Planning for Salmon Habitat Green/Duwamish and Central Puget Sound Watershed Water Resource Inventory Area (WRIA) 9

Salmon Habitat Plan Approved

The Salmon Habitat Plan for the Green/Duwamish and Central Puget Sound Watershed (WRIA 9) was approved by the watershed Steering Committee on July 14, 2005.

The Habitat Plan was approved by the watershed Forum of local governments on September 21, 2005. Download the news release (Adobe Acrobat 51 KB).

The Habitat Plan took effect in December 2005 and serves as guidance for watershed salmon habitat recovery. It constitutes a watershed chapter in the Puget Sound Salmon Recovery Plan.

The Habitat Plan lists science-based projects, programs, and policies to protect and restore aquatic ecosystem health and salmon habitat in the Green/Duwamish and Central Puget Sound Watershed over the next 10 years.

This approval followed extensive review and revision of the March 10 draft Habitat Plan in 2005. A 45-day public comment period in spring 2005 provided many critiques and suggestions that improved the plan.

Why Plan?

There are many reasons for the decline of the icon fish of the Pacific Northwest. Fish harvest, hatchery policies, hydropower dams, and habitat destruction all are significant contributors. Because of the complexity of the puzzle, we have to work together to spend scarce dollars wisely and effectively.

The habitat piece of the puzzle alone is complicated. Each of us, in our daily lives, affect fish habitat when we do things as simple as:

• Drive our cars
• Change engine oil or wash our cars at home
• Use pesticides, herbicides, and fertilizers on our lawns and gardens
• Water our lawns and gardens
• Clear vegetation on our land, especially near streams

The impact of these activities is multiplied many fold because there are 630,000 persons who share this watershed! And it's not just the actions of individuals -- businesses and governments also affect fish habitat by:

• Clearing land for homes, businesses, and roads
• Paving land and constructing buildings that increase stormwater runoff
• Building and operating flood control dams and levees
• Consuming water by diverting it from streams or pumping it out of the ground
• Polluting water intentionally and unintentionally

Because there are multiple causes of habitat destruction, because so many of us can harm or help salmon habitat, and because the needs of salmon vary among species and between watersheds, we must plan carefully to make sure our efforts to help the fish maximize the benefits to the fish and minimize the costs to us. Energy, time, and money are being well-spent in the watershed today; careful planning will ensure that additional energy, time, and money is even better spent in the years ahead.

The habitat puzzle has many pieces and many people who control those pieces. Coordinating our efforts, we can reduce our collective harmful impacts on salmon habitat and ensure that our children have a healthy watershed that remains home to the hooked-nose salmon.

Who's Planning?

Spearheading efforts to plan for the salmon habitat needs in our watershed was the watershed Steering Committee. This Steering Committee includes over two dozen persons including:

• Business representatives,
• Environmentalists,
• Federal and state agency staff, and
• City and County government elected officials.

The Steering Committee's diverse membership is intended to help the Committee develop plans that are realistic and reflect the values of our communities.

What's the Planning Process?

The Steering Committee was charged with developing:

• Two scientific assessments and
• Two plans to protect and restore salmon habitat

The planning strategy and the four science and policy products are shown graphically in the image below (download planning strategy Adobe Acrobat 473 KB).

What's Been Produced?

Four products were completed through collaborative efforts by watershed partners:

• Habitat Limiting Factors and Reconnaissance Assessment Report that summarizes nearly all that was known about watershed salmon and salmon habitat as of the year 2000.
   
• Near-Term Action Agenda that recommends 45 projects and programs to help salmon during 2002-2005 while the long-term Habitat Plan was developed.
   
• Strategic Assessment that includes technical and scientific work to address key questions about how salmon use our watershed and the habitat conditions that they require.
   
• Salmon Habitat Plan that recommends a mix of habitat protection and restoration projects, land use policy and regulation changes, and stewardship/education programs. These recommendations are based on the Strategic Assessment and are informed by community values. The Habitat Plan was completed in August 2005 and took effect in December 2005.

How Does the Watershed Habitat Plan Fit into Puget Sound Salmon Recovery Efforts?

As mentioned at the top of the page, habitat destruction is only one contributor to the decline of salmon in Puget Sound. And the Green/Duwamish and Central Puget Sound Watershed is only one of 15 major watersheds in Puget Sound.

People across Puget Sound are trying to coordinate their salmon recovery activities. This coordination is occurring through the Shared Strategy for Puget Sound.

Through the Puget Sound Shared Strategy, the Habitat Plan for our watershed are being combined with those for other watersheds around the Sound in the Puget Sound Salmon Recovery Plan. Also included in the Puget Sound-wide plan are recommendations for changes to hatchery, harvest, and hydropower dam operations. The resulting combination of projects, policies, and programs serves as the region's response to the listing of Chinook salmon under the federal Endangered Species Act.

If successful, this approach will recover the salmon, improve the environment for people, and provide certainty to governments, businesses, property owners, and citizens.

What's My Role as a Citizen in All This Planning?

You can lend a hand to help protect and restore the habitat salmon require. Future generations will thank you for your involvement!

• Let your elected officials -- at the local, state, and federal level -- know that you support watershed salmon habitat recovery.
   
• Take steps in your daily life to be a good steward of the land and water of our watershed. Both people and fish depend on it!