Cedar River Watershed Habitat Conservation Plan

1. Cedar River Watershed Habitat Conservation Plan Audrey Ogilvie Geography 277 July 31, 2000

2. Presentation Overview • Watershed Background • Endangered Species Act • Habitat Conservation Plan • Plan Support and Opposition • Sources & Class Discussion Questions

3. Cedar River Watershed • Geography of Watershed • Former Gathering Place for Native Americans • Modern History of Watershed • Seattle Public Utilities’ (SPU) and Seattle City Light’s (SCL) Operations in Watershed

4. Endangered Species Act of 1973 • Legislation that identifies endangered species and prohibits the government, businesses, and individuals from harming any animal on the endangered species list or damaging its habitat. • There are 83 species of fish and wildlife in the Cedar River system some of which are vulnerable, threatened or endangered.

5. Habitat Conservation Plan (HCP) • It’s purpose is to protect and restore all species of concern that may be affected by the operations of SPU and SCL in the watershed, while allowing the City to continue to provide high quality drinking water to the region. • Cedar River Watershed HCP History.

6. HCP Commitments • Set Aside 100% of Watershed as an Ecological Reserve - No Commercial Logging/Return to Old Growth Conditions. Water rates will pay the $87 million, 50-year cost of the HCP. • Remove 38% of All Roads in the Watershed & Improve Remaining Roads.

7. Commitments Continued • Work towards guaranteeing nearly two-thirds of annual flows for fish. Manage river flows to mimic natural seasonal patterns to help maintain the river’s ecosystem. • Commit $5 million for downstream habitat improvements for all fish species.

8. Commitments Continued • Build a fish ladder and screens at the Landsburg Dam, which will open up more than 17 miles of river to Chinook and Coho salmon and steelhead. • Build a sockeye hatchery after completion of an adaptive management plan and environmental review.

9. Commitments Continued • Commit to spending $4.5 million to study and monitor fish, especially young Chinook in the Cedar River and Lake Washington. • Spend $6 million to construct a Cedar River Watershed Education Center.

10. Supporters of HCP • Mayor Paul Schell • Governor Gary Locke • Representative Norm Dicks, D-Wash. • National Marine Fisheries Service • U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service

11. Opposition to HCP • The Muckleshoot Tribe • Some Environmental Organizations • Army Corps of Engineers • King County Executive Ron Sims • American Rivers

12. Summary • The Cedar River Watershed Habitat Conservation Plan would preserve 90,500 acres and protect 83 species of fish and wildlife in the river basin that supplies water to 60% of Seattle’s 1.3 million city and suburban water customers. • The City might not be setting aside enough water for salmon. Some groups want further studies to determine how much water the salmon need to protect their habitat.

13. Sources • Environmental Assessment Final Environmental Impact Statement – Cedar River Watershed Draft Habitat Conservation Plan • Jim Erckmann, Seattle Public Utilities • Stanley Moses, Vice Chairman of the Muckleshoot Tribal Council • Ralph Naess, Naturalist, SPU • Newspaper Articles

14. Discussion Questions • Simmel wrote, “The calculating exactness of practical life which has resulted from a money economy corresponds to the ideal of natural science, namely that of transforming the world into an arithmetical problem and of fixing every one of its parts in a mathematical formula." Do you think this early-1900, mechanistic view of dealing with life has harmed the environment, and therefore jeopardized cities’ water supplies? Does the Cedar River Watershed HCP seem to reflect Simmel's idea of quantitative solutions to the ESA or does it seem to encompass more qualitative values? • Simmel stated that the blasé outlook was indicative of city life. He further wrote, "The essence of the blasé attitude is an indifference toward the distinction between things." Do you think this way of thinking led to some of the extinctions of animals in the U.S. and worldwide which precipitated the ESA?