Protecting and Restoring Our Salmon
The Puget Sound Chinook salmon are now listed as an endangered species, and we expect other species to be listed in the near future. King, Snohomish, and Pierce Counties have created a regional Tri-County effort of governments, businesses, federally recognized tribes, environmentalists and other stakeholders to develop a science-based conservation plan that identifies immediate actions and commits to a long-term conservation plan process. King County's strategy for the long-term conservation and recovery of the Chinook salmon, Return of the Kings, was submitted to the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) in March, 1999 and illustrates both immediate and longer-term commitments to salmon recovery through a description of past, continuing, and immediate conservation actions.

What We've Done:

• Increased enforcement: Eight additional inspectors were hired to enforce King County's development regulations.

• Habitat acquisition and restoration: King County has several projects underway to acquire and protect key salmon habitat, including over $1 million in habitat acquisition on the Cedar River and an extensive habitat restoration of a fish passage on Gold Creek. These projects were part of a $5 million package to purchase key salmon habitat as prioritized by a citizen advisory panel. King County is also working on a project at the Porter Levee on the Green River to re-open a side channel that will restore critical salmon habitat.

• Protection of sensitive areas: The Executive's proposed revision to the Sensitive Areas Ordinance (SAO) has been transmitted to the County Council, and is under review by the Growth Management Committee. The new code makes it easier for community groups to undertake stream and wetland restoration/enhancement projects, clarifies when increased buffers may be required during development to protect particularly sensitive natural resources, and takes a closer look at pesticide use in sensitive areas. The revised code makes it easier for both landowners and regulators to understand what's required, increasing implementation and compliance, and the "Public Agency and Utilities Exemption" process is eliminated so that public entities undergo the same review process as private persons.

• Road construction projects: The 1999 road construction season has been complicated by the ESA listing and the requirement (under Section 7) that any project funded by the Federal government be reviewed by the NMFS. King County anticipated this by creating a panel of scientists to review our proposed roads projects. This panel recommended changes to our roads projects before they were submitted to NMFS. As a result, King County will be able to proceed with more projects than other jurisdictions. King County has 35 construction projects that were scheduled for construction this year; of those, 10 have been approved, 14 are being reviewed, and 11 are delayed until next year.

What We're Doing:

• Immediate conservation actions: King County and NMFS are discussing eight issues that can have an immediate and positive impact on salmon recovery. The issues are: increased enforcement of development regulations, critical areas ordinance and regulations, State Environmental Policy Act (SEPA), roads maintenance practices, long-term watershed planning, stormwater management, shoreline management, and pesticide and herbicide management.

• Long-term salmon recovery planning: King County is initiating a long-term salmon recovery planning process in the Green/Duwamish and Lake Washington/Cedar/Sammamish watersheds. In addition to leading a regional Tri-County effort to craft and implement immediate conservation actions, King County is staffing the long-term, watershed-based, salmon recovery effort.

• The 2000 Update of the Comprehensive Plan: King County is working with the Watershed Planning Committees and other stakeholders to incorporate as many ESA related changes as possible in the major 2000 Comprehensive Plan update. Proposed revisions may include the placement of management zones adjacent to fish-bearing rivers and streams, policy guidance for enhanced regulations to protect the species and possible changes to zoning.

For More Information:
Please contact Christie True, (206) 684-1236.

Updated: May 22, 2000