The Voluntary Stewardship Program (VSP) is a plan that was elected to be used throughout Douglas County as an alternative to regulatory enforcement under Washington State's Growth Management Act (GMA). Douglas County VSP aims to preserve local critical areas while ensuring the health of farmland. Engaging landowners outside of city limits through voluntary, incentive-based stewardship practices, the hope is that producers will work together to meet the goals of this program to avoid regulatory enforcement. With the passage of a program work plan, Douglas County VSP now implements and monitors stewardship activities to prove program success at the cumulative, watershed scale. Douglas County is 1 of 27 counties across Washington who use this incentive-based program to engage local landowners and producers in ensuring the ecological health and agricultural viability of their lands.

Douglas County's Watershed Work Group Committee designates benchmarks and goals to work toward to help protect and enhance our county's critical areas and farmland.

PROGRAM GOALS:
- Promote plans to protect and enhance critical areas where agricultural activities are conducted, while maintaining and improving the long-term viability of agriculture in the state of Washington and reducing the conversion of farmland to other uses.
- Focus and maximize voluntary incentive programs to encourage good riparian and ecosystem stewardship as an alternative to historic approaches used to protect critical areas.
- Leverage existing resources by relying upon existing work and plans in counties and local watersheds, as well as existing state and federal programs to the maximum extent practicable to achieve program goals.
- Encourage and foster a spirit of cooperation and partnership among county, tribal, environmental, and agricultural interests to better assure program success.
- Improve compliance with other laws designed to protect water quality and fish habitat.
- Rely upon voluntary stewardship practices as the primary method of protecting critical areas and not require the cessation of agricultural activities (RCW 36.70A.700)