COLUMBIA COUNTY—At its January 20 quarterly meeting, the Columbia County Voluntary Stewardship Program (VSP) workgroup unanimously voted to submit its 5-Year Report to the State Conservation Commission, asserting that work plan goals and benchmarks aimed toward the voluntary protection of critical areas have been met.

“By developing and implementing our own program, producers are freed from the historic one-size-fits-all regulatory approach to critical areas protection. Instead, the County and Conservation District work directly with local stakeholders to determine what conservation pra...