Feds back plan to save Sound's salmon
WASHINGTON – The Bush administration has tentatively endorsed a 10-year, $1.2 billion plan developed by a coalition of local groups to rebuild dwindling chinook salmon runs along Puget Sound.
After a six-month internal review, the National Marine Fisheries Service is seeking public comment on the recovery plan that covers 14 watersheds along the Sound, including the Nisqually and Puyallup rivers.
"This plan is certainly unusual – if not unique – in that it was generated almost totally from the local level," said Brian Gorman, a spokesman for the fisheries service in Seattle.
On a watershed-by-watershed basis, the 502-page plan focuses on preserving the existing habitat that salmon need to survive and on restoring lost habitat. It’s heavy on guidelines and goals, and light on specific fixes.
Puget Sound chinook salmon were listed for protection under the federal Endangered Species Act in 1999. The coalition, known as Shared Strategy, has been working on a plan since then.
Today, the Sound has 22 chinook runs. Scientists believe at least 15 others have gone extinct. The salmon returning to spawn number about only 10 percent of historic levels and, in some watersheds, only 1 percent.
The effort to restore the chinook runs comes as the human population swells.
The Puget Sound region is expected to grow by about 1 million people in the next 15 years – or roughly the equivalent of adding a metropolitan area the size of Portland.
Recovery plans for endangered species are typically written by federal agencies with varying levels of local participation.
The plans often are controversial, and many end up being challenged in court.
In an effort to avoid those pitfalls, state and local government officials formed the Shared Strategy coalition.
Among those involved in writing the salmon recovery plan were federal, state, tribal and local governments; members of the business community; representatives from the agriculture and timber industries; environmental and conservation groups; and private property owners.
Local officials say they aren’t surprised the National Marine Fisheries Service endorsed the plan.
"We expected it," said William Ruckelshaus, a former head of the federal Environmental Protection Agency who has helped spearhead the effort to restore Puget Sound salmon runs. “Having them participate from the beginning was essential."
Ruckelshaus said the key was having all sides involved.
"When we started it was very stiff, accusatory," he said. "A lot of these groups have been in court. But then they start to listen to each other."
Continue reading this story from the Tacoma News Tribune:
Feds back plan to save Sound’s salmon
