| The
Shared Strategy |
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The
Shared Strategy is a groundbreaking collaborative effort
working to restore salmon runs in Puget Sound. Our goal
is to build a cost-effective salmon recovery plan endorsed
by the people living and working in the watersheds of
Puget Sound. Shared Strategy is about more than fish.
Salmon recovery is also about supporting sustainable
growth and prosperous timber, fishing, recreation and
agricultural economies.
We
are proud to live in a place that has so many people
with the creativity, knowledge, and motivation to find
lasting solutions to complex ecological, economic, and
cultural challenges. Together we are creating the future
we want for our communities. We are leaving a legacy
that restores and protects our watersheds while promoting
economic prosperity and maintaining community and cultural
vitality.
 We
appreciate your interest in the Shared Strategy for
Puget Sound. Visit
our website for more information, or feel
free to call us to give us your views and comments at
(206) 447-3336.
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Army
and Tribe Work Together to Restore Salmon Habitat
on Military Base
The
Nisqually tribe and the army work together to
restore streamside vegetation and help fish habitat
along Muck
Creek, a major tributary to the Nisqually River that
flows through prairie land in the heart of the Fort
Lewis Army base.
Read
about it at...
Jimmycomelately
Restoration Proves that Salmon Recovery Actions Do
Benefit People and Fish
Jimmycomelately
Creek just outside Sequim Washington had not worked
for fish or people for a long time.
Over the years it had been straightened creating
flood problems on Highway 101 and surrounding properties
between Blyn and Sequim and it no longer served as
good summer chum habitat. Now after six years of
hard
work by County, tribal, state, private and federal
cooperators, Jimmycomelately’s creek bed meanders
again and will soon be back in its original shape.
Aside from possibly being the largest meandering
stream restoration project in western Washington,
the connected
estuarine and floodplain habitat are also in the
process of being restored.
Read
the entire story…
Please
see the guidelines
for story contributions for
the types of stories we would like to highlight.
Send your ideas to Jagoda Perich-Anderson at jagodapa@sharedsalmonstrategy.org,
or call at 206-447-8667.
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Elwha/Dungeness
Watersheds—profile posted this
week!
South
Puget Sound Describes Nearshore Stressors on Salmon
The
habitat committee of the South Puget Sound Salmon
Recovery Group (SPSSRG) has developed a way of describing
complex ecosystem relationships and how they relate
to salmon in conceptual models that will make it
easier to identify the primary activities they should
focus
on in their salmon recovery chapter.
Read
the entire story…
Stillaguamish
Watershed Chooses “Ambitious Alternative”
It’s
better to invest in recovery now and make a clear
commitment to salmon habitat restoration, the
members of the Stillaguamish Implementation Review
Committee (SIRC) decided. SIRC is the local stakeholder
planning group for the Stillaguamish watershed salmon
recovery chapter. The local planning effort is co-lead
by Snohomish County and the Stillaguamish Tribe.
The
group believes that salmon recovery actions will
only get more expensive and difficult to implement
in the future given the projected population growth
in the watershed, so it is more cost-effective to take
aggressive action in the first 10 years of the plan.
With that, the SIRC chose its most ambitious planning
alternative by consensus.
Read
the entire story… This
section highlights news from a few watersheds each
month. Send newsworthy items to Jagodapa@sharedsalmonstrategy.org.
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Shared
Strategy Development Committee Task Force Begins
Work on Financing Strategy
The
Shared Strategy Development Committee (Committee)
formed a task force to do the preliminary work of developing
a salmon recovery financing strategy.
“It’s not too early to begin thinking
about how recovery actions will be funded,” Jagoda
Perich-Anderson, Shared Strategy Associate Director,
explained to the Committee when she requested that
they form this task force. “There is a lot we
can do before we receive cost estimates from the watersheds
to assess current and potential sources of salmon funds
and form ideas about different funding scenarios,” she
said. “This way, we’ll hit the ground running
when we do get cost estimates from watersheds this
summer.”
The
Committee agreed, reconfirming their commitment to
help with the regional level work to ensure plan
implementation.
Read
the entire story…
Bipartisan
Support for Salmon Funding
Last
month, a bipartisan group of Western senators
[Sens. Mike Crapo (R-Idaho), Larry Craig (R-Idaho),
Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.), Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.),
Patty Murray (D-Wash.) and Ron Wyden (D-Ore.)] sent
a letter urging support to continue funding Pacific
salmon recovery efforts. The letter went to the Appropriations
Committee Chairman Ted Stevens (R-Alaska), ranking
member Sen. Robert Byrd (D-W.Va.) and the chairman
and ranking member of the Commerce-Justice-State
Appropriations Subcommittee. A companion House bill
signed by a bipartisan
group of Representatives followed shortly after.
"These funds have been used well and effectively," the
senators wrote. "Each eligible state, including
Idaho, which was included for the first time in FY
2004, has established habitat restoration programs
that simultaneously advance fish recovery and promote
face-to-face deliberations among the many competing
interests in this issue."
The FY '05 Senate budget resolution calls for $100
million for Pacific salmon recovery, the same as the
Bush administration's FY '05 budget request.
Scientists Urge Investment in Salmon
On
March 26, 2004, the Seattle Times published a guest
editorial on why it is wise to invest in Pacific
Northwest salmon stocks. Three scientists involved
in the Shared
Strategy process authored the article: Mary Ruckelshaus,
research scientist with NOAA Fisheries Northwest
Fisheries Science Center and Chair of the Puget Sound
Technical
Recovery Team, Nathan Mantua, research scientist
with the Climate Impacts Group at the University
of Washington,
and Robert Francis, professor UW School of Aquatic
and Fishery Sciences. The scientists make a good
case for why counting fish numbers is not sufficient
in
itself to know how salmon are doing. They use the
analogy of investing in the stock market as a way
to explain
why it is important to pay attention to other criteria
that indicate salmon health.
Read
the article…
Cascade
Dialogues to Guide Regional Conservation Vision
Through
a four county regional effort to build a conservation
plan spanning both sides of the Cascades, comes the
Cascade Dialogues. This series of panel discussions
and community forums will include elected officials,
and environmental, business and civic leaders, who
are all key stakeholders in shaping this region’s
growth, economic development and ecological well-being.
Initiated by Cascade Land Conservancy, the intention
of these regional conversations is to bring together
a cross-section of community members to discuss and
create a new conservation agenda for the region’s
next 100 years.
This spring, the Cascade Dialogues will host a series
of town hall meetings and panel discussions in King,
Kittitas, Pierce, and Snohomish counties. At these
meetings neighbors, small farmers, and tribal members
from the surrounding communities will come together
to discuss the conservation of their local and regional
landscapes. Members of the Cascade Dialogues Steering
Committee will attend these county-wide meetings to
gather input and guidance in developing a strategic
vision and action plant to preserve and restore urban,
rural and wild landscapes and open space throughout
the region.
More
information about the Cascade Dialogues and dates
for upcoming Town Hall Meetings can be found at www.cascadedialogues.org or
call 206-292-5907.
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Characterization
of Puget Sound Agriculture
The
first of a three-part research study is available.
Characterization of Puget Sound Agriculture looks at
region wide trends affecting Puget Sound farms. Included
is a description of downward trends resulting in decreased
profitability, rising trends offering solutions to
profitability problems, and a discussion of how salmon
advocates can
promote the economic viability of farming in the development
and implementation of salmon recovery plans.
Research has begun on Part 2 of the study, Agriculture
in the Watersheds. Further interviews and research
will elucidate agricultural issues specific to watersheds
in Puget Sound and the relationship between agriculture
and salmon recovery efforts.
Part
3, Agricultural
Incentive Program Recommendations research
is also underway. This report will identify existing
agricultural incentive programs in use in
the Puget Sound region, in Washington State, and elsewhere
in the country. Included will be an evaluation of the
constraints to implement promising incentives, including
funding, communications, and policy obstacles. Finally,
recommendations on improving the availability of promising
incentive programs in the Puget Sound region will be
presented to the Shared Strategy Development Committee.
Download
the report…
Draft
EIS on Harvest Management
A
Draft Environmental Impact Statement (Draft EIS)
evaluating effects of Washington State and the
Puget Sound Treaty Tribes harvest management
is now available
for public review and comment. The harvest management is described in
a joint State/Tribal fisheries management plan. The
plan encompasses commercial,
recreational, ceremonial, and subsistence salmon
fisheries potentially affecting ESA-listed
Puget Sound chinook. You
may view the entire document or portions of it
electronically on the Internet. http://www.nwr.noaa.gov/1sustfsh/salmon/SharvEIS.htm
You
may request a printed copy or a compact disk (CD)
from:
Susan
Bishop
NOAA's National Marine Fisheries Service
e-mail: susan.bishop@noaa.gov
telephone: (206) 526-4587
How
to Create a Rain Garden
Check
out a copy of the City of Bellingham and Puget
Sound Action Team's Reining in the Rain new publication.
The 12-page book is a case study of the City of
Bellingham's use of rain gardens to manage stormwater
runoff in
parking lots. Rain gardens are natural or created
depressions planted to look similar to gardens
and are used to detain and filter stormwater.
The case study includes instructions to create
rain gardens, architectural drawings, and cost
comparisons
between conventional in-ground water storage and
treatment systems compared to rain gardens. Learn
how the City
of Bellingham saved 75 to 80 percent in construction
costs using this low impact development approach
to redevelop existing property in a manner that
protects
Puget Sound waterways.
For
a copy of the book, visit
the website or call (800) 54-SOUND.
Stillaguamish
Watershed Shares Its Forestry Policy Analysis for
Salmon Recovery Planning
The
Stillaguamish Implementation Review Committee (SIRC)
published a document summarizing how the forestry
sector is responding to the need for salmon habitat
protection
and restoration in the Stillaguamish watershed (Stilly).
The document provides an overview of the existing
policy and regulatory framework for private, state,
and federal
forestland management and its relationship to salmon
habitat. As such, even with Stilly specific policy
issues in it, the SIRC thought it could prove useful
to other watersheds for whom forestry is an important
land use to address in their plans, and they offer
this report in the spirit of collegiality to their
Shared Strategy counterparts.
Download
the report… NW
Sustainability Conference
Hosted
by the Northwest Environmental Education Council
May 1–2, 2004 — Seattle, Washington
This conference is an opportunity to learn
about recent developments in sustainability
practices. It is intended
for anyone interested in learning about creating
a more sustainable world. The conference
will focus on
choices that we as individuals can make in our everyday
lives to create change in society.
If you mention your affiliation to Share Strategy
for Puget Sound on the registration page you will receive
a 20% discount off of the regular conference registration
fee.
Conference Site: http://www.nweec.org/sustainability.htm
Contact: Eloise Russo at erusso@nwetc.org
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Key
Dates 
