Protecting Washington Waters & Celebrating the Cowboy

I'm Lacy Gray with Washington Ag Today.

Seventy clean water projects have been selected by the Washington State Department of Ecology to receive a share of $202 million in loans and grants beginning July 1. Funding will be directed to water protection on agricultural lands, water protection and cleanup projects, stream side restoration projects and more. A few highlights of the funding are: proposal by the Palouse Rock Lake Conservation District to enhance stream-side areas of the Palouse River and create cost-share programs for no-till, direct seed programs; Lewis County Conservation District plans to work on a project to prevent polluted runoff from irrigation practices; and in King County, American Farmland Trust plans to field-test strategies to improve water quality in farm areas along Newaukum Creek. For more information on the complete list visit Ecology's website and search "water quality grants and loans."

On February 27 the state Senate adopted Senate Resolution 8696 which states that "the Washington State Senate will join numerous organizations in celebrating the "National Day of the Cowboy" on the fourth Saturday in July. Senator Sharon Brown, who co-authored Senate Resolution 8696, had this to say.

BROWN: We have over 9,000 cowboys that are actively participating in the state. That's a huge economic driver. Cowboys are a long standing tradition, not just in this state, but in this country. Cowboys teach us a lot of great fundamental ethics. I would like to read from the "Cowboy Ethics" what WallStreet can learn from the 'code of the West' - "To the cowboy the best things in life aren't things." I think that's something that we all need to take stock of here - especially as we are getting towards the end of session.

Well said Senator Brown.

That's Washington Ag Today.

I'm Lacy Gray on the Ag Information Network.