February 2025 VSP newsletter

Washington State Conservation Commission sent this bulletin at 02/27/2025 12:00 PM PST

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February 2025 VSP newsletter

In this issue:

Program updates:

Welcome Victoria Fischella, VSP Program Specialist

VSP financial reminders & capital funding update
Preparing for 10-year reports: Resources and opportunities
Recording: Feb. 6 Thurston/Chelan 10-yr report review meeting

Upcoming dates:

Check out VSP resources:
https://www.vsp.wa.gov/

Program updates:

Welcome Victoria Fischella, VSP Program Specialist!

SCC is pleased to welcome VSP Program Specialist, Victoria Fischella. Victoria begins her role this week, starting on Feb. 18. Victoria will assist with overall VSP program needs, in particular, providing support for monitoring and reporting in this next year.

Victoria comes to SCC with over a decade of experience in conservation and natural resource management. Victoria has worked for multiple Soil & Water Conservation Districts throughout Oregon, providing technical expertise in non-point source pollution reduction, agricultural water quality, and watershed restoration. Victoria holds a BS from Oregon State University in Forest Ecosystems and Society. In her spare time Victoria enjoys hiking with her dog, river rafting, farmers markets, and cooking for friends and family.

Email Victoria

VSP financial reminders & capital funding update

As the end of the biennium draws near, please be sure to voucher for completed cost share projects in the month that the project is completed and paid out by the CD/County. Please remember per the Grant and Contract Policy and Procedure Manual you must bill SCC for expenses paid in the previous month. Please do not hold cost share billings until the end of the Fiscal year. Please also be sure to invoice for any Cultural Resource expenses you may have incurred for VSP cost-share projects.

Do you have awarded VSP capital projects that will not be able to be completed? Please submit all returned funds forms for any cancelled projects and completed projects with unused funds.

Thank you again to those who have returned unused funds! All funds have been re-allocated. There are no new VSP capital rounds open at this time. In March, SCC staff will begin checking in again on status of projects awarded this biennium.

Questions? Please contact Nicole

Preparing for 10-year reports: Resources and opportunities

The VSP Technical Panel (TP) members and Coordinators, in conjunction with SCC staff, will support county and conservation district (CD) staff as they prepare for the second 5-year (or 10-year) reporting cycle. The resources the TP is committed to providing are discussed in the document linked below. Counties are encouraged to take advantage of all options. Areas of support include the VSP Joint TP and Statewide Advisory Committee (SAC) meetings, field tours, virtual office hours, TP county support sessions, 1:1 targeted TP agency assistance, and reporting template tutorials.

We will review these resources at the March 5 Joint SAC/TP meeting.

See resources

Recording: Feb. 6 Thurston/Chelan 10-yr report review meeting

Thanks to all who joined the Feb. 6 report review meeting! If you were unable to attend the meeting, the recording is available on the meeting webpage.

View meeting recording

Upcoming dates:

March 5: SAC/TP Joint meeting, ONLINE ONLY

10 a.m. - 12:30 p.m.

Register for the Zoom link

Please join us for a Joint Statewide Advisory Committee (SAC) and Technical Panel (TP) meeting. SCC staff will share support and tools available for counties as they prepare for 10-year reports and the new five-year reporting template and facilitate an open discussion with counties/TP/SAC on preparation of 10-year reports.

Meeting agenda

April 9: SAC/TP Joint meeting, Moses Lake and online

9 a.m. - 4 p.m.

Please register for Zoom Link

If attending in person (lunch provided), please RSVP here.

This meeting will continue to focus on reporting guidance and will also hold time on the agenda for Kittitas, Douglas, Yakima, Grant, Adams, and Okanogan counties.

Meeting webpage

Save the dates! 2025 Joint Statewide Advisory Committee & Technical Panel meetings

This year's meetings will focus on 10-year reporting. Most meetings will be held regionally, in-person and with an online option. Two general meetings focusing on overall reporting and topics as needed will be held only online. See schedule above or visit VSP meetings.

We have reserved time on agendas for counties based upon region and also in consideration of 10-yr reporting deadlines (should be fairly similar to draft we shared in fall). If your county wishes to reserve time at a different date than currently scheduled, please contact Mike.

2025 Joint meeting schedule_fixed no feb

Meeting information

VSP reporting due dates in 2025-26

The VSP statute sets two main reporting requirements during the implementation of an
approved VSP work plan: a two-year status report at the end of each biennium, and a five-year review and evaluation report. These reports are due based on when a county received funding. This year began the 10-year mark for five-year reports; therefore, these reports are often referred to as 10-year reports.

This coming year counties will have:

Two-year report due by Aug. 30, 2025. All counties have the same due date.
10-year report: Reporting deadlines for 25 remaining counties run from Nov. 2025 - May 2026. View your county's date here.
- The report template is currently being developed. SCC will be working with counties to set up reporting templates and provide training in early 2025.