Aug. 12, 2008

Big chinook salmon return highlights need to continue watershed recovery efforts

Chinook salmon that were born in the Lake Washington/Cedar/Sammamish Watershed and have spent the past few years roaming the open ocean are moving back through the U.S. Corps of Engineers' Hiram Chittenden Locks in Ballard to freshwater spawning grounds as they begin the final stretch of their migration. The fish ladder at the locks is the lone pathway home for returning fish.

Biologists predict that for the second year in a row, the federally protected fish are expected to return in strong numbers that have been seen just a few times since the 1960s.

This year, more than 26,000 chinook are expected to move through the locks toward spawning grounds in the Cedar and Sammamish river watersheds. Last year more than 31,000 chinook poured through to the locks on their way to the spawning grounds, including an estimated 1,730 to the Cedar River – the highest return since 1970.

That's good news for the local governments, citizens, community groups, state and federal agencies and businesses that are working together to implement a watershed-wide chinook recovery plan that was approved last year by NOAA Fisheries as part of the overall Puget Sound Chinook Recovery Plan.

Puget Sound chinook salmon were listed under the Endangered Species Act in 1999. In response a chinook conservation plan was developed and ratified by 27 local governments in the Lake Washington/ Cedar/ Sammamish Watershed, including King and Snohomish counties, the City of Seattle, and 24 other cities.

The plan includes actions to protect and improve habitat in the watershed, including site-specific habitat protection and restoration activities, land use and planning recommendations and outreach and education actions.

""We have a great collaborative effort in this watershed to protect and restore critical salmon habitat," said Jean White, Lake Washington/Cedar/ Sammamish Watershed Coordinator. "Much more needs to be done if we are to be successful in saving salmon, but we are making progress and this strong return of Chinook salmon is great news. It gives us hope and inspiration that we can succeed."

"As the most populated watershed in the state, the Lake Washington watershed is the test case of whether salmon and people can live together," said Don Davidson, Chair of the WRIA 8 Salmon Recovery Council and Councilmember for the City of Bellevue. "If we can recover salmon here, we can recover Puget Sound. We can have both economic growth and environmental protection, but people have to work at it."

Recovery efforts are well under way throughout the watershed. Nearly 100 restoration grant projects were completed between 1999 and 2005. In the last two years, 14 high-priority habitat projects were completed, and 44 more are under way.

"Finding long-term, stable funding for salmon recovery efforts and monitoring is a priority," White said. "Meeting the WRIA 8 plan's funding goals will require increased effort to find new funding sources and strategic use of existing funding."

There is some good news on funding, such as the doubling of local King Conservation District funds and state Puget Sound Initiative funding received in 2007, but other important funding sources have either declined or have failed to materialize.

There is also good news on land use and planning activities to protect the health of streams. Almost all participating local governments have updated their Critical Areas or Sensitive Areas ordinances. Ten jurisdictions have groundwater protection efforts, and 12 have programs promoting water conservation. Seven local governments are actively promoting low-impact development, and eight more plan to begin programs in 2008.

"These efforts are critical, because the way we use land and water affects water quality and quantity, stream banks, and shorelines that are critical for fish survival," Davidson said.

White said that education activities to engage the public to help protect salmon are also a priority. There are several joint public education efforts such as "Salmon SEEson," a campaign to promote fall salmon viewing opportunities around the watershed. Other education efforts by participating local governments include promoting stormwater best management practices, offering volunteer events to raise awareness about forest cover and riparian vegetation, and encouraging the use of commercial car washes.

To learn more about how chinook salmon are doing, and what actions are being taken to recover salmon, see the recently published Lake Washington/Cedar/Sammamish Watershed Implementation Progress Report 2006-2007. The report is available online at http://www.govlink.org/watersheds/8/.