Puget Sound PartnershipBuilding the Action Agenda

Expectations for the Workshop

• Review action area profiles• Understand how current local priorities align with

the Partnership’s strategic priorities• Begin to identify existing barriers to

implementation

Initial Strategic Priorities

• Priority A: Ensure that activities and funding are focused on the most urgent and important problems facing the Sound.

• Priority B: Protect the intact ecosystem processes that sustain Puget Sound.

• Priority C: Restore ecosystem processes that will sustain Puget Sound.

• Priority D: Prevent the sources of water pollution.

Physical Description• 4 river systems, 3 out of 5 largest in Puget Sound

– Skagit, Snohomish, Stillaguamish, Samish• Eelgrass beds, feeder bluffs, and pocket estuaries• Skagit Bay, Saratoga Passage, Port Susan and

Possession Sound changing salinity levels• Whidbey, Camano, Fidalgo, and Guemes Islands• Annual precipitation differences, 20-100 inches of

rain annually

Whidbey Basin Action Area Profile

Land Use, Population, Economy•Projected growth rate 30%•Shifting from resource based economies (forestry, fishing, and agricultural) to housing, light industrial, and technology (aerospace)•Largest agricultural producer in Western Washington•Fishing for salmon, crab, and shellfish•Port activities – major shoreline use (Port of Everett)•Tribal lands: Tulalip, Swinomish, Sauk-Suiattle, Upper Skagit, Stillaguamish, and Snoqualmie•Seven designated wilderness areas

Whidbey Basin Action Area Profile

Unique Ecosystem Characteristics and Assets• Major producer of salmon

• Skagit: 6 populations of Chinook, 26 populations of bull trout• Snohomish: largest producer of coho

• Pocket estuaries support juvenile salmon• Major producer of forage fish • Eelgrass beds – among largest in Puget Sound• Migratory area for marine mammals

• Gray whales feed near Camano and Whidbey Islands• Active shellfish culture: mussels, clams, and oysters• Important bird areas: raptors and marine birds

Whidbey Basin Action Area Profile

Ecosystem Stressors• Loss of fish and wildlife habitat

• Historical extensive drainage and diking transformed deltas to farmland, cutting off tidal marshes and channels to wildlife

• Dams: Baker Lake dam caused loss of 60 miles of Chinook habitat• Loss of forest cover – temperature, sedimentation, stream structure, and flows• Shoreline modifications – railroad, bulkheads limit healthy function

• Water quality impairments• Fecal coliform, dissolved oxygen, ammonia, nutrients• Closed shellfish areas and recreational beaches• Failing on-site septic systems

Whidbey Basin Action Area Profile

Status

• June 24th Technical Workshop• New Version Due August 15th

• Comments due back early September

Whidbey Basin Action Area Characterization

______________________

Initial Strategic Priorities

Priority D: Prevent the sources of water pollution.

• What are you currently doing in support of this priority? What are the top priorities?

• What are the local barriers to achieving the priority?

• What else can you do to help the Partnership achieve this priority? How can the Partnership help you achieve this priority in your action area?

Initial Strategic PrioritiesPriority C: Restore ecosystem processes that will

sustain Puget Sound.

• What are you currently doing in support of this priority? What are the top priorities?

• What are the local barriers to achieving the priority?

• What else can you do to help the Partnership achieve this priority? How can the Partnership help you achieve this priority in your action area?

Initial Strategic PrioritiesPriority B: Protect the intact ecosystem processes

that sustain Puget Sound.

• What are you currently doing in support of this priority? What are the top priorities?

• What are the local barriers to achieving the priority?

• What else can you do to help the Partnership achieve this priority? How can the Partnership help you achieve this priority in your action area?

Initial Strategic PrioritiesPriority A: Ensure that activities and funding are focused

on the most urgent and important problems facing the Sound. (That is: Work more effectively and efficiently on priorities.)

• What are you currently doing in support of this priority? What are the top priorities?

• What are the local barriers to achieving the priority?

• What else can you do to help the Partnership achieve this priority? How can the Partnership help you achieve this priority in your action area?

Next Steps

• Build rationale for how to address problems Continue to define the problems in Puget Sound

• Return to action areas and further discussion with implementers in September

• Incorporate local priorities• Identify necessary actions