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The Latah Soil and Water Conservation District (Latah SWCD) is a non-regulatory subdivision of state government, led by a locally elected Board of Supervisors. The seven-member Board is joined by Associate Supervisors, staff and volunteers to carry out district activities.

Who We Are

Latah SWCD works through voluntary, incentive-based programs to assist private landowners and agricultural operators with the conservation of land, water, plant, and wildlife resources throughout Latah County. Latah County contains approximately 697,000 acres, of which 38% is devoted to agriculture and 61% is range and forest lands. Approximately 77% of the county is in private ownership.

What We Do

Mission Statement

Lead local efforts to promote the stewardship of natural resources through the development of comprehensive plans and implementation of strategies for economic and ecological sustainability, on behalf of our citizens, through the coordination of leadership, information, and funding.

Goals

Five Primary Goals of Latah SWCD:

District Capacity

Develop and maintain the political and organizational capacity to fully exercise District rights and responsibilities.

Local Governance

Lead and support landowners, agricultural operators, local communities and government agencies to collectively identify natural resource issues of concern, review alternative solutions to address these issues and undertake local efforts to resolve priority issues using voluntary mechanisms.

Community Outreach

Promote efforts to enhance the local community's understanding of ecological systems, the social systems directly dependent upon these natural systems, and the political and organizational systems developed for the management of natural resources within the District.

Comprehensive Planning

Promote individual, local, regional, state, tribal, and national planning efforts that recognize, and manage for, the interconnected elements of natural systems and seek sustainable management approaches for the natural resources with the District. Provide for the long-term natural resource conservation objectives of landowners and agricultural operators, strengthening the long-term health of local economies and protecting the long-term public interest of the community, as a whole.

Coordinated Implementation

Lead the voluntary implementation of conservation efforts that seek to simultaneously protect and enhance the long-term productivity of the District's natural resource base while providing for the long-term natural resource conservation objectives of landowners and agricultural operators and protecting the established rights of individual landowners and operators.

Resources of Community Concern

The Latah SWCD’s goal of coordinated implementation focuses on the development of work plans for each resource of community concern. A resource of community concern is defined as an individual issue, or grouping of issues, that is inherently valuable to members of the community. The Resources of Community Concern (ROCCs) are grouped into eight broad categories for planning and management purposes.