WRIA 8 Planning Efforts and Participants
In the Lake Washington/Cedar/Sammamish Watershed, 27 local governments have been jointly funding a planning effort to conserve salmon habitat throughout the watershed. The WRIA 8 Steering Committee, composed of citizens, scientists, business representatives, environmentalists, elected officials and state and federal agencies has been overseeing the salmon planning process since Chinook (king) salmon were listed as "threatened" under the Endangered Species Act I 1999. An interjurisdictional science (technical) committee worked with the State Conservation Commission to develop a Habitat Limiting Factors Report, which the Steering Committee used to collaborate on the Near-Term Action Agenda for Salmon Conservation. This report identifies projects and programs to help salmon in the first fews years following listing. The interjurisdictional science committee continued their work and developed a conservation strategy which the Steering Committee has used to create a prioritized salmon conservation plan to protect and restore salmon habitat over the long term.

Elected officials from the local governments funding this process serve on the WRIA 8 Forum. The Forum was responsible for accepting or remanding the Steering Committee's recommendations for the final long-term salmon conservation plan. On May 26, 2005 the WRIA 8 Forum approved the Chinook Conservation Plan and forwarded it to the participating 27 jurisdictions for their individual ratification. All the jurisdictions gave their seal of approval by September.

Now the Final WRIA 8 Chinook Salmon Conservation Plan has been transferred to the Puget Sound Shared Strategy to become part of the regional recovery plan for Chinook. This Puget Sound-wide plan has been submitted to the federal government as the region's response to the listing of Chinook salmon as threatened under the federal Endangered Species Act.

WRIA 8 Timeline: Milestones and Accomplishments
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