Public meeting for South Central Local Working Group on April 8, 2026.

News Release
 
Natural Resources Conservation Service in Washington
11707 East Sprague Ave, Suite 301
Spokane Valley, Wash. 99206
nrcs.wa.pa@usda.gov
Date, location set for South Central Local Working Group meetings
Local Working Group meetings allow the public to provide thoughts, opinions, and ideas directly to NRCS to improve their support of locally led conservation.
SPOKANE VALLEY, Wash. – The U.S. Department of Agriculture's Natural Resources Conservation Service in Washington (NRCS-WA) has set the date, time, and location for the South Central Local Working Group meeting, which serves as a forum to listen to residents.
The NRCS is a federal agency within the U.S. Department of Agriculture that helps farmers, ranchers, and forest landowners help their land through completely voluntary, non-regulatory, incentive-and-science based programs.
Local Working Groups (LWG) are NRCS's way of listening to people interested in agriculture and natural resources so they can best serve local communities across Washington. Local Working Groups are typically composed of agricultural producers, Tribes, owners/operators of nonindustrial private forest land, professionals representing agricultural and natural resource interests, and individuals representing a variety of disciplines in the soil, water, wetland, plant, forestry, and wildlife sciences.
Local Working Group participation is open to the public.
South Central Local Working Group
Date & Time: April 8, 2026, from 9 a.m. to noon.
Location: Sunnyside Valley Irrigation District
(Conference Room)
1105 Yakima Valley Highway
Sunnyside, Wash. 98944
Area: Central and Eastern Klickitat, Benton, North & South Yakima Conservation Districts, & Underwood.
Chair: Michael Crowder
District Conservationist: Chris Wright, christopherl.wright@usda.gov, (509) 367-8553
More Information
To learn more about NRCS programs, producers can contact their local USDA Service Center. Producers can also apply for NRCS programs, manage conservation plans and contracts, and view and print conservation maps by logging into their farmers.gov account. If you don't have an account, sign up today.
For 90 years, NRCS has helped farmers, ranchers and forestland owners make investments in their operations and local communities to improve the quality of our air, water, soil, and wildlife habitat. NRCS uses the latest science and technology to help keep working lands working, boost agricultural economies, and increase the competitiveness of American agriculture. NRCS provides one-on-one, personalized advice and financial assistance and works with producers to help them reach their goals through voluntary, incentive-based conservation programs. For more information, visit nrcs.usda.gov.
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(112075) March 31, 2026