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Salmon Recovery and Stormwater

Learn about the impact of stormwater on salmon habitats and the efforts by Tulalip Tribes to mitigate pollution through innovative stormwater management strategies. Discover why salmon conservation is vital for ecosystems, culture, economy, and more.

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Salmon Recovery and Stormwater

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  1. Salmon Recovery and Stormwater Presented by Valerie Streeter, Tulalip Tribes

  2. The Tulalip Tribes of Washington is a federally recognized Indian Tribe, and the successors in interest to the Snohomish, Snoqualmie, Skykomish and other allied Tribes and bands who were signatory to the Treaty of Point Elliott. The 22,000 acre Tulalip Indian Reservation is located north of Everett and the Snohomish River, and west of Marysville, Washington.

  3. Death by a Thousand Cuts • Degradation of habitat outpaces estuary restoration • Degraded nearshore habitat unable to support forage fish • Freshwater shoreline armoring continues unabated • Forest cover disappearing • Streams lack woody debris • Riparian forests not recovering • Alarming number of stream crossings, High road densities • Impervious surface area impacts water quality and quantity • Fish barriers cut out vast amounts of habitat • Agricultural Lands remains degraded • Sensitive floodplains being overdeveloped • Rapidly increasing permit-exempt wells threaten water for fish

  4. Salmon, salmon, salmon… Why should we care so much about salmon? • Key component of pacific northwest ecosystems: covers all three types of water: fresh, brackish and salt. • Culture • Treaty-reserved resource • Economy • Nutrition • Recreation

  5. The 2016 State of Our Watersheds Report is filled with examples of a single, repeating trend: key habitat features, such as streamside vegetation, habitat connectivity and streamflows, are imperiled by human activities.

  6. Pacific Salmon and Stormwater Require pure, well-oxygenated cold water

  7. Running Fast and Dirty Rain that travels on the surface of the ground is called stormwater. The costs of development includes a hardened landscape that • reduces infiltration and • increases stormwater.

  8. Stormwater can • Cause streams to overflow and flood • Increase sediment movement • Erode stream banks • Smother spawning gravel with fine silt deposits • Flush out insect and algal food base, reducing biodiversity

  9. Stormwater moves pollution into streams/rivers, lakes, estuaries & ocean! • Roads are a important contributors of stormwater pollutants - metals and exhaust emissions • Car brakes and tires are major sources of copper and zinc • Brakes can be up to 5% copper • Tires can be up to 1% zinc

  10. Combined Sewer Overflow, November 19th 2012 xenoestrogens phenanthrenes statins lead polybrominated diphenyl ethers caffeine triclosan pyrethroid insecticides nickel antidepressants herbicides cadmium fluorenes phthalates surfactants nanomaterials copper mercury … and the pollution you don’t see zinc perfluorinated compounds dibenzothiophenes Photo by Blake Feist, NOAA Fisheries

  11. The power of stormwater management Changing paradigms in how we manage stormwater can improve: • Water quality • Water quantity • Aquifer recharge • Land cover in ways that will benefit salmon recovery.

  12. And the change has begun… Waste Resource Stormwater, managed correctly, is a valuable resource. Reuse it for irrigation, hydrology for wetlands and streams, aquifer recharge. vs. • Stormwater is a type of wastewater. • Move it off site.

  13. Low Impact Development Minimize Clearing Share Smaller catchment areas Infiltrate where possible Slowdown runoff to clean

  14. Green infrastructure Impermeable Permeable

  15. Your mission…should you choose to accept it… • Many cuts = many cures • A change in philosophy about stormwater • Engage a diverse team to accomplish goals

  16. The long reach of stormwater management extends to… • Elected Officials/Bureaucrats • Engineers • Scientists • Planners • Teachers • Project Managers • Construction/Maintenance managers and workers • Landscapers

  17. Thoughtful Stormwater Management can help Salmon Recovery by… • Reducing impervious surfaces through minimal disturbance during construction and adding green infrastructure elements • Providing both habitat improvement as well stormwater management through the use of trees/other plants and quality soil • Encouraging infiltration that will recharge aquifers that provide summer flow in salmon streams • Removing pollution sources from the watershed that poison or accumulate in salmon

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