WRIA 8 Salmon Recovery Council Meeting Summary

3/15/07

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WRIA 8 Salmon Recovery Council

Meeting Notes

March 15, 2007

Members Present

Don Davidson, Chair (Councilmember, Bellevue); Larry Phillips, Vice-Chair (Councilmember, King County); joan burlingame (Rock Creek Representative, Cedar River Council); Dan Clawson (Councilmember, Renton); Geoff Clayton (Greater Seattle Chamber of Commerce); Richard Conlin (Councilmember, Seattle); Joe Fielding (alternate for Tim Clark, Councilmember, Kent); Ted Frantz (Councilmember, Hunts Point); Ava Frisinger (Mayor, Issaquah); Jean Garber (Mayor, Newcastle); Dave Gossett (Councilmember, Snohomish County); Bill Knutsen (King Conservation District); Kirk Lakey (WA Department of Fish and Wildlife); Jim Lauinger (Mayor, Kirkland); Sinang Lee (WA Department of Ecology); David Orvis (Councilmember, Edmonds); Cleve Steward (Sustainable Fisheries Foundation); Frank Urabeck (Citizen); Cathy VonWald (Mayor, Woodinville); Janet Way (CouncilmemberShoreline).

Others Present

Charles Beck (Snohomish County); Rika Cecil (Shoreline); Diana Forman (Citizen); Jenny Gaus (Kirkland); Jenny Giambattiste (King County); Julie Hall (Seattle); Penny Lewis (Citizen); John Lombard (Sustainable Fisheries Foundation); Sarah Ogier (WRIA 8 Service Provider Representative, King County); Kit Paulsen (Bellevue); Kerry Ritland (Issaquah); Mike Shaw (Mountlake Terrace); David St. John (King County); Ron Straka (Renton); Betty Swift (Citizen); Mary Jorgensen (WRIA 8 Actions and Funding Coordinator); Frank Leonetti (WRIA 8 Technical Coordinator); Jean White (WRIA 8 Watershed Coordinator).

Don Davidson opened the meeting.

Public Comment

There was no public comment.

Welcome New Members & Introductions

Don Davidson introduced new Salmon Recovery Council member Sinang Lee, Department of Ecology, and reported that Meg Mathews, Mid-Sound Fisheries Enhancement Group, will also be sitting on the Council. Dr. Davidson then invited all attendees to introduce themselves.

Updates

Jean White, WRIA 8 Watershed Coordinator, reported that a June 21 meeting has been added to the Council schedule. The purpose of the meeting will be to discuss Salmon Recovery Funding Board (SRFB) and King Conservation District (KCD) project recommendations, as well as to continue the 2008 Work Plan, MOU, and budget discussion from the May 17 meeting as necessary. [Note: Schedule has since changed, SRFB, KCD and Puget Sound Salmon Fund recommendations will be here at the July 19meeting.]

Mary Jorgensen, WRIA 8 Actions and Funding Coordinator, announced that a Salmon Recovery Lead Entities Day will occur Friday, March 23 in the LegislativeBuilding in Olympia. All 26 lead entities in the state are participating. Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW) invited all state legislators to attend, and Mary said we plan to follow-up with an e-mail to WRIA 8 legislators inviting them to visit the WRIA 8 table.

Allocation Guidance for 2007 King Conservation District (KCD)

Mary Jorgensen reviewed the May 2006 guidance for KCD funding and the Project Subcommittee’s 2006 project funding recommendations. The WRIA 8 Forum’s 2006 guidelines were: 2/3 or 67% for Site-specific Projects; ¼ or 25% to Monitoring, Education and Outreach; and 1/12 or 8% Discretionary Fund. The Discretionary Fund was created to provide flexibility to the WRIA 8 Project Subcommittee to balance funds between categories based on submitted project applications.

The Project Subcommittee’s 2006 recommendations came out close to the guidelines: 72% ($1,050,600) for Site-specific Projects; 20% ($293,398) for Monitoring (fish in/fish out), Education & Outreach; and 8% ($141,028) for the Discretionary Fund, for a total of $1,485,028.The Project Subcommittee used the Discretionary Fund in 2006 to recommend the following applications for funding: Zacusse Creek, the Beach Naturalists Program, Lakeshore Salmon Friendly Design Guide, and the Salmon Watchers. The final 2006 allocation of funds (once the applications that fell into the Discretionary Fund were categorized by type of application) was 72% ($1,080,600) to Site-specific Projects, and 28% ($404,134) to Monitoring, Education & Outreach.

The Implementation Committee is recommending the same guidelines for 2007: 2/3 or 67% ($890,000) for Site-specific; ¼ or 25% ($334,000) for Monitoring, Education & Outreach; and 1/12 or 8% ($111,000) for the Discretionary Fund, out of an estimated KCD total of $1,335,000.

The Salmon Recovery Council unanimously approved allocation guidance for 2007 King Conservation District project funding.

Approval of February 15 Salmon Recovery Council Meeting Notes

The Salmon Recovery Council unanimously approved the February 15, 2007meeting notes.

Finalize Salmon Recovery Council Operating Guidelines

Jean White reported that the Operating Guidelines have been revised per the decisions at last month’s Salmon Recovery Council meeting. The purpose statement now reflects the intent of the WRIA 8 Salmon Recovery Council to start with Chinook, but also help other salmon species, and it says the Council’s efforts are part of the regional salmon recovery efforts for Chinook. The Operating Guidelines now detail the limitations on voting by non-elected alternates, and the revised/added duties of the Chair and Vice Chair.

The Salmon Recovery Council unanimously approved the Salmon Recovery Council Operating Guidelines.

Election of WRIA 8 Leadership Positions

Chair and Vice Chair:

Jean Garber announced that Don Davidson is the sole nominee for the Chair position, and Larry Phillips is the sole nominee for Vice Chair. No other Salmon Recovery Council members have expressed interest in the positions. Mayor Garber also explained that non-elected Council stakeholders can be nominees for the Vice Chair, and she asked if any stakeholders are interested. (No stakeholders indicated an interest.)

Bellevue Councilmember Don Davidson was elected Chair, and King County Councilmember Larry Phillips was elected Vice Chair of the Salmon Recovery Council.

Don Davidson thanked the Council, and said he is dedicated to making salmon recovery happen. Larry Phillips also expressed his appreciation for being selected to the Vice Chair position. Mayor Garber remarked that we are glad to have both of you.

Management Committee:

Jean Garber said she will not be participating on the Management Committee for 2007. The Management Committee is comprised of elected officials or their designees. 2006 Management Committee members who are interested in continuing to serve are:
  • Councilmember Richard Conlin (Seattle)
  • Councilmember Don Davidson (Bellevue)
  • Councilmember Dave Gossett (SnohomishCounty)
  • Mayor Laure Iddings (MapleValley)
  • Councilmember Larry Phillips (KingCounty)

Mayor Garber asked if there were any other elected officials who would like to serve on the Management Committee. (No one indicated an interest.)

The Management Committee will be comprised of Councilmember Richard Conlin (Seattle), Councilmember Don Davidson (Bellevue), Councilmember Dave Gossett (SnohomishCounty), Mayor Laure Iddings (MapleValley), and Councilmember Larry Phillips (KingCounty)

Puget Sound Salmon Recovery Council:

Councilmember Don Davidson is the current WRIA 8 representative to the Puget Sound Salmon Recovery Council, and he will continue on in that position.

Salmon Recovery Funding Board (SRFB) Round 8 & 2007 Updates for the Three Year Work Plan

Mary Jorgensen announced that SRFB will be setting the 2007 target allocation for the Puget Sound Region, but at this point we aren’t sure if it will be based on the historical allocation or the Puget Sound Partnership’s allocation. WRIA 8 received $430,000 in 2006. SRFB project application forms are available in April, pre-proposals are due and site visits will occur in May, and the Salmon Recovery Council reviews recommendations in June. Recommended projects are forwarded to Shared Strategy/SRFB in September, projects are reviewed by the SRFB Review Panel in October, and grant decisions are made in December.

Mary reported that Shared Strategy has requested the first annual update to the 3-Year Work Plan be submitted in April, with approval by the Puget Sound Salmon Recovery Council expected in May. The WRIA 8 Steering Committee established guiding principles for the 3-Year Work Plan at the April 6, 2006 meeting, which included securing high risk populations, adding actions for North Lake Washington and Issaquah Creek, responding to Technical Recovery Team and NOAA supplemental, using “Treatment” results from EDT, and adding adaptive management and monitoring. The 2007 update process involves using EDT-modeled projects and Technical Committee recommendations to add Issaquah restoration projects, revising the work plan due to changes in feasibility, and flood flows and impacts that are different spatially, clarifying monitoring (cumulative, direct, and validation monitoring; improving monitoring and tracking), and revising the narrative to add hatchery and harvest placeholder sections (we need more input from the co-managers), and updating sequencing and H-integration.

Discussion:

▪Cleve Steward commented that the dollar amount in the Puget Sound Salmon Recovery Fund is likely to be the same as last year.

▪joan burlingame talked about how damaging the November 2006 flood was to Cedar River salmon and wondered if we need to revisit our conservation strategy and make flood refuge areas like tributaries a higher priority.

▪Kirk Lakey commented that there are twenty local watershed leads, and clarified that the deadlines for H-integration are Shared Strategy’s and not the co-managers’. Chinook are mostly mainstem fish and do not generally use tributary habitat.

▪joan burlingame noted that WDFW data show fish use in Rock Creek with appropriate flows.

▪Larry Phillips said he is concerned about adding projects to the list when we do not have enough funding for the projects currently on the list. Urban areas keep losing ground on funding. We need to be sure we are doing the highest priority projects.

▪Don Davidson explained that with the Puget Sound regional allocation urban watersheds are losing ground. Puget Sound’s SRFB share is dropping from 60% to 45%, and there is a lack of criteria for a scientific allocation. WRIA 9 has really been hurt by the Puget Sound regional allocation.

▪Cleve Steward questioned how we can evaluate project/sponsors more effectively to heighten the likelihood of funding.

▪Don Davidson said that we will see the 3-year list at the next meeting. Can correct it if we have concerns. Asked the WRIA 8 Technical Committee to look into the issue of mainstem flooding and report back to the Council.

The Salmon Recovery Council unanimously approved the approach for updating the 3-Year Work Plan.

WRIA 8 Role in Kokanee Conservation

David St. John, KingCounty said that County Executive Ron Sims continues to have a strong interest in Kokanee. Tomorrow is the seven year anniversary of the proposal to list Kokanee under the Endangered Species Act. He reported that early run Kokanee are extinct, so the Kokanee Technical Committee’s efforts are now focused on supporting the late run Kokanee. We need to act soon if we are to save the late run Kokanee.

Discussion:

▪Don Davidson noted that Kokanee is not in our WRIA 8 work plan. He said key jurisdictions (Issaquah, Bellevue, Sammamish, KingCounty) should mobilize and secure an agreement to work on Kokanee conservation together and report back the WRIA 8 Salmon Recovery Council.

▪Ava Frisinger explained that Issaquah is collaborating with Save Lake Sammamish to do smolt and fry trapping in LewisCreek, which is a Kokanee producer. This is something that Issaquah is very supportive of, and she said we are happy to work with Bellevue and take this out of this Council.

▪Don Davidson commented that Bellevue has upper LewisCreek. We need a formal process to address Kokanee. Later in adaptive management, WRIA 8 may be able to address other species, but need to focus on Chinook now.

▪Kirk Lakey reported that WDFW is working on a stock management plan and helping with monitoring. There is also a KCD project on Zacuse Creek. Habitat is the issue, and WDFW can only go so far with monitoring and stock management. He said there may be a petition to list late run Kokanee.

▪Geoff Clayton mentioned that the business coalition supports a strategy focused on Chinook. If we get into orcas, Steelhead, Kokanee, then they will be competing against each other. Rather than revise our plan for those species, we should stay focused on Chinook. Don Davidson said that would save staff time and trying to get through the process with Chinook.

▪Frank Urabeck supported keeping the WRIA 8 focus on Chinook and Don Davidson’s proposal to have the jurisdictions with Kokanee habitat work together and report back to the Council.

Introduce WRIA 8 Budget & Workplan

Jean White provided a heads-up on the upcoming 2008 budget process. She said she assumes we will stay with the status quo cost share amount of $501,063 plus the $60,000 WDFW Lead Entity Grant for a total amount of $561,063. In 2006 the Forum chose to direct the balance (after staff/ overhead, and operations expenditures, which includes $56,000 for a communications consultant) of $59,714 to monitoring. Questions to consider for this 2008 budget round are: 1)Do we want to continue to fund a communications consultant? 2) Do we want to fund monitoring?

Discussion:

▪Janet Way remarked that communications to the public and messaging are very important. $56,000 is not a lot of money for communications.

Committee Reports

Technical Committee:

Frank Leonetti, WRIA 8 Technical Coordinator, reported that the Technical Committee is working on an extension of work from 2006, including reviewing the 3-Year Work Plan update, H-Integration with the co-managers and a WRIA 8 monitoring proposal. The committee is also reviewing a technical memo fromMobrand, Jones & Stokes giving EDT Model results from analysis of 50 actions from the WRIA 8 Start List and will be able to report on these results at the May or June WRIA 8 Salmon Recovery Council meeting.

Implementation Committee:

Jean White reported on the Implementation Committee’s March meeting. The first part of the meeting focused on Shoreline Master Plan (SMP) updates and lake shore restoration efforts. Jurisdictions working on their updates were given a summary of WRIA 8 Plan recommendations relating to SMPs.Several entities working on lakeshore restoration projects. Presentations were given by: University of Washington (UW) graduate students who are surveying shoreline property owners about alternative shoreline techniques; NOAA Fisheries wants to restore its Lake Washington shoreline and use it as a demonstration site; and Seattle Public Utilities (SPU) is planning a demonstration project on private property and is also surveying shoreline property owners. This topic will be discussed again by the Implementation Committee this summer when the UW team and SPU have survey results to share. The second part of the meeting was more of a working session on how to develop a strategic strategy to implement the WRIA 8 Plan and how to develop a reporting/tracking mechanism for implementation. They decided to form a subcommittee to work these topics.

Success Story: Following Juvenile Chinook Salmon Through Lake Washington & Ship Canal

Julie Hall, City of Seattle, explained during her presentation the benefits of the juvenile salmon tracking information, which is being used to help with GasworksPark projects, and will help with the management of the Locks.

Adjournment

The next meeting is May 17, 3:30 to 5:30 pm.