Washington state trust program

Email address:. Zip Code US only. Sign Up. Skip to content Back. Sign up. What We Do Our mission is to protect and restore healthy rivers and streams across Washington so that fish, farms and communities can thrive for generations. Learn More.

Our Approach Collaborative We engage all water users for collective buy in Creative Our team crafts smart, evidence-based solutions Transformative We create lasting change for a rapidly changing world. Washington's Freshwater Is There Enough? Explore the Infographic. Our Impact Since , we have worked across the state from the San Juan Islands to the Palouse restoring water to thousands of river miles in more than 50 rivers and streams.

See Our Impact. Addressing the Need 7 in 10 Washingtonians over the age of 65 will need long-term services and supports within their lifetimes. Keeping Your Savings To pay for long-term care, many people must spend down their savings to qualify for financial support. We use our Trust Water Rights Program to manage water acquisitions and accept temporary donations.

We acquire water rights to restore streamflows and mitigate for new out-of-stream uses. We also provide water right holders protection from losing their right relinquishment by accepting their temporarily donated rights into the Trust Water Rights Program. Water right holders can "park" or donate all or part of their water right. Most donations are temporary but water rights can also be permanently donated through a deed conveying the water right to us.

Donating has the following benefits:. To temporarily donate a water right or portion of a right , a water right holder submits the donation form to us and provides proof that the water right has been used in the last five years.

Once our regional offices receive the complete form and proof of use, we send a letter to the water right holder accepting the water right into the Trust Water Rights Program. We also post notices of water right donations on our website and accept electronicly submitted comments. Community Forest Trust lands are working forests that have significant value to local residents but are at high-risk of being converted to other, non-forest uses.

Community Forest Trust lands are selected based on nominations by communities and purchased from willing sellers of private forestland or from other state land trusts. Projects approved by the Board are submitted to the legislature for funding of the state's portion of property acquisition costs. The local community contribution may be provided through any means deemed acceptable by the department and the local contributor, including: a traditional financing or bonding; b the purchase of conservation easements; or c the purchase or transfer of development rights.

Community Forest Trust lands are held by the state and managed by DNR based on the location's working forest management plan.