Northwest District
The Northwest District for Extension is made up of eight counties: Island, King, Kitsap, Pierce, San Juan, Skagit, Snohomish, and Whatcom. The district has two learning centers. The Salishan Learning Center in east Tacoma, serves a very large, diverse, low-income community. The Skagit, San Juan, and Island County Learning Center is located at Skagit Valley College in Mount Vernon.
In addition, the WSU Northwest Washington Research and Extension Center at Mount Vernon works collaboratively with the five county directors in the north part of the district, developing and delivering a regional vision and program to the agricultural community. The faculty at WSU Puyallup, located in the southern part of the Northwest District, are beginning to develop a regional vision with the county directors with a focus on urban extension, small farms, and the environment.
The district can be divided into four urban counties and four rural counties. The urban counties, King, Kitsap, Pierce and Snohomish, have a population exceeding 3.4 million people, representing about 57% of the state's population. Related to this, the four-county area also has over 57% of the delegates in the Washington State Senate and House of Representatives. In addition, our two U.S. Senators reside in the Northwest District and six of our nine Congressional delegates reside and represent the urban population. Whatcom and Skagit Counties have the largest agricultural farm-gate value of all Western Washington Counties. Whatcom County is the largest dairy county in the state and in the top 10 nationwide. Whatcom County also represents over 80% of U.S. red raspberry production. Both counties exceed the farm-gate value of most traditional eastern Washington agricultural counties.
The district has 62 faculty and program administrative professionals representing agriculture and natural resources, 4-H youth, family living, and community resource development. In addition, Pierce, King, and Snohomish Counties, have the Extension Food and Nutrition Education Program (EFNEP). This includes 16 EFNEP educational assistants delivering the nutrition program to low-income families. King, Kitsap, Pierce, Skagit, Snohomish, and Whatcom Counties have Food Stamp Nutrition Education Programs (FSNEP or Food $ense). This program delivers nutrition education to low income families with youth.
The eight counties maintain MOA's with WSU valued at $2.38 million. Food $ense contracts in six counties exceed $1.2 million. The Beach Watchers program, originating 12 years ago in Island County, has been expanded to seven counties with the assistance of the second year of funding appropriated by Congress and sponsored by Senator Patty Murray. The funding received for year two was $254,000. Faculty are working on federal priorities for the Salishan Learning Center educational center and the Agricultural Innovation Center at WSU-NWREC at Mount Vernon. Many faculty write and manage grants on a variety of topics either through WSU or their respective county.
- Whatcom County Extension
- Skagit County Extension
- Snohomish County Extension
- King County Extension
- Pierce County Extension
- Kitsap County Extension
- Island County Extension
- San Juan County Extension
- WSU Puyallup Research & Extension Center
- WSU Mount Vernon Northwestern Washington Research and Extension Center
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