Paying landowners to protect Puget Sound
May 14, 2008
Everybody, it seems, wants to save Andrew Albert's farm.
The 90 acres of green hay fields and barns near Arlington hug the Stillaguamish River, which, with some restoration, could be home to abundant salmon and clean water running into Puget Sound. The fields are a picturesque contrast to the sprawl of houses rising nearby. Horse owners line up to buy hay fresh from Albert's fields.
So a few years ago, local politicians hit on an idea to keep Albert's farm and others in this valley from turning into subdivisions: Get developers to pay Albert money to never build on his land. In return, the developers would get to build more houses elsewhere.
