Some Of Our Favorite Things

Dayton's Youth Competitive Swim Team. Waitsburg's Days Of Real Sport Centennial. Camp Wooten's Outdoor Education Program. Lyons Ferry's access for people with disabilities.

As the line from that "Sound Of Music" song goes: These are a few of our favorite things in Walla Walla and Columbia counties.

And to nurture these community projects and resources, we want to draw attention to a small local organization that recently moved its offices to Waitsburg and celebrates the 50th anniversary of a nation- wide effort by which it was inspired and, for a while, funded.

We're talking here about the Resource Conservation & Develop- ment Program, which was created by Congress as part of its Agri- culture Act of 1962 to "marry natural resource conservation with community development and job creation and retention."

It began as a partnership between the U.S. Department of Agricul- ture's Natural Resources Conservation Service and 10 local non-profit Resource Conservation & Development Councils, which grew in number over the years.

In 1988, these private-sector councils formed the National As- sociation of Resource Conservation & Development Councils, which had reached 370 in 2010. Its members aren't government entities. Like the Blue Mountain RC&D Council in Waitsburg, they are grass- roots organizations that look for ways to enhance their communities by seeking grants for projects that they feel make a difference locally.

Nationwide, these councils have done everything from setting up community gardens and helping underserved youths to habitat conservation and energy savings projects. The Blue Mountain RC&D Council, which covers Walla Walla, Columbia, Garfield and Asotin counties, was created in 2001 to do such work here.

A true sign of our local council's self-sufficiency is its continua- tion as a force for positive change despite the elimination for federal funding last year. In April 2011, during Congressional budget negotia- tions, the administration eliminated funding for the national RC&D program, effectively closing the doors for many councils across the country. But the Blue Mountain RC&D kept going through the sup- port of its board and volunteer Executive Director Lisa Naylor.

"We're doing fine now," Naylor said.

Blue Mountain RC&D has an annual budget of about $200,000, which includes 10 to 15 percent for administrative costs, while the bulk goes to some of our favorite things.

In Dayton, the organization wants to act as an official nonprofit channel for the Youth Competitive Swim Team, which doesn't have that status itself.

In Columbia County, it has $100,000 in state monies to fund the creation of fuel breaks and manage forests on privately owned lands. Through a similar grant, the council spent $160,959 in fire preven- tion on 160 acres of forest lands involving five forest land owners in 2010-12. Four land owners are currently in the program and there's money for more.

The council has secured almost $72,000 to improve access to the waterfront at Lyons Ferry and the creation of a fishing pad for persons with disabilities. That project is in collaboration with the Port of Co- lumbia and is scheduled to be completed next spring.

In Waitsburg, the council is trying to secure about $12,000 in fund- ing for the Commercial Club and the City of Waitsburg to make im- provements to the fairgrounds and secure insurance for horse-related events at a possible centennial of the Days Of Real Sport. Naylor was quick to point out that the council is not seeking jockey insurance to bring back pari-mutuel betting because that would be more expensive and more complicated. Instead, her council wants to support other equine activities for the centennial and fix portions of the grandstand. We find this an important piece of the bigger puzzle to revive the use of the fairgrounds in general, a long-term economic and social benefit for Waitsburg.

Lastly, the council has facilitated a grant through the Bonneville Power Administration to provide technical services that reduces en- ergy demand among irrigators, irrigation districts, dairies and other agricultural producers throughout its four-county area.

The Blue Mountain RC&D Council invites local residents to contact its office with more local project ideas, participation in its fuel reduction program for Columbia County and interest in joining its board or staff. For more information, call 509-337-8968 or stop by at the Waitsburg Business Center on Preston Avenue.