Washington § 15.145.050 - Commission's primary responsibilities — Rules.

(1) The commission has primary responsibility for the following components of the soil health initiative:

(a) Developing, publishing, and distributing outreach and education materials to help conservation districts, cooperative extension, and local governments raise awareness of the importance of soil health to society and agriculture, including farmer case studies on soil health practices, experiences, and outcomes;

(b) Training and mobilizing technical service providers to encourage farmers, ranchers, and land managers to voluntarily implement desired soil health stewardship and enter into any maintenance or easement agreements needed to maintain soil health benefits obtained. The commission and the university must coordinate technical assistance, working with and through conservation districts and university extension, to avoid duplication of effort in carrying out soil health initiative technical assistance responsibilities;

(c) Training technical assistance providers, property owners, land managers, and others to voluntarily take ongoing soil health samples and measurements and submit results to the soil health monitoring database;

(d) In collaboration with the department and the university, developing equitable criteria for the awarding of grants to help producers improve soil health across the state's diverse agricultural systems; and

(e) Consulting and collaborating with the department and the university to support all soil health initiative goals, objectives, and components established in this chapter.

(2) In consultation with the department and the university, the commission may adopt rules as needed to carry out the purposes of this chapter.

(3) The commission shall perform its responsibilities within the appropriations provided for the soil health initiative.