WA ranchers are losing land to solar farms and wine — but help is on the way

...For decades, Max and Ann Fernandez also leased a couple hundred adjoining acres for their animals to roam from the neighboring landowner, the state Department of Natural Resources. But in 2018, the state agency informed them that their 10-year lease was being canceled so the land could be rented out to a higher-paying tenant: ideally, a solar farm that would connect to nearby high-transmission lines. When Max died from a sudden illness in October of that year, 79-year-old Ann was left with the responsibility of removing livestock, fencing and equipment from the land they had leased. The Department of Natural Resources manages over 1,000 active agricultural leases and rarely cancels any of them early. But because each cancellation can have an outsize impact on the life of an individual farmer or rancher, the 11 early terminations that occurred in Eastern Washington in the past five years have brought enough uncertainty to locals that state legislators have gotten involved. Prior to these cancellations and the resulting changes to state law, DNR was only required to give 60 days notice and zero compensation to farmers and ranchers forced to vacate public land years before their leases were up. “As a freshman legislator last year, it sounded almost like a tenants’ rights issue,” said state Rep. Chris Corry, R-Yakima. In the 2019 legislative session, Corry introduced a bill dedicated to Max Fernandez that would have prohibited the state agency from canceling leases without the written consent of the lessee, effectively ending the practice. But DNR is in a unique position, as it is legally obligated to generate revenue from the 3 million acres of trust land it manages on behalf of the people of Washington. Because that revenue goes towards building schools, universities and prisons, as well as funding vital county services, the agency has to follow what’s known as the trust mandate, which includes a duty “to strive to obtain the most substantial financial support possible” from the land it manages...MORE