A Seattle law firm leading state-funded talks has presented several more ideas to force farmers and other rural landowners to widen riparian buffers to shade and purify salmon-bearing waterways.

Plauche & Carr last spring broached taking land by eminent domain if voluntary conservation programs fall short. Ideas recently floated include abating deficient buffers and making rural land for sale pass buffer inspections.

Law firm partner Billy Plauche said Dec. 5 the firm isn’t touting any measure, but is tossing out ideas to the “riparian roundtable,” a large group that represents farmers, tribes, environmentalists and local governments.

The firm will submit a report to legislators by the end of the month. If the roundtable can’t agree on mandatory measures, the law firm must make recommendations, according to lawmakers’ instructions.

“We’re not recommending any of these now,” Plauche said. “We’re trying to throw out a suite of things to the group and ask, ‘What do you all think of that?’

“It would be great if the riparian roundtable could reach a consensus. I don’t know if that’s possible,” he said.

Lawmakers authorized the roundtable in 2023, a year after Gov. Jay Inslee’s proposal to mandate riparian buffers on farmland failed to win support from either party in either chamber.

Lawmakers did increase funding for voluntary conservation. While the roundtable is discussing how to improve voluntary programs, it is also talking about mandatory measures as a last resort.

Plauche & Carr was hired to lead the discussions. The firm will meet with the roundtable one more time this year. Ideas on the table include:

• Eminent domain: The state has power to forcibly purchase land. “Nobody loves eminent domain,” Plauche said. “At the same time, there is a recognition that it’s an existing authority.”

• If a deficit or nonexistent buffer was declared a “nuisance,” government would come onto the property and plant one to abate the nuisance.

The Municipal Research and Services Center, which provides legal guidance to local governments, cites a 1952 state Supreme Court decision that called the term “nuisance” a “flexible one.” “The crux of the matter appears to be reasonableness,” the court said.

• Septic systems are inspected prior to real estate transactions. The same idea would be applied to riparian buffers. “It’s recognized this would have an affect on land prices,” Plauche said.

• The Department of Ecology has written voluntary “best management practices” for protecting waterways with wide riparian buffers. The idea is to make the practices mandatory.

• Tax urban residents to pay for riparian habitat restoration so rural landowners aren’t the only ones sacrificing to recover salmon. The tax idea emerged from roundtable discussions.