Washington Coast Sustainable Salmon Plan

1. Washington Coast Sustainable Salmon Plan

2. Washington Coast Salmon Recovery Region All of Washington’s watersheds which drain directly into the Pacific Ocean between Cape Flattery in the north and Cape Disappointment in the south, together with their inland, estuarine and nearshore environments, lying within all or parts of Clallam, Jefferson, Grays Harbor, Pacific, Cowlitz, Mason, Lewis and Thurston Counties. SOL DUC/HOH QUEETS – QUINAULT LOWER CHEHALIS UPPER CHEHALIS WILLAPA

3. Vision • All watersheds in the Washington Coast Region contain healthy, diverse and self-sustaining populations of salmonids, maintained by healthy habitats and ecosystems, which also support the ecological, cultural, social, and economic needs of human communities.

4. Goals • Avoid additional ESA listings and further diminished populations in the Washington Coast Region through sustainability instead of ESA recovery planning • All the region’s salmon habitats and offshore waters are in a condition that will sustain healthy salmonid populations • Regional land use decisions are benign in regards to salmon habitat and/or any damage from those decisions is effectively mitigated • Regional hatchery practices will not impair wild fish populations and, where appropriate, will help to protect them • Harvest of salmon – both commercial and recreational – will help support vibrant economies without negatively impacting the sustainability of salmonid populations.

5. Wherever the term “salmon” is used in the Plan, it is meant to include fish present of the genus Oncorhynchus (salmon, steelhead, and coastal cutthroat) and bull trout, the fish of concern in this Washington Coast Salmon Recovery Region. • Chinook– Oncorhynchus tshawytscha • Chum – Oncorhynchus keta • Coho– Oncorhynchus kisutch • Sockeye – Oncorhynchus nerka • Steelhead– Oncorhynchus mykiss • Coastal Cutthroat Trout – Oncorhynchus clarki clarki • Bull Trout – Salvelinus confluentus

6. Coast Region Habitats Headwaters/ Uplands • Headwaters/Uplands • Wetlands, Small Lakes and Ponds • Tributaries • Lakes • Mainstems • Estuaries • Nearshore • Ocean Nearshore Tributaries Lakes Ocean Mainstems Estuaries Wetlands, Small Lakes and Ponds

7. Salmon Life Stages Salmon Habitat Key Species

8. “Nested” Species and Life Stages Wetlands- Off Channel Spawning/Rearing COHO, Cutthroat Juvenile Rearing/Foraging COHO, Cutthroat Juvenile Refugia/Holding COHO, Cutthroat Adult Migration/Staging COHO, Cutthroat Tributaries Spawning/Incubation CHUM, COHO, SOCKEYE, Chinook, Steelhead, Bull Trout, Cutthroat Juvenile Rearing/Foraging COHO, STEELHEAD, Bull Trout, Cutthroat • Juvenile Outmigration CHUM, COHO, SOCKEYE, Chinook, Steelhead, Bull Trout, Cutthroat • Adult Migration CHUM, COHO, SOCKEYE, Chinook, • Estuaries Juvenile Rearing/Foraging CHUM, CHINOOK, COHO • Juvenile Outmigration CHUM, CHINOOK, COHO, Steelhead, Sockeye, Bull Trout, Cutthroat • Adult Foraging Bull Trout, Cutthroat • Adult Migration/Staging CHUM, Coho, Chinook, Steelhead, Cutthroat

9. What is critical for salmon viability or health? Tributaries Spawning & Incubation Water Quality, Riparian Condition, LWD, Floodplain Connectivity, Sediment Needs, Water Quantity

10. What is critical for salmon viability or health? Tributaries Spawning & Incubation Water Quality, Riparian Condition, LWD, Floodplain Connectivity, Sediment Needs, Water Quantity Temperature, Dissolved Oxygen, Turbidity

13. Critical Threats to Salmon Sustainability • in the Coast Region • Climate Change • Invasive Species • Harvest and Hatchery Interactions • Logging Practices that Impact Salmon • Oil Spills • Residential and Commercial Development that Impacts Salmon

14. Critical Threats to Salmon Sustainability • in the Coast Region • Dredging/Filling • Removal and/or Lack of Large Woody Material • Shoreline Modification Including Dikes, Levees, Armoring, Bulkheads • Agricultural Practices that Impact Salmon • Roads, Culverts, Bridges, and Other Transportation Infrastructure • Water Pollution from Developed Land, Stormwater and Wastewater Pollution

15. Contributing Factors Proposed Strategies Critical Direct Threats Salmon Habitats affect affect affect Indirect Threats Opportunities Stakeholders Proposed strategies Which are the general lines of action (broad based course of action or high-level strategic themes) we think will significantly contribute to Salmonid Restoration in the Washington Coast Region? Information gaps and research needs Are there any important areas of uncertainty in our diagram? Negative contributing factors Which are the most relevant factors (specific practices, stakeholders, incentives and motivations) contributing to critical threats? Positive contributing factors Are there any relevant opportunities (specific practices, stakeholders, incentive and motivations) which contribute to a solution? Key intervention points for ALL Which are the key intervention points where we should focus our attention on to contribute to a significant change in the overall situation?

16. CLIMATE CHANGE • is addressed in these Strategies: • A1. Create a WCSSP outreach & education program that builds salmon awareness and community action; • A2. Communicate climate change tools, research, and information to public officials and local communities; • B1. Use habitat protection tools & techniques to maintain or restore in-channel salmon habitat that is key in light of climate change; • B5. Encourage the implementation of water quantity planning efforts; • E2. Support land use and water resource plans and regulations that do not negatively affect salmon habitats.

17. INVASIVE SPECIES • are addressed in these strategies: • A1. Create a WCSSP outreach & education program that builds salmon awareness and community action; • A3. Work to inform officials, landowners, industry, business, agencies, and the public about invasive species; • B2. Coordinate a region-wide invasive species workgroup and serve as a hub for regional invasive species information; • E2. Support land use and water resource plans and regulations that do not negatively affect salmon habitats.

18. HATCHERY AND HARVEST INTERACTIONS • and are addressed in these strategies: • A1. Create a WCSSP outreach & education program that builds salmon awareness and community action; • C1. Create opportunities that lead to a better understanding of hatchery, harvest, and wild fish policies; • C2. Develop partnerships for hatchery reform • D3. Promote coastal wild salmon as a premium market product; • E2. Support land use and water resource plans and regulations that do not negatively affect salmon habitats.

19. TIMBER PRACTICES THAT IMPACT SALMON • are addressed in these strategies: • A1. Create a WCSSP outreach & education program that builds salmon awareness and community action; • B1. Use habitat protection tools & techniques to maintain or restore in-channel salmon habitat that is key in light of climate change; • B3. Restore buffer and instream channel function by retaining large trees in riparian zones and landscaping with native plants; • B4. Correct existing fish barriers; • E2. Support land use and water resource plans and regulations that do not negatively affect salmon habitats; • E4. Work with agencies to strengthen the Forest Practices Act permitting and monitoring process.

20. OIL SPILLS • are addressed in these strategies: • A1. Create a WCSSP outreach & education program that builds salmon awareness and community action; • D4. Advocate for a barrel transport fee to fund oil spill response capacity; • E2. Support land use and water resource plans and regulations that do not negatively affect salmon habitats.

21. RESIDENTIAL AND COMMERCIAL DEVELOPMENT THAT IMPACTS SALMON • are addressed in these strategies: • A1. Create a WCSSP outreach & education program that builds salmon awareness and community action; • A4. Inform public officials and increase public outreach on environmental values to make shoreline modification more salmon-friendly; • D1. Value ecosystem services; • D2. Support incentives for keeping agriculture, timber, and residential land use; • D5. Explore environmental markets, offset & compensation programs, conservation futures tax, and mitigation funding; • E2. Support land use and water resource plans / regulations that do not negatively affect salmon habitats.

22. DREDGING AND FILLING • and are addressed in these strategies: • A1. Create a WCSSP outreach & education program that builds salmon awareness and community action; • B6. Reduce dredging and filling of estuaries, rivers and wetlands; • D1. Value ecosystem services; • E2. Support land use and water resource plans and regulations that do not negatively affect salmon habitats.

23. REMOVAL AND/OR LACK OF LARGE WOODY MATERIAL • is addressed in these strategies: • A1. Create a WCSSP outreach & education program that builds salmon awareness and community action; • B3. Restore buffer and instream channel function by retaining large trees in riparian zones and landscaping with native plants; • E2. Support land use and water resource plans / regulations that do not negatively affect salmon habitats; • E3. Work with agencies to create effective regulations and policies that restore large wood in streams and on riparian buffers; • E4. Work with agencies to strengthen the Forest Practices Act permitting and monitoring process.

24. SHORELINE MODIFICATION • is addressed in these strategies: • A1. Create a WCSSP outreach & education program that builds salmon awareness and community action; • A4. Inform public officials and increase public outreach on environmental values to make shoreline modification more salmon-friendly; • B3. Restore buffer and instream channel function by retaining large trees in riparian zones and landscaping with native plants; • E2. Support land use and water resource plans and regulations that do not negatively affect salmon habitats; • E3. Work with agencies to create effective regulations and policies that restore large wood in streams and on riparian buffers.

25. AGRICULTURAL PRACTICES THAT IMPACT SALMON • are addressed in these strategies: • A1. Create a WCSSP outreach & education program that builds salmon awareness and community action; • A5. Reach out to public officials, landowners and others about the value of preserving marginal land; • D2. Support incentives for keeping agriculture, timber, and residential land use; • D5. Explore environmental markets, offset & compensation programs, conservation futures tax, and mitigation funding; • E2. Support land use and water resource plans and regulations that do not negatively affect salmon habitats. • NOTE: need additional strategy to support voluntary, incentive based conservation actions (i.e., conservation districts and new VSP)

26. ROADS, CULVERTS, & BRIDGES AND OTHER TRANSPORTION INFRASTRUCTURE • are addressed in these strategies: • A1. Create a WCSSP outreach & education program that builds salmon awareness and community action; • B4. Correct existing fish barriers; • E2. Support land use and water resource plans and regulations that do not negatively affect salmon habitats; • E5. Work with agencies to change funding procedures for road and transportation improvements to benefit salmon.

27. WATER POLLUTION FROM DEVELOPED LAND • is addressed in these strategies: • A1. Create a WCSSP outreach & education program that builds salmon awareness and community action; • B3. Restore buffer and instream channel function by retaining large trees in riparian zones and landscaping with native plants; • E1. Improve the effectiveness of enforcement; • E2. Support land use and water resource plans / regulations that do not negatively affect salmon habitats.

28. 26 Specific Strategies Consolidated Into Five Categories A. Educate the Community to Protect, Restore and Maintain Ecosystem Values B. Restore and Protect Salmonid Habitat Function C. Support Hatchery Reform and Harvest Practices that are Compatible with Wild Salmon Sustainability D. Use Economic Tools to Protect, Restore and Maintain Ecosystem Values E. Improve Regulatory Effectiveness to Achieve Salmon Sustainability by Identifying Conflicts, Impediments and Gaps in Current Regulations

29. Overarching Partnership Strategy ORGANIZE, PROMOTE AND MAINTAIN BROAD PARTNERSHIPS THAT SUPPORT WILD SALMON SUSTAINABILITY

30. Educate the Community to Protect, Restore and Maintain Ecosystem Values • Strategy A1: Create a WCSSP Outreach and Education Program that Builds Salmon Awareness and Community Action • Strategy A2: Communicate Climate Change Tools, Research, and Information to Public Officials and Local Communities • Strategy A3: Work to Inform Officials, Landowners, Industry, Business, Agencies, and the Public about Invasive Species • Strategy A4: Inform Public Officials and Increase Public Outreach on Environmental Values to Make Shoreline Modification more Salmon-Friendly Strategy A5: Reach Out to Public Officials, Landowners and Others about the Value of Preserving Marginal Land Strategy A6: Educate Local Elected Officials and Residents about Stormwater and Wastewater Pollution • Action A1.1: Create a WCSSP communication and outreach program based on current research into the most effective outreach methods as well as the experiences of those who’ve been doing outreach in the Coast Region • Collect the most recent and credible research on effective outreach, communication and education methods. • Convene and staff a committee of experts within the Coast Region tasked with creating a WCSSP Communication and Outreach Program to propose to the WCSSP Board of Directors. • Action A1.2: Develop school-based curricula and youth-oriented programs for salmon sustainability • Work with teachers, parents, school boards and others to design and provide resources for in-school and after-school salmon education and involvement programs where such programs or activities don’t already exist. • Find long-term funding sources for school-based salmon activities. • Engage young people in “citizen science” (see Glossary) projects that build active involvement in salmon sustainability. • Support local organizations and events such as the Marine Resource Committees (MRCs), the Chehalis Basin Partnership’s Chehalis Watershed Festival, and the Ocean Shores Interpretive Center in their work with young people, and encourage other localities to create similar organizations and activities. • Action A1.3: Use the most effective means to build community and official awareness of salmon sustainability issues and needs • Create and/or support campaigns that explain how many small, individual actions can make a difference in sustaining salmon in local communities. • Make our messages relevant to people by tailoring them to specific audiences, working with people to identify sustainability issues and solutions within their own watersheds. • Develop a Communication and Outreach Program component focused on informing the public about fish barrier removal. • Work to correct misconceptions about salmon and salmon habitat, such as “all hatcheries are bad for salmon,” “now and in the future, hatcheries are the only way to supplement salmon populations,” “salmon need deep water only,” “beaver dams block salmon movement,” and “we have to clear large wood out of streams for the salmon.” • Based on the best available science of outreach effectiveness, use the appropriate variety of tools to get key messages across, including established means like newspaper articles and signage at recreational sites, and newer tools like videos, website content and social networking presence. • Cultivate opportunities for WCSSP to “be at the table” where official decisions related to communication and outreach about salmon are made.

31. Restore and Protect Salmonid Habitat Function Strategy B1: Use Habitat Protection Tools & Techniques to Maintain or Restore In-channel Salmon Habitat That is Key in Light of Climate Change Strategy B2: Coordinate a Region-Wide Invasive Species Workgroup and Serve as a Hub for Regional Invasive Species Information Strategy B3: Restore Buffer and In-stream Channel Function by Retaining Large Trees in Riparian Zones and Landscaping with Native Plants Strategy B4: Correct Existing Fish Barriers Strategy B5: Encourage the Implementation of Water Quantity Planning Efforts Strategy B6: Reduce Dredging and Filling of Estuaries, Rivers, and Wetlands

32. Support Hatchery and Harvest Practices • that are Compatible with Wild Salmon Sustainability Strategy C1: Create Opportunities that Lead to a Better Understanding of Hatchery, Harvest, and Wild Fish Policies Strategy C2: Develop Partnerships for Hatchery Reform

33. Use Economic Tools to Protect, Restore and Maintain Ecosystem Values Strategy D1: Value Ecosystem Services Strategy D2: Support Incentives for Keeping Agriculture, Timber, and Residential Land Use Strategy D3: Promote Coastal Wild Salmon as a Premium Market Product Strategy D4: Advocate for a Barrel Transport Fee to Fund Oil Spill Response Capacity Strategy D5: Explore Environmental Markets, Offset & Compensation Programs, Conservation Futures Tax, and Mitigation Funding

34. Improve Regulatory Effectiveness to Achieve Salmon Sustainability by Identifying Conflicts, Impediments and Gaps in Current Regulations Strategy E2: Support Water Resource Plans and Regulations that Do Not Negatively Affect Salmon Habitats Strategy E1: Improve the Effectiveness of Enforcement Strategy E2: Support Water Resource Plans and Regulations that Do Not Negatively Affect Salmon Habitats Strategy E3: Work with Agencies to Create Effective Regulations and Policies that Restore Large Wood (LWD) In Streams and on Riparian Buffers Strategy E4: Work with Agencies to Strengthen the Forest Practices Act Permitting and Monitoring Process Strategy E5: Work with Agencies to Change Funding Procedures for Road and Transportation Improvements to Benefit Salmon • Action E2.1: Develop an improved understanding of water resources and rights • Support a study of the impact of regional water usage and rights on salmon habitat. If such a study exists, publicize it and the impacts of water usage patterns on salmon habitat. • Assess what actual water consumption is in the Region, for municipalities, agricultural and otherwise. • Encourage the development of models showing appropriate water budgets for salmon given the hydrology of basins in the Region. • Encourage the legislature to develop means for funding water resources programs in the Washington Department of Ecology. • Identify potential regional partners for funding and monitoring water gauges in streams. • Action E2.2: Improve stream-typing (fish presence) databases for the Region • Work to get all streams properly identified, typed and mapped for fish presense; encourage on-the-ground stream-typing. • Use hydrologic modeling and tools such as LiDAR to aid in identifying potential salmon streams, while relying on ground-truthing to sample and test their validity. • Support the expansion of the work of organizations such as the Wild Fish Conservancy that do valid and well-accepted ground-truthing. • Encourage the use of improved stream-typing databases as best available science in local development regulations. • Action E2.3: Support Shoreline Master Programs (SMP), land use plans, and development regulations that protect water resources critical to salmon habitat • Get involved with and support counties in evaluations of their Shoreline Master Programs (“SMP”), land use plans, and development regulations for effectiveness in protecting shoreline and water resources critical to salmon habitat. • Identify gaps in plans and regulations that fail to protect shoreline or water resources critical to salmon habitat, and support work to amend as appropriate. • Evaluate development trends in each county to determine if salmon-friendly plans and development regulations are in place and implemented. • Collaborate with local jurisdictions to evaluate local consistency with the model FEMA ordinance to ensure compliance with National Flood Insurance Program guidelines while protecting fish habitat.

35. THANK YOU Regional Salmon Plan