IMPLEMENTATION STRATEGIES

Implementation Strategies (Strategies) are plans for accelerating progress toward the 2020 ecosystem recovery targets for the Puget Sound Vital Signs. The Strategies are developed collaboratively with technical, professional, and policy experts and with local and regional input. An overview of the Strategies is available at the Encyclopedia of Puget Sound website.

Each Strategy accomplishes the following

  • Identifies priority near-term (4-6 years) approaches—including strategies, actions, and program and policy changes—for achieving a specific recovery target
  • Identifies priority pressures affecting the associated Vital Sign and key barriers to achieving the recovery target
  • Identifies key uncertainties and associated research and monitoring priorities
  • Identifies adaptive management elements, processes, and decision makers
  • Identifies benefits or trade-offs to human wellbeing
  • Identifies key geographic areas associated with the recovery target
  • Estimates the costs of putting recovery priorities into practice
  • Assesses and combines elements of local and regional recovery efforts, ongoing programs, Near Term Actions from the Puget Sound Action Agenda, and results from the Puget Sound Pressure Assessment
  • Builds on existing knowledge and lessons learned from previous and current recovery efforts

Implementation Strategies are developed by use of a results-based (adaptive) management framework for Puget Sound recovery. This framework is founded on the Open Standards for the Practice of Conservation. LEARN MORE

The following Strategies are currently being implemented or are ready for implementation:

  • Estuaries
  • Shellfish beds
  • Floodplains
  • Land development and cover
  • Chinook salmon
  • Shoreline armoring
  • Benthic Index of Biotic Integrity (B-IBI) (one of three indicators for the Freshwater Quality Vital Sign)
  • Toxics in fish
  • Marine water quality

Based on the Regional Priorities defined by the Leadership Council for the 2018-2022 Action Agenda, the next Vital Sign to be addressed by an Implementation Strategy is Summer Stream Flows. Preparatory work on this Vital Sign has begun, including the compilation of existing Vital Sign-related and other Puget Sound-wide planning and analysis products that will form the technical basis for the IS, will be used as reference throughout IS content development, and will likely serve as references for future updates to the IS.
Additionally, adaptive management of existing implementation strategies will look include more connections among existing strategies, ongoing Near Term Actions, and ongoing programs that are working to support Puget Sound recovery.

WHO DEVELOPS IMPLEMENTATION STRATEGIES?

The first five Strategies were developed under the leadership of the Partnership with support from the EPA and the Puget Sound Institute (PSI). Following lessons learned from the first Implementation Strategy pilot project, which addressed the recovery target for the Eelgrass Vital Sign, the Partnership convened interdisciplinary teams (IDTs) of partners from 2015-2016 to develop four more Implementation Strategies addressing recovery targets for estuaries, shellfish beds, floodplains, and land development and cover. This Partnership-led team also produced common guidelines for developing new Strategies.

As the EPA’s Puget Sound National Estuary Program has shifted to relying more heavily on Implementation Strategies to guide investments in Puget Sound recovery, the Habitat, Shellfish, and Stormwater Strategic Initiative (SI) Leads have taken on greater responsibility for managing Implementation Strategies. SI Lead duties include:

  • Developing new Strategies
  • Completing existing Strategies
  • Adaptively managing all Strategies within the purview of the SI Leads.

As the regional recovery organization for salmon, the Partnership continues to lead and manage implementation of the Chinook Salmon Implementation Strategy.

The SI Leads are supported by the Partnership, the Puget Sound Institute (PSI), the EPA and many other partners in developing, reviewing, and updating the Strategies. The Partnership and PSI ensure that Strategy development is consistent enough to support cross-Strategy integration and that Strategies are grounded in sound science.

Additional information on the Implementation Strategies and Strategic Initiatives can be found here: Strategic Initiatives of the Puget Sound National Estuary Program.

How are Lead Integrating Organizations involved in Strategy development?

The Local Integrating Organizations (LIOs) provide important content to the Strategies in the following ways:

  • Participate in Strategy development, which is a collaborative undertaking.
  • Provide LIO ecosystem recovery plans. The plans are instrumental in providing watershed-specific context to the developing Strategy.

IMPLEMENTATION STRATEGY RESOURCES AVAILABLE

Strategies associated with the Habitat Strategic Initiative:

Strategies associated with the Shellfish Strategic Initiative:

Strategies associated with the Stormwater Strategic Initiative:

Strategies managed by the Puget Sound Partnership

Additional information about the Strategies and related Puget Sound recovery efforts is managed and publicly available in Miradi Share™, an online database that supports development, monitoring, and sharing of information among conservation practitioners, project and program managers, and funders. Miradi project files for all completed Strategies are available in the links below. Most projects are publicly viewable without a Miradi account. For more details and the ability to download project information files, go to www.MiradiShare.org and create a free account. For access questions, please contact Wessyl Kelly at wessyl.kelly@psp.wa.gov.

Last updated: 4/28/2026

CONTACT

    For general questions about Implementation Strategies:

    Robb Krehbiel,
    robb.krehbiel@psp.wa.gov

    For questions about specific Implementation Strategies, see contact information for each Implementation Strategy.