Clark County agricultural land study highlights strong soils but exposes water-rights data gap

Clark County—s agricultural land study, presented Oct. 29 to the county—s Agricultural Resources Advisory Commission, maps lands that meet state guidance for long-term commercial agricultural significance and flags gaps in water-rights and irrigation data that local farmers say are critical to practical farming decisions.

The draft study, prepared by Echo Northwest and Triangle Associates and summarized by project manager Barrett Lewis, combines the USDA Land Capability Classification (LCC) high-suitability classes with a Washington State Department of Agriculture (WSDA) crop-use layer to form an "agricultural land base," Lewis said. The consultants told commissioners the combined approach was chosen to address known limits in the NRCS LCC layer and to incorporate ground-verified WSDA data.

Why it matters: The study is intended to help Clark County—s council and planning staff decide which rural lands meet the state—s resource-land criteria for protection in the comprehensive-plan update. Its results will inform a draft environmental impact statement and the council—s policy choices over the coming months.

Consultants described three headline findings: high-quality soils are widespread across the mapped land base, current-use tax enrollment is more concentrated inside existing agricultural designations…