Salmon recovery blueprint for Snohomish Basin gains approval

2005 Archived News

Ensuring a legacy of healthy salmon for future generations in the Snohomish Basin is the driving force behind a detailed implementation plan approved today by the Snohomish Basin Salmon Recovery Forum. This begins the next chapter in regional efforts to recover Chinook salmon and bull trout.

"The Snohomish Basin Salmon Conservation Plan is bold, strategic, and built on sound science," said Mark Sollitto, Chair of the Snohomish Basin Salmon Recovery Forum and North Bend City Councilmember. "With current Chinook runs below 10 percent of their historic numbers, we need this clear, 50-year blueprint that identifies the actions we need to take now so that we leave a legacy to our grandchildren, as well as future decision-makers."

The approved plan recommends that local habitat be significantly improved during the next decade. This will set a long-term path for achieving a 70 to 80 percent increase of the local Chinook populations in the Skykomish, Snoqualmie and Snohomish rivers over the next half century. Developed in response to the listing of Chinook salmon and bull trout as threatened under the Endangered Species Act in 1999, the plan is a critical step to keeping coho salmon from also being listed as a threatened species.

The plan has received unanimous bipartisan support to implement actions by the Metropolitan King County Council on May 2 and the Snohomish County Council on May 25. Many other local governments, special districts, and interest groups have also passed implementation support resolutions and letters.

"We are proud of this collaborative effort that seeks common ground and practical solutions to the benefit of salmon and the community," noted Aaron Reardon, Snohomish County Executive. "Specific milestones and guidance will help local governments, landowners, and community groups succeed."

The plan proposes a feasible, science-based course of action for salmon recovery and lays out a mix of actions to protect habitat and restore degraded areas for the next decade as well as numeric goals for habitat restoration gains. The 10-year focus is to significantly improve habitat in the Snohomish estuary, along the Puget Sound nearshore, and in the mainstems of the Snohomish, Skykomish, and Snoqualmie Rivers.

Crucial to salmon recovery in the watershed are partnerships with the farming community. The Plan outlines a specific strategy for how to work cooperatively with willing landowners on habitat restoration. The plan is supported by many farmers, including forum member Bill Knutsen, a Carnation landowner.

"The plan embraces a rural ethic of working together to achieve a common goal," Knutsen said. "Salmon and farmers have survived side by side for years, I have come to believe that the types of protections offered to fish in this plan can also benefit farmers."

Through an unprecedented collaborative effort of federal agencies, Washington state, tribes, local governments, and interest groups, this plan and those from the other 13 watersheds in Puget Sound are part of the overall regional Salmon Recovery Plan for Chinook and bull trout. That plan is slated to be submitted to National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Fisheries for review at the end of June with a formal ceremony on July 7 that includes Governor Gregoire, Tribes, members of the Congressional delegation, and local leaders. NOAA Fisheries expects to publish the regional plan in the Federal Register in September 2005, initiating a formal public review process.

"The Snohomish Basin Salmon Recovery Forum is a success story that shows how people with different interests and perspectives can solve common problems if they work together, said Bill Ruckelshaus, Chair of the regional recovery group, Shared Strategy for Puget Sound, and the state Salmon Recovery Funding Board. "Their creative solutions to meet the needs of both salmon and our growing human population give me hope that we can solve some of the toughest problems facing our country."

The Snohomish River basin is the second largest watershed – behind the Skagit River basin – draining to Puget Sound. At more than 1,800 square miles, it is home to nine salmonid species, including the threatened Chinook salmon and bull trout. The local numeric targets for the number of returning Chinook are the highest for Puget Sound basins, based on historic fish populations and the potential for recovery.

The Snohomish Basin Salmon Recovery Forum is a volunteer committee of 39 citizens, businesses, local elected officials including those from King and Snohomish counties, the Tulalip Tribes, special districts such the Port of Everett, farmers, and conservation organizations, The group has been working together since 1998 to address the challenge of providing a legacy of sustainable wild salmon that can be passed onto future generations. Snohomish County leads the effort.

A copy of the Snohomish River Basin Salmon Conservation Plan is available online www.salmon.surfacewater.info.