Snohomish River salmon plan OK'd
The strategy for saving chinook salmon and bull trout in the Snohomish River basin is expected to cost $134 million over 10 years.
TULALIP - After three years of soul searching and story swapping, a diverse group of bureaucrats, farmers and environmentalists say they have reached a $134 million agreement to launch salmon recovery in the Snohomish River basin.
The 38-member Snohomish Basin Salmon Recovery Forum on Thursday unanimously adopted a plan to save chinook salmon and bull trout, two fish species listed as threatened in the Puget Sound region under the federal Endangered Species Act. The forum is made up of residents, farmers, environmentalists, tribal members and city and county officials.
The Snohomish River plan sets goals to recover specific habitats on the river's tributaries, on the main river, in the delta and along the shores of Possession Sound near the mouth of the river, said Martha Neuman, a senior planner for Snohomish County.
Now the forum members just have to figure out how to turn their hard-fought collaborative solutions into actions that will save fish, while also allowing the region to continue growing.
"We used to go out there and see salmon all over," Tulalip Tribes Chairman Stan Jones Sr. told forum members before they adopted the plan. "Now it's your job to restore the salmon."
The recovery plan will be folded into a larger salmon-saving plan being put together for the entire Puget Sound region, said Bill Ruckelshaus, the former U.S. Environmental Protection Agency administrator who is coordinating the effort to stitch 14 river basin recovery plans into one.
"You have shown the rest of the Puget Sound how it can be done," Ruckelshaus told the forum.
Snohomish County Councilman Jeff Sax said the key is to not let the plan gather dust. If it does, the region will end up in court over endangered species recovery.
"This is a high-stakes game of chicken," Sax said.
"There's no middle ground here. Either we're going to move forward to restore salmon and delist the fish, or we're going to end up in the courts."
Here are the highlights of what the recovery plan would do in its first 10 years:
- Restore one mile of shoreline from Mukilteo past the Everett waterfront north to the Tulalip Reservation. About 20 miles of the shoreline are not in good condition for fish, mostly because the beach has been stabilized to support railroad tracks or to protect seaside development. There are 8.4 miles of shoreline habitat still healthy enough to support salmon and trout.
- Restore 1,237 acres of tidal marshland in the lowlands between Everett and Marsyville where salt water mixes with fresh river water. Currently, there are 1,483 acres of tidal marsh.
- Restore 11 miles of riverbank along the Snohomish River and its two main tributaries, the Skykomish and Snoqualmie rivers. There are currently 236 miles of riverbank on the three rivers.
A similar plan is being developed for the Stillaguamish River and is due out next week.
This story courtesy of The Daily Herald (Snohomish):
Snohomish River salmon plan OK'd
