King Conservation District staff union unanimously ratifies first contract

Everyone is downstream of someone

Washington’s 45 conservation districts (CDs) are each unique.

Meant to be responsive to each county’s needs, CDs are nonregulatory. That means landowners, farmers and community members are voluntary partners in helping to conserve the natural resources that are a keystone of the state’s economy, identity and culture.

“Each CD knows its local population and local problems,” Martinsons said. “That means we can home in on that county’s problems and be perceptive to what the local residents need.”

Jessica Saavedra, senior program manager of the Member Jurisdiction Grant Program, is in her 14th year with KCD. She partners with the City of Seattle to manage grants to community-led organizations who connect environmental projects with equity and social justice.

“The work that I do helps maintain those healthy environmental places for the community to enjoy,” Saavedra said. “Our conservation district’s work raises awareness of our daily potential impacts on the environment and how that affects other communities and resources downstream.”

Jacobus Saperstein is a senior resource specialist at KCD, working directly with landowners to improve water quality by bringing native plants to stream-side corridors on their property, removing invasive species like blackberries, and more.

“I work with private landowners to help them be good stewards on their land,” he said.

Helping farmers and landowners improve water quality on their own properties benefits not only individual farms but the ecological health of the entire region.

“Protecting the water quality at any point is good for your downstream neighbors – and also for wildlife and salmon,” Saperstein said. “Everyone is downstream of somebody.”