Oak Harbor sheepman Gary Fisher literally weighed in on the county’s proposals to protect critical wetland areas from pollution.

After seeing the criteria, Fisher decided to weigh his sheep. Using a rented scale, he figured out that his flock is exempt from the tougher aspects of the proposed critical areas ordinance.

“This is a small breed,” Fisher said of his Southdown breed, which was popular in colonial days. “That’s why I objected to five sheep per acre.”

In part, the extent of the regulations facing long-time farmers in the rural zone will depend on how many animals they have. A detailed “farm plan” will not be required if a farm has less than one animal unit per 2.5 acres. An illustration in county information packets describing the concept of an animal unit shows one cow per 2.5 acres or five sheep, for example.

Fisher doubted that five of his sheep would weigh a thousand pounds. Using the rented scale, he proved himself right. “I got 979 pounds per two-and-a-half acres,” he said. “And that includes two llamas used as guard animals.” His llamas keep coyotes and dogs away from the flock.

He weighed ten adult sheep, averaging 125 pounds per sheep. As a result, Fisher was confident he would not have to prepare a farm plan to comply with the critical areas ordinance. Instead, he could do a simple checklist.

He said he just wanted to make sure he was following the rules. “I’m up front with everything,” he said. “This is a prototype farm and I can’t afford not to do things right.” His farm south of Oak Harbor hosts tours, both for people interested in colonial livestock and, this time of year, school kids and others who enjoy seeing newborn lambs prancing around the fields.

Enforcing the proposed critical area regulations has become an issue countywide, as the Whidbey Environmental Action Network has been perusing farm plans to see if they are being fulfilled. Plans on file with the Whidbey Island Conservation District are considered a public record.

Fisher said he has no gripe with WEAN, but he recognizes other farmers are upset that the environmental group may be looking over their shoulder. “They’re watchdogs,” he said. “They can either be a pitbull or a poodle — they range close to the pitbull.”

Theoretically, WEAN could question the weight of animals reported to the county. Keith Dearborn, the county’s land use attorney, acknowledged this at a recent public hearing. “The county’s not going to go out and weigh any animals,” he told a group at North Whidbey Middle School. “But if an enforcement action is filed, we’d have to investigate.”

Steve Erickson, WEAN spokesman, said Thursday his organization has already looked at all farm plans on file with the Conservation District and “we’re almost done with our analysis.”

Phil Bakke, director of Island County Planning and Community Development, doubted that enforcement of the new regulations will be a major problem when asked about it earlier this week. He said farmers who have more than one animal unit per acre can hire a private consultant to do a farm plan, which then would not be public information. The county only asks for a summary called a record of decision.

“Most farmers don’t object to the record of decision” being public, he said.

Bakke also doubted that farmers will have to weigh their animals, or fear that environmentalists will be gauging their weights from afar, in an ongoing dispute over protecting critical areas such as streams and wetlands.

Most enforcement in the future will be based of water quality testing results, Bakke said. Contamination problems will be detected through a regular water monitoring program the county is in the process of adopting. “If there’s a problem, we’ll want to know why the numbers are up,” he said.

Erickson cast doubt upon the propose water monitoring program, however, saying it lacks enforcement, as do the the farm plans in his estimation.

“Enforcement is a big deal,” he said.