parties, and other items.
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SCC is currently seeking an environmental representative to serve on the SAC. The term is for two years.
Meetings are generally held every month or every other month. Members serve as volunteers to help SCC achieve the goals of VSP, which include protecting critical areas while maintaining agricultural viability.
More information on the SAC can be found on SCC’s VSP web page. If interested in serving, please contact Ron Shultz.
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The Washington Association of Conservation District Employee will hold their annual conference on June 13-15 at the Sleeping Lady Mountain Resort in Leavenworth, WA, and VSP has a 60 minute session set for June 14, 2022 at 1:30 pm.
The session will focus on monitoring. Monitoring in VSP is unique due to the watershed scale at which VSP operates. A new Monitoring Guide has been designed to assist VSP technical service providers with basic monitoring principals for VSP purposes.
Join us for an exciting 60 minutes of discussion of a variety of topics related to VSP monitoring, with Q and A at the end!
The session is in-person only, but if you happen to be in the Leavenworth area, feel free to join us!
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If your County workgroup decides to use VSP funding to implement the County’s approved plan, here are a couple of reminders.
- The county workgroup will need to approve any cost share program used in the implementation of VSP.
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Washington State Conservation Commission cost-share policies would need to be abided by, regardless of who is administering the cost-share program (conservation district or some other implementing entity (such as the county)). Since WSCC funds are being used as the basis for the cost-share funding, WSCC policies apply.
- If a conservation district is implementing the VSP cost-share program on behalf of a county workgroup, and if the county workgroup has not set a rate of reimbursement, or if the county workgroup wants to use the conservation district rate, then the conservation district rate of reimbursement is used.
- If a county is implementing the VSP cost-share program without the assistance of a conservation district, the county must pass a rate of reimbursement resolution (see the Grant and Contract Procedure Manual).
- If the entity administering the cost-share program and otherwise involved in contracting with landowners for project implementation using VSP funds has not already been trained in the Conservation Commission cost-share policies and procedures, that entity must be so trained before funds can be used from the Commission. Please contact the Commission staff below to schedule a training.
- VSP projects that are funded using any Commission funds will need to be reported in the five-year report under RCW 36.70A.720 (2) (b) (i) and (c) (i).
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The Voluntary Stewardship Program’s Watershed Monitoring Project Development Guide is now available on the SCC’s website
On May 12, 2022 the VSP Statewide Advisory Committee approved the adoption of the “Watershed Monitoring Project Development Guide for the Voluntary Stewardship Program in Washington” (VSP Monitoring Guide). The VSP Monitoring Guide has been in development over the last 12+ months with input from a wide range of VSP stakeholders. Input from stakeholders has been incorporated into the most recent version of the guide, which can be found on the SCC’s website here.
Content within the guide attempts to weave together a variety of key themes pertaining to monitoring within VSP, including:
- (i) the essential elements of any type of monitoring, such as question-oriented monitoring, hypotheses, error, accuracy and precision, monitoring boundaries, monitoring frequency, and statistical considerations.
- (ii) key aspects of VSP that inform monitoring, such as a watershed-scale focus, the importance of county work groups in the monitoring process, the use of goals and benchmarks for monitoring and reporting, the assessment of “functions and values” in relation to baseline conditions (July 2011), the use of monitoring information for adaptive management activities, the role of county watershed work plans in defining the scope of monitoring activities, and linkages between participation, implementation, and effectiveness monitoring.
- (iii) a range of resources cited throughout the document for more detailed information on specific themes. Similar information can also be found in the VSP Library of Resources (https://www.scc.wa.gov/vsp/additional-resources).
A central goal of the guide is to help communicate a “common language” and “common approach” to monitoring within VSP. It is anticipated that this common framework will facilitate effective collaboration between watershed work groups and other relevant stakeholders to operationalize monitoring data within VSP. Recognizing that each VSP county has different levels of familiarity with, and capacity for, monitoring at the watershed scale, it is hoped that by providing the essential elements of VSP monitoring in one guide, watershed work groups can access the relevant information they need to successfully demonstrate that they are meeting their work plan goals and benchmarks.
The guide is intended to be a “living document” that we update periodically as new information and perspectives come to light. Please send inquiries or feedback related to the guide to Levi Keesecker / 360-789-3650.
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The VSP communications survey is now open and we need your feedback!
Letting us know your thoughts on VSP communications will help us keep you informed of the latest VSP news and trainings.
Take the survey today so we can work to serve all VSP administrators better in the future.
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Not a newsletter subscriber?
Sign up here and choose the subscription for the “Voluntary Stewardship Program (VSP)” under the Programs and Policy tab.
If you have any questions please contact Bill Eller or Paige DeChambeau.
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Copyright 2022 - Washington State Conservation Commission |
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