Let Farmers Fly › Washington › Conservation-district cost-share and the Voluntary Stewardship Program
Conservation-district cost-share and the Voluntary Stewardship Program
Washington State Conservation Commission, through your conservation district: District rate, 50% by default and up to 100%; $100,000 per landowner per fiscal year. Rolling, with no published windows; terms are often unpublished, so call the district.
Verified Oct 14, 2026 against scc.wa.gov · Report a change
What it pays
50%
District rate, 50% by default and up to 100%; $100,000 per landowner per fiscal year.
You pay first
100% up front
100% up front, reimbursed after the practice is certified.
Buy before approval?
No
No. A cost-share contract or authorization to proceed comes before work; Asotin CD issues an "authorization to proceed" letter.
Drones
Pays for the practice, not the drone
Cost-share pays for the practice.
Who can apply
Landowners and operators in the district; rate set by each district.
What it covers
Practices installed to NRCS standards; the Voluntary Stewardship Program adds county cost-share for critical-area practices (Columbia County 50% to 75%). · not confirmed
Drones: ask the agency before you count on it
Cost-share pays for the practice. Palouse CD's precision-agriculture page names drone sprayers and says it can provide knowledge, funding and field assistance for precision-ag services and equipment, with no terms published; ask the district.
What that means for you: the payment is for the practice or the service, not for owning the aircraft. A drone can be the delivery method only if the agency's planner accepts it.
Question to send info@wwccd.net (copy and edit)
"I farm [acres, crop] in [county]. Would a [make, model] agricultural drone used for [spot spraying / variable-rate fertilizer / cover-crop seeding] be considered eligible under Conservation-district cost-share and the Voluntary Stewardship Program, and what would you need from me to decide?"
Money and timing
District rate, 50% by default and up to 100%; $100,000 per landowner per fiscal year. 100% up front, reimbursed after the practice is certified.
| Item | What the record says |
|---|---|
| Opens | Not stated |
| Deadline | None published; rolling. |
| When money arrives | After certification, typically within 30 days (Asotin CD). |
| Repayment | Not a loan; nothing to repay. |
| Equipment origin rules | None. · not confirmed |
Rolling, with no published windows; terms are often unpublished, so call the district.
Paperwork
District application, practice design, receipts. · not confirmed
Still open
- What each district offers this month, and at what rate.
Where this comes from
Every quoted line below was copied from the official page the research harness captured, and checked again against that capture when this site was built. Lines marked "not confirmed" elsewhere on this page have no quote yet.
| Fact | Official wording | Source | Checked |
|---|---|---|---|
| Program name | Natural Resource Investments | scc.wa.gov · capture 63 | Oct 14, 2026 |
| Agency | State Conservation Commission | scc.wa.gov · capture 63 | Oct 14, 2026 |
| Kind of help | cost-share | scc.wa.gov · capture 63 | Oct 14, 2026 |
| Who can apply | Cost-share means a landowner only pays a portion of a project's total cost | scc.wa.gov · capture 63 | Oct 14, 2026 |
| Who can apply | to establish by resolution, cost-share rates up to 100 percent in association with SCC grant cost share funding | cdn.prod.website-files.com · capture 31 | Oct 14, 2026 |
| Status | All conservation districts are eligible for ongoing Natural Resource Investments funding. | scc.wa.gov · capture 63 | Oct 14, 2026 |
| Deadline | All conservation districts are eligible for ongoing Natural Resource Investments funding. | scc.wa.gov · capture 63 | Oct 14, 2026 |
| What it pays | the default rate of reimbursement will be 50 percent | cdn.prod.website-files.com · capture 31 | Oct 14, 2026 |
| What it pays | to establish by resolution, cost-share rates up to 100 percent in association with SCC grant cost share funding | cdn.prod.website-files.com · capture 31 | Oct 14, 2026 |
| What it pays | $100,000 award per landowner or cooperator, per fiscal year, across all SCC programs | cdn.prod.website-files.com · capture 31 | Oct 14, 2026 |
| You pay first | cost-share is a reimbursement of expenses and cooperators are responsible for payments to contractors | asotincd.org · capture 21 | Oct 14, 2026 |
| You pay first | At this time, the project will need to be certified by a technician. | asotincd.org · capture 21 | Oct 14, 2026 |
| Repayment | Cost-share means a landowner only pays a portion of a project's total cost | scc.wa.gov · capture 63 | Oct 14, 2026 |
| Drones | tools like drone sprayers can be used to target- or spot-spray | palousecd.org · capture 119 | Oct 14, 2026 |
| Buy before approval? | Once all the requirements have been met, the District will issue an "authorization to proceed" letter and work can begin. | asotincd.org · capture 21 | Oct 14, 2026 |
| Buy before approval? | Before cost share expenditures can be reimbursed, we need a completed copy of the Contract for Cost Share Funds for each participant. | cdn.prod.website-files.com · capture 31 | Oct 14, 2026 |
| When money arrives | At this time, the project will need to be certified by a technician. | asotincd.org · capture 21 | Oct 14, 2026 |
| When money arrives | which could take as little as 15 days or as long as 90 days, but typically within 30 days | asotincd.org · capture 21 | Oct 14, 2026 |
| Official page | Natural Resource Investments | scc.wa.gov · capture 63 | Oct 14, 2026 |
Record scc-district-cost-share-and-vsp v2, approved; automatic checks run Oct 15, 2026.
Ask about this program
Answers come only from the verified program records on this site. Every answer shows the agency's own words and the date we checked them. When the records don't say, it tells you to ask Washington State Conservation Commission.
Not live yet: the assistant is being built. Until then, use the program pages and the contact on each one.