Salmon Recovery Partners
our goal
We are engaged with citizens and our salmon recovery partners. We will reach out to citizens. Salmon recovery roles are defined and partnerships strengthened. |
Volunteers working with the Skagit Fisheries Enhancement Group use nets to catch tiny animals called invertebrates to help analyze the health of streams. |
our challenge
If there were only one government for the entire Pacific Northwest, saving wild salmon might be a lot easier, and we could achieve our goal with a lot fewer committees and meetings. But salmon swim through multiple states, through dozens of counties, towns, Indian reservations, and water districts, and even into the waters of more than one country. The result is that there are over 800 government jurisdictions and agencies involved in salmon recovery. And, of course, salmon swim past many privately-owned forests, farms, orchards, vacation homes, suburbs, and cities. Everyone who owns land near a river or stream is affected by efforts to save wild salmon. And every citizen is, too, since we all share responsibility for the dams that produce our electricity, the streets that we drive on, the chemicals we put on our lawns, and the water and sewer services we use. The number of governments, farms, businesses, homeowners and other citizens involved in salmon recovery presents a special challenge: To save wild salmon, we must coordinate the actions of all these agencies and people. That's why partnership is such an important theme at every level of government and in every watershed in Washington state. |
our progress The Governor's Joint Natural Resources Cabinet has tried to set a high standard of collaboration, coordination, and mutual support with our myriad partners. The agency directors, their staff and the Governor's Salmon Recovery Office regularly work with local and tribal governments, farmers, business leaders and citizens across the state. The state legislature has also pushed for local partnerships and the empowerment of local citizens. Efforts to save salmon must begin one river at a time, and one community at a time. Although the imperative to save threatened and endangered species is a national commitment, embodied in the Endangered Species Act, the work called for in that Act can only be achieved locally. The legislature has recognized the key role of collaborative action in the three major bills it has enacted:
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What does "riparian" mean? The riparian zone is the green area next to the water. These vegetative strips of grass, shrubs and trees protect stream banks from erosion and filter pollutants out of stormwater before they can reach the stream. Trees and shrubs along stream banks also provide shade to keep water cool for salmon. |
With technical and financial help from the Department of Fish and Wildlife, Lead Entities examine what factors in local streams limit the recovery of wild salmon, develop and prioritize lists of science-based projects to address those factors, and submit proposals to the state's Salmon Recovery Funding Board. The Board then chooses which projects merit grants for technical and scientific assistance and implementation. The Conservation Commission is also providing valuable information to Lead Entities. It recently completed its limiting factors analysis in 19 watersheds, offering the first comprehensive picture of the issues facing salmon specific to each watershed.
In each watershed, the county government, the largest town or city, and the largest water purveyor are asked to convene a process that brings together tribal and local governments and private citizens. These watershed planning groups decide what actions need to be taken in their watershed to provide adequate water for fish and other water users. In many cases, research is needed to assess the condition of local rivers and streams. In addition, it takes time for all the partners involved to understand each other's needs, learn to work together, and set priorities for action. The youth Salmon Corps, assisted by the Department of Fish and Wildlife, follow up on earlier habitat restoration work. They are measuring stream width, number of pools, and average pool depth as part of the Asotin Creek Model Watershed Program. |
The completed watershed plans can become the specific, local action plans for addressing water needs for salmon and people. State agencies, participating in the process, will agree to certain state actions to improve watershed health. That's why reaching out and involving local citizens is such an important part of every planning group's efforts. Plans on paper have to be brought to life by local people who are willing to protect streams, and take other actions recommended in the plans. Examples of other initiatives that also carry out habitat restoration projects are:
To save wild salmon, partnerships that transcend watersheds are also needed. The Forests and Fish Agreement is another example of a vital statewide partnership between private forest land owners and state and federal governments. And the work that is now proceeding on the Agriculture, Fish and Water negotiations is also evidence of the way in which the need to recover salmon is stimulating new cooperative efforts. |
Healthy estuaries are a vital link in the lives of wild salmon, shellfish, and other marine creatures, but more than 50 percent of the estuarine habitat in Puget Sound's major bays has been dredged or filled since the 1850s. |
Valuable partnership efforts have also been initiated to focus on a specific estuary, to bring together jurisdictions that share the specific problems of urban areas, or to share resources within a group of watersheds: The Puget Sound National Estuary Program has been underway for 15 years in the Puget Sound basin. The Puget Sound Water Quality Action Team, a program in the Governor's Office, has focused on water quality protection and biological resources, including salmon and the habitat they depend on. Enhancement of stormwater programs, with an eye toward strengthening local programs and more technical assistance from state agencies that comprise the Action Team, will pay off in protection of salmon in rivers and streams and in the marine environment. The Lower Columbia River Estuary Program was organized following the 1995 designation of the Lower Columbia River as a National Estuary-a nationally significant resource that was in need of protection and restoration. The governors of Washington and Oregon and the U. S. Environmental Protection Agency signed an agreement in 1996 to develop a joint management plan for the Lower Columbia. On both sides of the river, local communities, and federal and state agencies worked together for three years to craft a plan that identifies 43 specific actions needed to prevent further degradation, protect existing resources, and restore areas that have been damaged. The plan calls for actions such as the restoration of 3,000 acres of tidal wetlands along 46 river miles, development of floodplain and shoreline zoning protections, and systematic long-term monitoring of the estuary. The Lower Columbia River Fish Recovery Board is a partnership of Clark, Cowlitz, Lewis, Skamania and Wahkiakum counties created by the state legislature in 1998. These counties encompass five watersheds. The Board's mission is to help recover steelhead and other fish species listed under the Endangered Species Act. The Board works with local governments and tribes, and a technical advisory committee of scientists, to identify habitat restoration projects and to coordinate state and local salmon recovery and watershed planning within their area. The Board also acquires and distributes funds to carry out the projects. |
The Upper Columbia River Salmon Recovery Region is a partnership of Chelan, Douglas, and Okanogan counties, the Yakama Nation, the Colville Confederated Tribes and state and federal agencies. Its mission is to restore healthy runs of fish through "collaborative efforts, combined resources, and wise resource management of the Upper Columbia region." This region includes seven watersheds. This regional partnership is also supported by a regional technical team that has developed priorities for projects to be submitted to the Salmon Recovery Funding Board for financial support. Tri-County is a voluntary initiative created by the three most urban counties in Washington. It includes King, Pierce and Snohomish county governments, tribal governments, and an array of cities, towns, business leaders, and environmentalists. This alliance faces the special problems of urban population growth, land use planning, and the protection of streams and fish in an increasingly paved environment. This three-county alliance works with the National Marine Fisheries Service and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to negotiate local programs that meet the needs of salmon, and the need for predictability in reconciling the protection of wild salmon with continued population growth and economic expansion. These partnerships-and many other similar efforts-can lead to genuine progress for saving wild salmon and improving the health of our watersheds. But they can also be a source of confusion and frustration. Creating the right partnerships-and synchronizing all of them-will continue to be an enormous challenge. It will always be difficult to make sense out of multiple levels of government, multiple and sometimes overlapping legislative mandates, pre-existing salmon recovery efforts, and innumerable volunteer and citizens' groups. Everyone acknowledges that we must continue to iron out the wrinkles in this elaborate web of interrelated programs, projects, and organizations. We need to eliminate incentives that encourage agencies or alliances to compete for funding rather than to collaborate. We can always do better-and for the sake of wild salmon, we are committed to keep trying. We must work together. We must learn how to make every meeting and every dollar produce real results in real streams and rivers. |