Click on a letter to move to terms starting with that letter. Not all letters have terms associated with them.
| A | B | C | D | E | F | G | H | I | J | K | L | M | N | O | P | Q | R | S | T | U | V | W | X | Y | Z |

A

Access
A. Shoreline Public Access. Shoreline public access means actual unobstructed access available to the general public from land to the ordinary high water mark or to the wetland directly abutting the ordinary high water mark.
B. Limited Shoreline Public Access. Limited public access means:

1. Actual physical access from land to the ordinary high water mark or to the wetland directly abutting the ordinary high water mark, such access being limited to specific groups of people or to certain regularly prescribed times; or
2. Visual access available to the general public to the shoreline and adjacent waterbody, such access being specifically provided for in the development of the site.

Accretion shoreform
Areas of the marine shoreline where sediment is deposited either currently or has done so in the past. These areas generally have broad backshores, large accumulations of drift logs, and marsh or dune grass vegetation communities. They are frequently part of a lagoon/spit complex, and are also frequently found at stream mouths along the marine shorelines.

Active Recreation Site
Active recreation sites recognize a higher level of public use, and will require developed areas for organized or intense recreation. Active recreation site includes both the active recreation uses and all necessary support services and facilities.

Adaptive management
Adaptive management is a systematic approach for continually improving management policies and practices by learning from the outcomes of operational programs.

Agricultural activities.
Agricultural activities means agricultural uses and practices including, but not limited to: Producing, breeding, or increasing agricultural products; rotating and changing agricultural crops; allowing land used for agricultural activities to lie fallow in which it is plowed and tilled but left unseeded; allowing land used for agricultural activities to lie dormant as a result of adverse agricultural market conditions; allowing land used for agricultural activities to lie dormant because the land is enrolled in a local, state, or federal conservation program, or the land is subject to a conservation easement; conducting agricultural operations; maintaining, repairing, and replacing agricultural equipment; maintaining, repairing, and replacing agricultural facilities, provided that the replacement facility is no closer to the shoreline than the original facility; and maintaining agricultural lands under production or cultivation.

Agricultural Production District or APD
The Growth Management Act requires cities and counties to designate, where appropriate, agricultural lands that are not characterized by urban growth and that have long-term significance for the commercial production of food or other agricultural products. The comprehensive plan designates Agricultural Production Districts where the principal land use should be agriculture. Lands within Agricultural Production Districts should remain in parcels large enough for commercial agriculture. (See Chapter Three, Rural Legacy and Natural Resource Lands.)

Agricultural products.
Agricultural products include, but are not limited to, horticultural, viticultural, floricultural, vegetable, fruit, berry, grain, hops, hay, straw, turf, sod, seed, and apiary products; feed or forage for livestock; Christmas trees; hybrid cottonwood and similar hardwood trees grown as crops and harvested within twenty years of planting; and livestock including both the animals themselves and animal products including, but not limited to, meat, upland finfish, poultry and poultry products, and dairy products.

Amendment.
Amendment means a revision, update, addition, deletion, and/or reenactment to an existing shoreline master program.

Annexation
This is the process of adding or incorporating an area into a city's jurisdiction.

Applicant
A property owner, a public agency or a public or private utility that owns a right-of-way or other easement or has been adjudicated the right to such an easement under RCW 8.08.040, or any person or entity designated or named in writing by the property or easement owner to be the applicant, in an application for a development proposal, permit or approval.

Approval
Approval means an official action by a local government legislative body agreeing to submit a proposed shoreline master program or amendments to the department for review and official action pursuant to this chapter; or an official action by the department to make a local government shoreline master program effective, thereby incorporating the approved shoreline master program or amendment into the state master program.

Aquaculture
The culture and/or farming of food fish, shellfish, and other aquatic plants and animals in fresh water, brackish water or salt water areas. Aquaculture practices may include but are not limited to hatching, seeding or planting, cultivating, feeding, raising, harvesting of planted crops or of natural crops so as to maintain an optimum yield, and processing of aquatic plants or animals.

Arterial Functional Classification
Arterial functional classification is the division of a road system into a number of categories according to the “function” of each road. The degree to which the road serves movement of traffic or access to adjacent properties is the basis for its classification. Principal arterials provide for movement across large areas, serving predominantly “through traffic.” Minor arterials provide movement to abutting properties and to arterials within large areas bound by principal arterials. Collector arterials serve smaller areas “collecting” traffic to or from abutting properties and funneling it to and from the transportation system.

B

Backshore
Backshore means a berm, together with associated marshes or meadows on marine shores, landward of the ordinary high water mark which is normally above high tide level and has been gradually built up by accretion.

Backwatering
Backwatering is an effect where a body of water does not flow normally and is pooled up typically behind some feature. This can be caused by another body of water or by manmade structures that act like a dam against the other body of water.

Beneficial Uses
“Beneficial uses” include uses of water resources that provide a benefit to the public, including, but not limited to, fish and wildlife habitat, fishing, swimming, transportation, recreation, water supply, flood hazard management, water quality control, and aesthetic enjoyment.

Benthic index of biological integrity or BIBI
A method of assessing the biological integrity or health of a stream by evaluating the assemblage of benthic macroinvertebrates present. The macroinvertebrates are collected using standard scientific protocol and are subsequently taxonomically identified and counted. This information is used to calculate ten metrics that represent biological indicators. The metrics measure a variety of ecological attributes including the number and diversity of macroinvertebrates, the presence of species that are tolerant or intolerant to pollution, their reproductive strategy, feeding ecology, and population structure. These metrics are combined to provide an "index" (the BIBI) that can be used to provide information regarding the general condition of a water body.

Benthic macroinvertebrates
Animals with no backbone or internal skeleton that live on the bottom of lakes, ponds, wetlands, rivers, and streams. Examples include nymph stages of mayflies, dragonflies, damselflies, and caddisflies, as well as crayfish, snails, worms, and leeches.

Best Management Practices (BMPs)
These are defined by the Washington State Department of Ecology as physical, structural, and/or managerial practices that, when used singly, or in combination, prevent or reduce pollution of water. The types of BMPs are source control, runoff treatment, and stream bank erosion control.

Biodiversity
Biodiversity, or biological diversity, is the variety of living organisms considered at all levels, from genetic diversity through species, to higher taxonomic levels, and includes the variety of habitats, ecosystems, and landscapes in which the species are found.

Breakwater
Breakwater means an off‑shore structure either floating or not which may or may not be connected to the shore, such structure being designated to absorb and/or reflect back into the water body the energy of the waves.

Buffer
A designated area contiguous to a steep slope or landslide hazard area intended to protect slope stability, attenuation of surface water flows and landslide hazards or a designated area contiguous to and intended to protect and be an integral part of an aquatic area or wetland.

Bulkhead
Bulkhead means a solid or open pile wall of rock, concrete, steel or timber or other materials or a combination of these materials erected generally parallel to and near the ordinary high water mark for the purpose of protecting adjacent wetlands and uplands from waves or currents.

Capital Improvement Program (CIP)
The 1994-1999 Adopted Capital Improvement Program budget allocates funds from various revenue sources to improve cultural and recreational opportunities for King County citizens, build needed transportation facilities, protect our investment in existing buildings, protect the health of our citizens, enhance the management of natural resources, and provide necessary capital resources for our law, safety, and justice system.

C

Channel migration hazard area, moderate
A portion of the channel migration zone, as shown on King County's Channel Migration Zone maps, which lies between the severe channel migration hazard area and the outer boundaries of the channel migration zone.

Channel migration hazard area, severe
A portion of the channel migration zone, as shown on King County's Channel Migration Zone maps, which includes the present channel. The total width of the severe channel migration hazard area equals one hundred years times the average annual channel migration rate, plus the present channel width. The average annual channel migration rate as determined in the technical report is the basis for each Channel Migration Zone map.

Channel migration zone or CMZ
Those areas within the lateral extent of likely stream channel movement that are subject to risk due to stream bank destabilization, rapid stream incision, stream bank erosion and shifts in the location of stream channels, as shown on King County's Channel Migration Zone maps. Channel migration zone means the corridor that includes the present channel, the severe channel migration hazard area and the moderate channel migration hazard area. Channel migration zone does not include areas that lie behind an arterial road, a public road serving as a sole access route, a state or federal highway or a railroad. Channel migration zone may exclude areas that lie behind a lawfully established flood protection facility that is likely to be maintained by existing programs for public maintenance consistent with designation and classification criteria specified by public rule. Excluded areas must be outside of the Urban Growth Area and channel constraints must lie above the 100-year flood elevation, unless the flood elevation is otherwise demonstrated using scientific and technical information. When a natural geologic feature affects channel migration, the channel migration zone width will consider such natural constraints.

Clearing
Cutting, killing, grubbing or removing vegetation or other organic plant material by physical, mechanical, chemical or any other similar means. For the purpose of this definition of clearing, cutting means the severing of the main trunk or stem of woody vegetation at any point.

Clustering
Clustering means developing a subdivision that reduces the individual lot areas to create permanent open space or a reserve for future development while it maintains the zoned residential density.

Combined sewer overflow or CSO
Discharges of combined sewage and stormwater into water bodies during very wet or storm weather. These discharges occur to relieve the sewer system as it becomes overloaded with normal sewer flow and increased storm run-off. The term is also used to denote a pipe that discharges those overflows.

Community Business Centers
These are primarily retail developments designed to serve a nearby market area of 15,000 to 40,000 people. (See Chapter Two, Urban Communities.)

Comprehensive Plan
The Growth Management Act requires certain cities and counties of the state to adopt comprehensive land use plans. A comprehensive plan is a generalized, coordinated land use policy statement of the governing body of a county or city that is adopted pursuant to the Growth Management Act. A comprehensive plan consists of a map or maps, and descriptive text covering objectives, principles, and standards used to develop the comprehensive plan. Each comprehensive plan includes a plan, scheme or design for land use, housing, capital facilities, utilities, rural areas, and transportation. Optional components include elements relating to conservation, solar energy, recreation, and subarea plans.

Concurrency Management System
The Growth Management Act requires jurisdictions to adopt and enforce ordinances that prohibit development approval if the development causes the level of service on a transportation facility to decline below the standards adopted in the comprehensive plan, unless transportation improvements or strategies to accommodate the impacts of development are made “concurrent” with the development. Concurrent with development means that transportation improvements or strategies are in place at the time of development or that financial commitment is made to complete the improvements or strategies within six years. The Concurrency Management System of King County establishes a process to manage new development based on transportation impacts on levels-of-service and the concurrency of needed improvements or actions. (See Chapter Seven, Transportation).

Coordinated Water System Plans
Four Critical Water Supply Service Areas have been designated in King County in accordance with the Public Water System Coordinated Act of 1977 (chapter 70.116 RCW): East King County, Skyway, South King County, and Vashon Island. The Coordinated Water System Plan for each area provides an assessment of water supply and a program to meet future demand. Planning areas, within which a water purveyor is obligated to provide service consistent with county land use plans and regulations, were assigned for major purveyors.

Countywide Planning Policies (CPP)
The Growth Management Act requires that counties, as regional governments within their boundaries, prepare countywide planning policies which establish a countywide framework from which county and city comprehensive plans are to be developed and adopted. This framework is to ensure that city and county comprehensive plans are consistent. The “King County Countywide Planning Policies” were developed and recommended by the Growth Management Planning Council and are to serve as a blueprint for how King County and its cities should grow over the next 20 years. The Metropolitan King County Council adopted these policies in 1992. Since this time, amendments called “Phase II Countywide Planning Policies” have been made to the sections pertaining to affordable housing, economic development and rural character. The County Council has adopted these Phase II amendments. (See Chapter One, Regional Planning.)

Critical Areas
The Growth Management Act requires cities and counties to designate, where appropriate, critical areas which include: 1) wetlands, 2) areas with a critical recharging effect on aquifers used for potable water, 3) fish and wildlife habitat conservation areas, 4) frequently flooded areas, and 5) geologically hazardous areas. (See Chapter Four, Environment for King County’s designation of critical areas.)

Critical Areas Ordinance or CAO
Critical areas include aquatic areas, wetlands, wildlife habitat, geologic hazard areas, flood hazard areas, and critical aquifer recharge areas in the unincorporated area. The King County's Critical Areas Ordinance (KCC Title 21A.24) is authorized under the WA Growth Management Act and is intended to protect public safety and the existing functions and values of critical areas.

Critical Habitat
Specific areas which possess physical or biological features which are essential to the conservation of a listed species.

Critical Saltwater Habitat
Critical saltwater habitats include all kelp beds, eelgrass beds, spawning and holding areas for forage fish, subsistence, commercial and recreational shellfish beds, mudflats, intertidal habitats with vascular plants, and areas with which priority species have a primary association.

Cultural Resources
Cultural resources include performing and visual arts events, programs and facilities; public art; heritage events, programs and facilities; and historic properties.

Cumulative impacts
The sum total of the current, plus any reasonably foreseeable future disturbances to ecological functions, which can be impacted by both development subject to shoreline permits and by development that is not subject to permits.

D

Data layer
An electronic file containing data that is in the correct format for use in a Geographic Information Systems (GIS) analysis.

DAHP
Washington State Department of Archeology and Historic Preservation. A state agency which tracks and advocates for the preservation of Washington's irreplaceable historic and cultural resources such as significant buildings, structures, sites, objects, and districts.

DDES
King County Department of Development and Environmental Services. DDES is a King County agency that issues building and land use permits for properties located in unincorporated King County. It also enforces county land use and building codes, staffs the King County Fire Marshal Division, and issues business licenses.

Deficiency
Deficiency in a comprehensive plan or development regulation refers to the absence of required or potentially desirable contents of a comprehensive plan or development regulation.

Density
The quantity of structures or buildings per unit area. Typically expressed as housing units per acre or square mile.

Density Incentives/Bonuses
Density incentives, or density bonuses, are programs allowing for additional dwelling units above the number permitted on a site by zoning (sometimes referred to as "base density") in exchange for public benefits provided by the developer. King County has incorporated use of density incentives with standard urban subdivision, mobile home park, and multifamily development projects. (King County Code, Title 21A)

Depressional wetlands
These wetlands occur in depression where elevations within the wetland are lower than the surrounding landscape. Water and shallow subsurface water flows toward the lowest point in the depression, which is not the outlet.

Development
Development means a use consisting of the construction or exterior alteration of structures; dredging; drilling; dumping; filling; removal of any sand, gravel, or minerals; bulkheading; driving of piling; placing of obstructions; or any project of a permanent or temporary nature which interferes with the normal public use of the surface of the waters overlying lands subject to this chapter at any state of water level.

Development regulations
Development regulations means the controls placed on development or land uses by a county or city, including, but not limited to, zoning ordinances, critical areas ordinances, all portions of a shoreline master program other than goals and policies approved or adopted under chapter 90.58.610 RCW, planned unit development ordinances, subdivision ordinances, and binding site plan ordinances together with any amendments thereto.

Docket
A list of suggested changes to a comprehensive plan or development regulations maintained by the department.

Docket Process, The
The docket process specifies that dockets are not just to note deficiencies, but also to suggest changes and make written comments. These suggested changes are reviewed by the county and made available for review by the public. Information provided to the public will include the county’s response. View the docket process for the King County Comprehensive Plan.

Docketing
Docketing means compiling and maintaining a list of suggested changes to the comprehensive plan or development regulations in a manner that will ensure such suggested changes will be considered by the county and will be available for review by the public.

Drainage Basin
A drainage basin, like a watershed, is an area that drains to a common outlet or an identifiable water body such as a river, stream, lake or wetland. In King County, 72 drainage basins are contained within six major watersheds. These drainage basins in turn contain numerous individual water bodies with small drainages.

Dredging
Dredging is the removal, displacement, or disposal of unconsolidated earth material such as sand, silt, gravel, or other submerged materials, from the bottom of water bodies, ditches, or natural wetlands; maintenance dredging and/or support activities are included in this definition.

Drift cell
An independent segment of shoreline along which littoral movements of sediments occur at noticeable rates depending on wave energy and currents. Each drift cell typically includes one or more sources of sediment, such as a feeder bluff or stream outlet that spills sediment onto a beach, a transport zone within which the sediment drifts along the shore and an accretion area; an example of an accretion area is a sand spit where the drifted sediment material is deposited.

Dwelling unit
One or more rooms designed for occupancy by a person or family for living and sleeping purposes, containing kitchen facilities and rooms with internal accessibility, for use solely by the dwelling's occupants; dwelling units include but are not limited to bachelor, efficiency and studio apartments, factory-built housing and mobile homes.

E

Ecological functions or shoreline functions means the work performed or role played by the physical, chemical, and biological processes that contribute to the maintenance of the aquatic and terrestrial environments that constitute the shoreline's natural ecosystem. See WAC 173-26-200 (2)(c).

Ecological function
An ecological function refers to physical, chemical, and biological processes or attributes at some level of biological organization. For example, the ecological functions of wetlands includes food chain support, water quality maintenance, flood storage, and wildlife habitat. How a given area or structure is used, such as for spawning, rearing, migration, refuge by fish or wildlife, or by people for commercial, residential, agricultural, recreational or cultural purposes or, as legally defined by WAC 173-26-020, "work performed or role played by the physical, chemical, and biological processes that contribute to the maintenance of the aquatic and terrestrial environments that constitute the shoreline's natural ecosystem." See definition of PSF.

Ecological process
From Forman (1986) "an expenditure of energy (kinetic, biochemical, etc.) that results in a change in state" or, as legally defined by WAC 173-26-020, "the suite of naturally occurring physical and geologic processes of erosion, transport, and deposition; and specific chemical processes that shape landforms within a specific shoreline ecosystem and determine both the types of habitat and the associated ecological functions." See definition of PSF.

Ecological structure
The spatial and temporal organization of ecological conditions (e.g., oxygen, temperature, biological communities) or materials (e.g., woody debris, substrates, species). Ecological structures directly link to ecological functions (see PSF).

Ecological restoration
See Restoration

Ecological value
The magnitude of a given ecological function, typically expressed as worth to society or to a species' survival.

Ecology or WDOE
Washington State Department of Ecology.

Ecosystem
Ecosystem means the complex of a community of organisms and its environment functioning as an ecological unit.

Ecosystem-wide processes
Ecosystem-wide processes means the suite of naturally occurring physical and geologic processes of erosion, transport, and deposition; and specific chemical processes that shape landforms within a specific shoreline ecosystem and determine both the types of habitat and the associated ecological functions.

El Nino
The term El Niño refers to the large-scale, ocean-atmosphere climate phenomenon linked to a periodic warming in sea-surface temperatures across the central and east-central equatorial Pacific Ocean. (According to NOAA.)

Emissions Trading
Emissions trading means the transfer in ownership of emission reductions. Emission trading occurs when a source of air pollution reduces its emissions and then transfers ownership of the emission reduction to another party. Markets for emission reductions can be created by regulation (the market for sulfur dioxide allowances for example) or voluntarily (the current market for greenhouse gases).

Endangered Species
Endangered Species means any species which is in danger of extinction throughout all or a significant portion of its range and which has been designated as such in regulations issued by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service or the Washington State Department of Fish and Wildlife.

Endangered Species Act (ESA)
An act adopted by U.S. Congress in 1973 whose purpose is to provide a means whereby ecosystems upon which endangered and threatened species depend may be conserved and to provide a program for the conservation for such endangered and threatened species.

Endemic Species
Endemic species (or habitats or ecosystems) are those that are native to, and occur only in, a particular area or locale. Endemic species generally have very specific adaptive requirements that are linked to particular habitat or ecosystems that are, themselves, rare (e.g., Townsend’s big-eared bats and caves). Even small changes in the ecosystem are likely to cause localized extinctions of these species.

Eutrophication
The physical, chemical, and biological changes associated with enrichment of a body of freshwater due to increases in nutrients from a variety of sources.

Eutrophic lakes
Lakes in which algae make large populations and biovolumes, generally related to high nutrient supply, particularly phosphorus. Trophic state indicators above 50 are classified as eutrophic.

Extreme low tide
The lowest line on the land reached by a receding tide.

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F

Feasible
Feasible means, for the purpose of this program, that an action, such as a development project, mitigation, or preservation requirement, meets all of the following conditions:

1. The action can be accomplished with technologies and methods that have been used in the past in similar circumstances, or studies or tests have demonstrated in similar circumstances that such approaches are currently available and likely to achieve the intended results;
2. The action provides a reasonable likelihood of achieving its intended purpose; and
3. The action does not physically preclude achieving the project's primary intended legal use.
   In cases where these guidelines require certain actions unless they are infeasible, the burden of proving infeasibility is on the applicant. In determining an action's infeasibility, the reviewing agency may weigh the action's relative public costs and public benefits, considered in the short- and long-term time frames.

Feeder bluff
Also known as sea cliffs and coastal bluffs, are bluffs along the marine shoreline that are actively contributing, or feeding, sediment to beaches. Bluff sediment is the primary source of beach sediment in Puget Sound, whereas rivers and streams are a secondary source (Keuler 1988).

FEMA floodway
The channel of the stream and that portion of the adjoining floodplain that is necessary to contain and discharge the 100-year flood flow without increasing the base flood elevation more than one foot.

Fill
Fill means the addition of soil, sand, rock, gravel, sediment, earth retaining structure, or other material to an area waterward of the OHWM, in wetlands, or on shorelands in a manner that raises the elevation or creates dry land.

Float
Float means a structure or device which is not a breakwater and which is moored, anchored, or otherwise secured in the waters of King County and which is not connected to the shoreline.

Floating home
Floating home means a houseboat, boat or building constructed on a float, used in whole or in part for human habitation as a dwelling unit, and which is moored, anchored, or otherwise secured in waters within unincorporated King County.

Floodplain
Floodplain is the total area subject to inundation by the 100-year flood.

Floodway, zero-rise
Floodway zero-rise is the channel of a stream and that portion of the adjoining floodplain that is necessary to contain and discharge the base flood flow without any measurable increase in base flood elevation.

1. For the purpose of this definition, measurable increase in base flood elevation means a calculated upward rise in the base flood elevation, equal to or greater than 0.01 foot, resulting from a comparison of existing conditions and changed conditions directly attributable to alterations of the topography or any other flow obstructions in the floodplain. Zero-rise floodway is broader than that of the FEMA floodway but always includes the FEMA floodway.
2. Zero-rise floodway includes the entire floodplain unless a critical areas report demonstrates otherwise.

Forest practice
Forest practice is any forest practice as defined in RCW 79.06.020.

Forest Production District or FPD
The Forest Production District (FPD) is a King County designation for forest lands of long term commercial significance as required by the Growth Management Act. Not all areas within the FPD are in timber production; for example some are in use as wilderness areas or parks. View map of forestlands protected by King County (Adobe Acrobat file).

G

Geotechnical report or geotechnical analysis
Geotechnical report or geotechnical analysis means a scientific study or evaluation conducted by a qualified expert that includes a description of the ground and surface hydrology and geology, the affected land form and its susceptibility to mass wasting, erosion, and other geologic hazards or processes, conclusions and recommendations regarding the effect of the proposed development on geologic conditions, the adequacy of the site to be developed, the impacts of the proposed development, alternative approaches to the proposed development, and measures to mitigate potential site-specific and cumulative geological and hydrological impacts of the proposed development, including the potential adverse impacts to adjacent and down-current properties. Geotechnical reports shall conform to accepted technical standards and must be prepared by qualified professional engineers or geologists who have professional expertise about the regional and local shoreline geology and processes.

GIS
Geographic Information System. A computer package designed to store and analyze geographically specific data. In other words, all the data contained within the system is tied to a specific spot on the planet that can be retrieved and compared. Analytical procedures can be programmed and carried out within the GIS framework.

Grading
Grading is any excavation, filling, removing the duff layer or any combination thereof.

Groundwater
Groundwater is the water beneath the surface that often collects between soil and rock -- it reappears on the surface through wells and springs.

Guidelines
Those standards adopted to implement the policy of RCW 90.58 (external link) for regulation of use of the shorelines of the state prior to adoption of master programs. Such standards shall also provide criteria to local governments and the department of Ecology in developing master programs.

H

HRI
King County Historic Resources Inventory.

Hyporheic functions
The work or role played by the hyporheic zone (see below) including providing for water storage and purification, rearing, migration and refuge habitat for select benthic invertebrates, down and up-welling providing flows for substrate dwelling organism and for egg incubation for some fishes, notably salmon and trout.

Hyporheic Zone
The area under or beside a stream channel of floodplain that contributes water to the stream. The source of hyporheic water can be from the channel itself or the water percolating to the stream from the surroundings.

I

Impervious surface
A hard surface area which either prevents or retards the entry of water into the soil mantle as under natural conditions prior to development; and/or a hard surface area which causes water to run off the surface in greater quantities or at an increased rate of flow from the flow present under natural conditions prior to development.

Common impervious surfaces include, but are not limited to, roof tops, walkways, patios, driveways, parking lots or storage areas, concrete or asphalt paving, gravel roads, packed earthen materials, and oiled, macadam, or other surfaces which similarly impede the natural infiltration of surface and storm water runoff.

J

Jetty
A jetty means a artificial barrier used to change the natural littoral drift to protect inlet entrances from clogging by excess sediment.

K

KCC
King County Code

Keystone Species
Keystone species are those that exert a significant effect on the structure of the biological community of which they are a part. These species often prevent dominance by a single species and thereby maintain diversity in the community.

King County Historic Preservation Program or KCHPP
The goal is to identify, preserve and protect significant historic and archaeological properties in order to promote community, economic, and cultural development. Learn more from King County's Office of Business Relations and Economic Development - Historic Preservation.

L

Landfill
Landfill is a disposal site or part of a site at which refuse is deposited.

Large Woody Debris or LWD
A term used for non-living wood large enough to provide habitat or modify water movement when deposited along shorelines or in water bodies such as streams, rivers, and lakes. Read the large woody debris Web page for more information.

Limiting nutrient
An essential nutrient that is available naturally in small amounts and controls the rate of growth of an organism. Increased amounts of these nutrients from human alterations can greatly increase the organisms impacts on the ecosystem.

Littoral drift
Littoral drift means the natural movement of sediment along marine or lake shorelines by wave breaker action in response to prevailing winds.

Local government
Local government means any county, incorporated city or town which contains within its boundaries shorelines of the state subject to chapter 90.58 RCW (external link).

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M

Marine
Marine means pertaining to tidally influenced waters, including oceans, sounds, straits, marine channels, and estuaries, including the Pacific Ocean, Puget Sound, Straits of Georgia and Juan de Fuca, and the bays, estuaries and inlets associated therewith.

Mesotrophic Lakes
Lakes in which algae make populations intermediate in size between eutrophic and oligotrophic lakes. Trophic state indicators between 40 and 50 are classified as mesotrophic. See definition of trophic state indicators.

Multiple Use
The combining of compatible uses within one development. The major use or activity must be shoreline dependent. The major use or activity must be in terms of both dollar value and commitment of land.

Must
Must means a mandate; the action is required.

N

Natural Area
Natural areas are those properties in the County’s natural lands inventory whose primary purpose is to conserve and restore ecological value. They may not be completely natural and undisturbed but may be important in preserving rare or vanishing flora, fauna, geological sites or features of scientific, traditional, cultural, or educational value. These sites may allow public use that does not harm the ecological resources of the site. Also referred to as Ecological Lands or Ecological sites.

Nonwater-dependent
Nonwater-dependent use means those uses that are not water-dependent.

Nonwater-oriented uses
Nonwater-oriented uses means those uses that are not water-dependent, water-related, or water-enjoyment.

O

Oligotrophic Lakes
Lakes in which the water is nutrient poor and which, as a result, have little algal production. Trophic state indicators below 40 are classified as oligotrophic. See definition of trophic state indicators.

Open space
Open space are areas left predominately in a natural state to create urban separators and greenbelts, sustain native ecosystems, connect and increase protective buffers for environmentally sensitive areas, provide a visual contrast to continuous development, reinforce community identity and aesthetics, or provide links between important environmental or recreational resources.

Ordinary high water mark or OHWM
See "ordinary high water mark" as defined in Section 1 Technical Appendix E of the Shoreline Master Program.

Over Water Structure or OWS
Structures that are built over the water such as docks and piers.

P

Photosynthesis
The production of organic matter (carbohydrates) from inorganic carbon and water, utilizing the energy of the sun.

Pier
Pier or dock means a structure built in or over or floating upon the water extending from the shore, which may be used as a landing place for marine transport or for air or water craft or recreational activities.

Pixels - also called cells or grid cells
An individual row-column intersect of a raster. It is can be thought of as single box within a larger grid composed of many cells/pixels (see raster). The size of a pixel can be defined to practically any size, dependent on the needs and precision of the analysis.

Port
Port means a terminal facility where general and/or bulk cargos are stored and/or transferred from land carriers to water carriers or vice versa.

Priority habitat
Priority habitat means a habitat type with unique or significant value to one or more species. An area classified and mapped as priority habitat must have one or more of the following attributes:

• Comparatively high fish or wildlife density;
• Comparatively high fish or wildlife species diversity;
• Fish spawning habitat;
• Important wildlife habitat;
• Important fish or wildlife seasonal range;
• Important fish or wildlife movement corridor;
• Rearing and foraging habitat;
• Important marine mammal haul-out;
• Refugia habitat;
• Limited availability;
• High vulnerability to habitat alteration;
• Unique or dependent species; or
• Shellfish bed.

A priority habitat may be described by a unique vegetation type or by a dominant plant species that is of primary importance to fish and wildlife (such as oak woodlands or eelgrass meadows). A priority habitat may also be described by a successional stage (such as, old growth and mature forests). Alternatively, a priority habitat may consist of a specific habitat element (such as a consolidated marine/estuarine shoreline, talus slopes, caves, snags) of key value to fish and wildlife. A priority habitat may contain priority and/or nonpriority fish and wildlife. [WAC 173-26-020 (24)]
Priority species means species requiring protective measures and/or management guidelines to ensure their persistence at genetically viable population levels. Priority species are those that meet any of the criteria listed below.

1. Criterion 1. State-listed or state proposed species. State-listed species are those native fish and wildlife species legally designated as endangered (WAC 232-12-014), threatened (WAC 232-12-011), or sensitive (WAC 232-12-011). State proposed species are those fish and wildlife species that will be reviewed by the department of fish and wildlife (POL-M-6001) for possible listing as endangered, threatened, or sensitive according to the process and criteria defined in WAC 232-12-297.
2. Criterion 2. Vulnerable aggregations. Vulnerable aggregations include those species or groups of animals susceptible to significant population declines, within a specific area or statewide, by virtue of their inclination to congregate. Examples include heron colonies, seabird concentrations, and marine mammal congregations.
3. Criterion 3. Species of recreational, commercial, and/or tribal importance. Native and nonnative fish, shellfish, and wildlife species of recreational or commercial importance and recognized species used for tribal ceremonial and subsistence purposes that are vulnerable to habitat loss or degradation.
4. Criterion 4. Species listed under the federal Endangered Species Act as either proposed, threatened, or endangered.

Priority species
A species requiring protective measures and/or management guidelines to ensure their persistence at genetically viable population levels.
Priority species are those that meet any of the following four criteria:

• Criterion 1. State-listed or state proposed species. State-listed species are those native fish and wildlife species legally designated as endangered (WAC 232-12-014), threatened (WAC 232-12-011), or sensitive (WAC 232-12-011). State proposed species are those fish and wildlife species that will be reviewed by the department of fish and wildlife (POL-M-6001) for possible listing as endangered, threatened, or sensitive according to the process and criteria defined in WAC 232-12-297 (external links).
• Criterion 2. Vulnerable aggregations. Vulnerable aggregations include those species or groups of animals susceptible to significant population declines, within a specific area or statewide, by virtue of their inclination to congregate. Examples include heron colonies, seabird concentrations, and marine mammal congregations.
• Criterion 3. Species of recreational, commercial, and/or tribal importance. Native and nonnative fish, shellfish, and wildlife species of recreational or commercial importance and recognized species used for tribal ceremonial and subsistence purposes that are vulnerable to habitat loss or degradation.
• Criterion 4. Species listed under the federal Endangered Species Act as either proposed, threatened, or endangered.

Process-Structure-Function or PSF
The three elements in an ecological system that interact to produce value, which is defined as benefits to people and other organisms. In general, the flow of impacts goes from process through structure to function, but there can be feedback loops between each part. See the discussion in the introduction of section 2 and the accompanying figure.

Public Benefit Rating System or PBRS
The Public Benefit Rating System (PBRS) and the Timber Land programs provide incentives to encourage landowners to voluntarily conserve and protect land resources, open space and timber. In return for preserving and managing resources, the land is assessed at a value consistent with its "current use" rather than the "highest and best use." Learn more from King County's Resource incentives Web page.

R

Rare Species
Rare species, habitats, and ecosystems are those that are few in number or are poorly represented in an area. Rare species often lack the capability to resist changes in environmental conditions or lack the resilience to recover after a change. Species, habitats, and ecosystems may be rare because of the following reasons: changing natural conditions have reduced their range, abundance, or distribution; they depend on specific environmental conditions that are not commonly represented in this area (species or habitats at the edge of their range or occurring as relicts); and anthropogenic (human-related) actions have caused habitat loss or severe decreases in range or abundance.

Raster
A data format that stores positional (horizontal) location information in a row-column (Cartesian) structure, which is a highly efficient data storage, access, and manipulation format. In other words it is a bunch of squares back to back each with its own data value.

Raster-based analysis
A computer model based on raster data. GIS models can be created in several formats. All of the GIS data used in the shoreline characterization model was converted to raster based data for use in the analysis.

Reach
Length of shoreline defined by common, linked or interrelated physical, chemical or biological conditions.

Reclaimed Water
Reclaimed water refers to wastewater that is treated to such a high level it can be used safely and effectively for nondrinking purposes such as landscape and agricultural irrigation, heating and cooling, and industrial processing.

Regional Wastewater Services Plan (RWSP)
King County adopted the Regional Wastewater Service Plan (RWSP) in 1999. The RWSP outlines a number of important projects, programs, and policies for King County to implement through 2030 to continue to protect public health and water quality and ensure sufficient wastewater capacity to meet future growth needs. RWSP policies guide the phasing and size of treatment facilities and improvements to the conveyance system, as well as improvements to control combined sewer overflows. The RWSP also includes policies that guide the production and use of biosolids and reclaimed water.

Restoration
The reestablishment or upgrading of impaired ecological shoreline processes or functions. This may be accomplished through measures including but not limited to revegetation, removal of intrusive shoreline structures and removal or treatment of toxic materials. Restoration does not imply a requirement for returning the shoreline area to aboriginal or pre-European settlement conditions.

Revised Code of Washington State Law or RCW
A codification of current statutes in effect in Washington State as enacted and amended.

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S

Sample bias
Unintentional error caused by non-random selection of data, which may not reflect the actual distribution of the items and may affect projections based on the results. In the case of archeological and historical sites in King County, bias may have occurred because of the heavy reliance on data from large government and development projects that trigger the requirement for cataloguing such areas and properties as part of the process before starting work.

Seiche
Seiches are a series of cycling standing waves (sloshing water) generated in an enclosed or partially enclosed body of water, either by wind force or earth movements.

Shapefile
Files that contain a set of points, arcs (lines), or polygons (or features) that hold tabular data and a spatial location that can be projected in ArcView software.

Shorelands or shoreland areas
Shorelands or shoreland areas means those lands extending landward for two hundred feet in all directions as measured on a horizontal plane from the ordinary high water mark; floodways and contiguous floodplain areas landward two hundred feet from such floodways; and all wetlands and river deltas associated with the streams, lakes, and tidal waters which are subject to the provisions of this chapter; the same to be designated as to location by the department of ecology.

1. Any county or city may determine that portion of a one-hundred-year-flood plain to be included in its master program as long as such portion includes, as a minimum, the floodway and the adjacent land extending landward two hundred feet therefrom.
2. Any city or county may also include in its master program land necessary for buffers for critical areas, as defined in chapter 36.70A (external link) RCW, that occur within shorelines of the state, provided that forest practices regulated under chapter 76.09 (external link) RCW, except conversions to nonforest land use, on lands subject to the provisions of this subsection (2)(f)(ii) are not subject to additional regulations under this chapter.

Shoreline areas and shoreline jurisdiction
Shoreline areas and shoreline jurisdiction means all shorelines of the state and shorelands as defined in RCW 90.58.030 (external link).

Shoreline Characterization Analysis or SCA
Also called Alterations Analysis. The set of GIS analytical instructions created to characterize the level of alteration to shorelines within King County. This set is composed of sub-analyses that characterize the alterations for up to ten different ecological processes operating along shorelines. Each sub-analysis has a scoring system that evaluates the level of alteration on a scale of zero to four, with zero being the most altered and four being the least altered.

Shoreline functions
The work performed or role played by the physical, chemical, and biological processes that contribute to the maintenance of the aquatic and terrestrial environments that constitute the shoreline's natural ecosystem. Also referred to as ecological functions.

Shoreline Management Act or SMA
In 1972, Washington State (State) voters approved the Shoreline Management Act. The Act has three broad policy goals (90.58.020 RCW): to encourage water-dependent uses, protect shoreline natural resources and promote public access. The State is responsible for adopting guidelines for local Shoreline Master Programs, reviewing and adopting local Programs, and reviewing shoreline development permits and variances for approval. The Act requires counties and cities to develop plans and adopt regulations to prevent the inherent harm in an uncoordinated and piecemeal development of the state's shorelines.

Shoreline Management Guidelines
Shoreline Management Guidelines mean those standards adopted to implement the policy of this chapter for regulation of use of the shorelines of the state prior to adoption of master programs. Such standards shall also provide criteria to local governments and the department in developing master programs.

Shoreline master program or master program (SMP)
Shoreline master program or master program means the comprehensive use plan for a described area, and the use regulations together with maps, diagrams, charts, or other descriptive material and text, a statement of desired goals, and standards developed in accordance with the policies enunciated in RCW 90.58.020 (external link). As provided in RCW 36.70A.480 (external link), the goals and policies of a shoreline master program for a county or city approved under chapter 90.58 (external link) RCW shall be considered an element of the county or city's comprehensive plan. All other portions of the shoreline master program for a county or city adopted under chapter 90.58 (external link) RCW, including use regulations, shall be considered a part of the county or city's development regulations.

Shoreline Master Program Guidelines
The Shoreline Management Act gives the Washington Department of Ecology authority to adopt Shoreline Master Program Guidelines (WAC 173-26; Guidelines) that local governments must follow when adopting and updating their Shoreline Master Programs. Ecology substantially updated the Guidelines in 2003. The 2003 Guidelines include new requirements designed to ensure that local Shoreline Master Programs do not result in a net loss of current and potential ecological functions necessary to sustain shoreline natural resources. The Guidelines require local governments to plan for restoration of ecological functions where they have been impaired (WAC 173-26-201(2)(a)) and public access to shorelines.

Shoreline modifications
Shoreline modifications means those actions that modify the physical configuration or qualities of the shoreline area, usually through the construction of a physical element such as a dike, breakwater, pier, weir, dredged basin, fill, bulkhead, or other shoreline structure. They can include other actions, such as clearing, grading, or application of chemicals.

Shoreline substantial development permit
A permit required for any development of which the total cost or fair market value exceeds five thousand dollars, or any development which materially interferes with the normal public use of the water or shorelines of the state.

Shoreline Uses
The Shoreline Master Program Guidelines define priority shoreline uses as follows:

Water dependent
A use or portion of a use which cannot exist in a location that is not adjacent to the water but is dependent on the water by reason of the intrinsic nature of its operations. Examples of water-dependent uses include ship cargo terminal loading areas, fishing, ferry and passenger terminals, barge loading facilities, ship building and dry docking, marinas, aquaculture, float plane facilities, surface water intake, and sewer outfalls.

Water related
A use or portion of a use which is not intrinsically dependent on a waterfront location but whose economic viability is dependent upon or substantially benefited by a shoreline location because: (a) the use has a functional requirement for a shoreline location such as the arrival or shipment of materials by water or the need for large quantities of water; or, (b) the use provides a necessary service supportive of the water-dependent uses and the proximity of the use to its customers makes its services less expensive and/or more convenient.

Water-related uses include manufacturing of ship parts large enough that transportation becomes a significant factor in the product's cost, professional services serving primarily water-dependent uses, and storage of water-transported foods. Other examples of water-related uses include the warehousing of goods transported by water, seafood processing plants, hydroelectric generating plants, gravel storage when transported by barge, oil refineries where transport is by tanker, and upland log storage for water-borne transportation.

Water enjoyment
A recreational use or other use that facilitates public access to the shoreline as a primary characteristic of the use; or a use that provides for recreational use or aesthetic enjoyment of the shoreline for a substantial number of people as a general characteristic of the use and which through location, design, and operation ensures the public's ability to enjoy the physical and aesthetic qualities of the shoreline. In order to qualify as a water-enjoyment use, the use must be available to the general public and the shoreline-oriented space within the project must be devoted to the specific aspects of the use that fosters shoreline enjoyment. Primary water-enjoyment uses may include, but are not limited to: Parks with activities enhanced by proximity to the water; Piers and other over water improvements that include substantial public access to shorelines of the state; Restaurants that directly incorporate visual access to and enjoyment of the water; Museums with an orientation to shoreline topics; Aquariums; and Resorts that directly incorporate access to and enjoyment of the water.

Water-oriented
A use that is water-dependent, water-related, or water-enjoyment, or a combination of such uses.

Non-water-oriented
Those uses that are not water-dependent, water-related, or water-enjoyment.

Shorelines of Statewide Significance
The following shorelines of the state:

1. Those areas of Puget Sound and adjacent salt waters and the Strait of Juan de Fuca between the ordinary high water mark and the line of extreme low tide as follows: (A) Nisqually Delta -- from DeWolf Bight to Tatsolo Point, (B) Birch Bay -- from Point Whitehorn to Birch Point, (C) Hood Canal -- from Tala Point to Foulweather Bluff, (D) Skagit Bay and adjacent area -- from Brown Point to Yokeko Point, and (E) Padilla Bay -- from March Point to William Point;
2. Those areas of Puget Sound and the Strait of Juan de Fuca and adjacent salt waters north to the Canadian line and lying seaward from the line of extreme low tide;
3. Those lakes, whether natural, artificial, or a combination thereof, with a surface acreage of one thousand acres or more measured at the ordinary high water mark;
4. Those natural rivers or segments thereof as follows: (A) Any west of the crest of the Cascade range downstream of a point where the mean annual flow is measured at one thousand cubic feet per second or more, (B) Any east of the crest of the Cascade range downstream of a point where the annual flow is measured at two hundred cubic feet per second or more, or those portions of rivers east of the crest of the Cascade range downstream from the first three hundred square miles of drainage area, whichever is longer;
5. Those shorelands associated with the water bodies above;

Shorelines
Shorelines means all of the water areas of the state, including reservoirs, and their associated shorelands, together with the lands underlying them; except (i) shorelines of statewide significance; (ii) shorelines on segments of streams upstream of a point where the mean annual flow is twenty cubic feet per second or less and the wetlands associated with such upstream segments; and (iii) shorelines on lakes less than twenty acres in size and wetlands associated with such small lakes.

Shorelines of statewide significance
Shorelines of statewide significance means the following shorelines of the state:

1. The area between the ordinary high water mark and the western boundary of the state from Cape Disappointment on the south to Cape Flattery on the north, including harbors, bays, estuaries, and inlets;
2. Those areas of Puget Sound and adjacent salt waters and the Strait of Juan de Fuca between the ordinary high water mark and the line of extreme low tide as follows:
   1. Nisqually Delta -- from DeWolf Bight to Tatsolo Point,
   2. Birch Bay -- from Point Whitehorn to Birch Point,
   3. Hood Canal -- from Tala Point to Foulweather Bluff,
   4. Skagit Bay and adjacent area -- from Brown Point to Yokeko Point, and
   5. Padilla Bay -- from March Point to William Point;
3. Those areas of Puget Sound and the Strait of Juan de Fuca and adjacent salt waters north to the Canadian line and lying seaward from the line of extreme low tide;
4. Those lakes, whether natural, artificial, or a combination thereof, with a surface acreage of one thousand acres or more measured at the ordinary high water mark;
5. Those natural rivers or segments thereof as follows:
   1. Any west of the crest of the Cascade range downstream of a point where the mean annual flow is measured at one thousand cubic feet per second or more,
   2. Any east of the crest of the Cascade range downstream of a point where the annual flow is measured at two hundred cubic feet per second or more, or those portions of rivers east of the crest of the Cascade range downstream from the first three hundred square miles of drainage area, whichever is longer;
6. Those shorelands associated with (i), (ii), (iv), and (v) of this subsection (2)(e).

Shorelines of the state
Shorelines of the state are the total of all shorelines and shorelines of statewide significance within the state.

Significant vegetation removal
Significant vegetation removal means the removal or alteration of trees, shrubs, and/or ground cover by clearing, grading, cutting, burning, chemical means, or other activity that causes significant ecological impacts to functions provided by such vegetation. The removal of invasive or noxious weeds does not constitute significant vegetation removal. Tree pruning, not including tree topping, where it does not affect ecological functions, does not constitute significant vegetation removal.

Species of Local Importance
Species of local importance include priority species as identified by the state Department of Fish and Wildlife; bird species whose populations in King County are known to have declined significantly over the past 150 years; anadromous salmonids; and aquatic species whose populations are particularly vulnerable to changes in water quality and water quantity.

SSHIAP
Salmon and Steelhead Habitat Inventory Program, a collaboration between WDFW (Washington Department of Fisheries and Wildlife) and NWIFC (Northwest Indian Fisheries Commission).

State Shoreline Master Program
State Shoreline Master Program means the cumulative total of all shoreline master programs and amendments thereto approved or adopted by rule by the department.

Substantial development
Substantial development means any development of which the total cost or fair market value exceeds five thousand dollars, or any development which materially interferes with the normal public use of the water or shorelines of the state. The dollar threshold established in this subsection (3)(e) must be adjusted for inflation by the office of financial management every five years, beginning July 1, 2007, based upon changes in the consumer price index during that time period. Consumer price index means, for any calendar year, that year's annual average consumer price index, Seattle, Washington area, for urban wage earners and clerical workers, all items, compiled by the bureau of labor and statistics, United States department of labor. The office of financial management must calculate the new dollar threshold and transmit it to the office of the code reviser for publication in the Washington State Register at least one month before the new dollar threshold is to take effect. The following shall not be considered substantial developments for the purpose of this chapter:

1. Normal maintenance or repair of existing structures or developments, including damage by accident, fire, or elements;
2. Construction of the normal protective bulkhead common to single family residences;
3. Emergency construction necessary to protect property from damage by the elements;
4. Construction and practices normal or necessary for farming, irrigation, and ranching activities, including agricultural service roads and utilities on shorelands, and the construction and maintenance of irrigation structures including but not limited to head gates, pumping facilities, and irrigation channels. A feedlot of any size, all processing plants, other activities of a commercial nature, alteration of the contour of the shorelands by leveling or filling other than that which results from normal cultivation, shall not be considered normal or necessary farming or ranching activities. A feedlot shall be an enclosure or facility used or capable of being used for feeding livestock hay, grain, silage, or other livestock feed, but shall not include land for growing crops or vegetation for livestock feeding and/or grazing, nor shall it include normal livestock wintering operations;
5. Construction or modification of navigational aids such as channel markers and anchor buoys;
6. Construction on shorelands by an owner, lessee, or contract purchaser of a single family residence for his own use or for the use of his or her family, which residence does not exceed a height of thirty-five feet above average grade level and which meets all requirements of the state agency or local government having jurisdiction thereof, other than requirements imposed pursuant to this chapter;
7. Construction of a dock, including a community dock, designed for pleasure craft only, for the private noncommercial use of the owner, lessee, or contract purchaser of single and multiple family residences. This exception applies if either: (A) In salt waters, the fair market value of the dock does not exceed two thousand five hundred dollars; or (B) in fresh waters, the fair market value of the dock does not exceed ten thousand dollars, but if subsequent construction having a fair market value exceeding two thousand five hundred dollars occurs within five years of completion of the prior construction, the subsequent construction shall be considered a substantial development for the purpose of this chapter;
8. Operation, maintenance, or construction of canals, waterways, drains, reservoirs, or other facilities that now exist or are hereafter created or developed as a part of an irrigation system for the primary purpose of making use of system waters, including return flow and artificially stored ground water for the irrigation of lands;
9. The marking of property lines or corners on state owned lands, when such marking does not significantly interfere with normal public use of the surface of the water;
10. Operation and maintenance of any system of dikes, ditches, drains, or other facilities existing on September 8, 1975, which were created, developed, or utilized primarily as a part of an agricultural drainage or diking system;
11. Site exploration and investigation activities that are prerequisite to preparation of an application for development authorization under this chapter, if:
    1. The activity does not interfere with the normal public use of the surface waters;
    2. The activity will have no significant adverse impact on the environment including, but not limited to, fish, wildlife, fish or wildlife habitat, water quality, and aesthetic values;
    3. The activity does not involve the installation of a structure, and upon completion of the activity the vegetation and land configuration of the site are restored to conditions existing before the activity;
    4. A private entity seeking development authorization under this section first posts a performance bond or provides other evidence of financial responsibility to the local jurisdiction to ensure that the site is restored to preexisting conditions;
12. The process of removing or controlling an aquatic noxious weed, as defined in RCW 17.26.020 (external link), through the use of an herbicide or other treatment methods applicable to weed control that are recommended by a final environmental impact statement published by the department of agriculture or the department jointly with other state agencies under chapter 43.21C (external link) RCW.

Also see Development.

Substantially degrade
Substantially degrade means to cause significant ecological impact.

Substrates
The base on which an organism lives.

T

Tidelands
Tidelands are the beds and shores of navigable tidal waters lying between the line of ordinary high tide and the line of extreme low tide.

Total Impervious Area or TIA
The total area within in a defined area (such as a catchment basin) that is covered by non-pervious, non-infiltrating, constructed surfaces, i.e. surfaces that do not allow rain water to seep into the ground. Examples of such surfaces include asphalt, concrete and buildings.

Trophic State
A term used to describe the productivity of a lake ecosystem classifying it as one of three increasing categories based on algal biomass: oligotrophic, mesotrophic, or eutrophic. Since algal populations can be difficult and expensive to measure accurately, trophic state indicators are calculated as proxies on the basis of total phosphorus, chlorophyll-a and secchi transparency measurements. The relationships were first proposed in 1977 and have been extensively tested since then.

Tsunami
An ocean wave produced by geological changes that displace water, such as from sub-marine earthquakes, landslides, or volcanic eruptions. These waves may reach enormous dimensions and can have sufficient energy to travel across entire oceans.

W

Washington State Administrative Code or WAC
A document that lays out how state agencies shall organize and adopt state rules and regulations. WACs and rules and regulations refer to agency guidelines adopted pursuant to the Administrative Procedure Act.(external link).

Water-dependent use
Water dependent use means a use or portion of a use which cannot exist in a location that is not adjacent to the water and which is dependent on the water by reason of the intrinsic nature of its operations.

Water-enjoyment use
Water enjoyment use means a recreational use or other use that facilitates public access to the shoreline as a primary characteristic of the use; or a use that provides for recreational use or aesthetic enjoyment of the shoreline for a substantial number of people as a general characteristic of the use and which through location, design, and operation ensures the public's ability to enjoy the physical and aesthetic qualities of the shoreline. In order to qualify as a water-enjoyment use, the use must be open to the general public and the shoreline-oriented space within the project must be devoted to the specific aspects of the use that fosters shoreline enjoyment.

Water-oriented use
Water-oriented use means a use that is water-dependent, water-related, or water-enjoyment, or a combination of such uses.

Water-related use
Water-related use means a use or portion of a use which is not intrinsically dependent on a waterfront location but whose economic viability is dependent upon a waterfront location because:

1. The use has a functional requirement for a waterfront location such as the arrival or shipment of materials by water or the need for large quantities of water; or
2. The use provides a necessary service supportive of the water-dependent uses and the proximity of the use to its customers makes its services less expensive and/or more convenient.

Water Quality
Water quality means the physical characteristics of water within shoreline jurisdiction, including water quantity, hydrological, physical, chemical, aesthetic, recreation-related, and biological characteristics. Where used in this chapter, the term water quantity refers only to development and uses regulated under this chapter and affecting water quantity, such as impermeable surfaces and storm water handling practices. Water quantity, for purposes of this chapter, does not mean the withdrawal of ground water or diversion of surface water pursuant to RCW 90.03.250 through 90.03.340 (external links).

Water Resource Inventory Area or WRIA
Water Resource Inventory Areas were formalized under Washington Administrative Code (WAC) 173-500-040 and authorized under the Water Resources Act of 1971, Revised Code of Washington (RCW) 90.54. The Washington Department of Ecology was given responsibility for the development and management of these administrative and planning boundaries. The WRIA boundaries were used in Washington to develop recovery plans for salmonids listed as threatened under the federal Endangered Species Act.

WDFW
Washington State Department of Fish and Wildlife. A state agency that is charged with managing fish and wildlife species based on the best available science and the scientific process that generates new information for informed, future decision making. See About Washington Dept. of Fish and Wildlife (external link).

WDNR
Washington State Department of Natural Resources. A state agency that is charged with managing and protecting the public lands of Washington State.

Wetlands
Areas that are inundated or saturated by surface water or ground water at a frequency and duration sufficient to support, and that under normal circumstances do support, a prevalence of vegetation typically adapted for life in saturated soil conditions. Wetlands generally include swamps, marshes, bogs, and similar areas. Wetlands do not include those artificial wetlands intentionally created from nonwetland sites, including, but not limited to, irrigation and drainage ditches, grass-lined swales, canals, detention facilities, wastewater treatment facilities, farm ponds, and landscape amenities, or those wetlands created after July 1, 1990, that were unintentionally created as a result of the construction of a road, street, or highway. Wetlands may include those artificial wetlands intentionally created from nonwetland areas to mitigate the conversion of wetlands.

See depressional wetland.

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For more information about shoreline management in King County, please contact Laura Casey, environmental scientist, Department of Local Services.

Shoreline videos: Life on the Edge

• River shoreline video
• Lake shoreline video
• Saltwater shoreline video

Related information

• Glossary of stream, lake and watershed terms
• Lakes glossary
• Stormwater glossary
• King County watersheds
• Puget Sound marine topics

Related agencies

• Department of Natural Resources and Parks
• Water and Land Resources Division