Drafter
Clerk 06/30/2025
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AN ORDINANCE authorizing the executive to enter into interlocal agreements for salmon conservation efforts in the Snoqualmie and South Fork Skykomish Watershed within Water Resource Inventory Area 7, the Lake Washington/Cedar/Sammamish Watershed also known as Water Resource Inventory Area 8, and the Green/Duwamish and Central Puget Sound Watershed also known as Water Resource Inventory Area 9.
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STATEMENT OF FACTS:
1. In response to the 1999 listing of the Puget Sound Chinook salmon under the federal Endangered Species Act, King County and other affected jurisdictions determined that Water Resource Inventory Area-based ("WRIA") salmon conservation planning was a critical and necessary component of efforts to recover species listed as threatened or endangered under the Endangered Species Act and of salmon recovery overall.
2. On October 16, 2000, the King County council passed Motion 11077, authorizing the executive to enter into interlocal agreements between King County and other eligible governmental entities in, respectively, the King County portion of WRIA 7, which is the Snoqualmie and South Fork Skykomish Watershed, WRIA 8, which is the Lake Washington/Cedar/Sammamish Watershed, and WRIA 9, which is the Green/Duwamish and Central Puget Sound Watershed, for the purpose of cooperatively developing, funding, and implementing watershed-based salmon conservation plans, habitat protection and restoration efforts, and other water resource management projects and programs in those watersheds.
3. Watershed-based salmon conservation plans were developed for each of the watersheds and ratified by parties to the interlocal agreements in each of the respective King County watersheds in 2005 and 2006. The plans were approved by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Fisheries as chapters in the overall Puget Sound Salmon Recovery Plan in 2007.
4. King County and affected jurisdictions and partners have been working together since 2001 to implement watershed-based salmon conservation efforts, and, once adopted, the watershed-based salmon conservation plans through extensions to the original interlocal agreements. Those interlocal agreements as extended will expire on December 31, 2025.
5. Much work has been accomplished through the cooperative efforts of partners through the existing interlocal agreements including:
a. thousands of acres have been protected from development through acquisition in fee as well as easements;
b. hundreds of acres of riparian areas have been planted with native vegetation along our rivers and streams;
c. along each of King County's large rivers, levees have been removed where they were no longer needed or have been setback to provide improved habitat function and reduce flood risk;
d. hundreds of acres of floodplain have been reconnected to provide improved habitat and reduce flood risk;
e. thousands of linear feet of marine shoreline and lakeshore have been restored;
f. high-priority programs and outreach projects have been implemented, such as the Salmon SEEson program, which promotes fish viewing opportunities, as well as watershed education in classrooms; and
g. monitoring has been performed that is necessary for tracking implementation and adaptive management measures under the salmon conservation plans, such as monitoring salmon populations trends, habitat trends and project effectiveness.
6. Under each of the interlocal agreements, the participating jurisdictions appointed a representative to take part in a watershed forum for that watershed. The forums include the Snoqualmie Watershed Forum, the WRIA 8 Salmon Recovery Council, and the WRIA 9 Watershed Ecosystem Forum. In each interlocal agreement, King County is designated as the service provider to complete the annual scopes of work agreed upon by the watershed forums.
7. Recognizing that salmon habitat conservation is a long-term endeavor and that significant priority project and program work remains, the Snoqualmie Watershed Forum, the WRIA 8 Salmon Recovery Council, and the WRIA 9 Watershed Ecosystem Forum have prepared, and are presenting for approval to the appropriate partner legislative bodies, including the King County council, new interlocal agreements to cooperatively conduct and oversee watershed-based salmon conservation plan implementation for the years 2026 through 2035.
8. The extraordinary level of interjurisdictional cooperation and productivity achieved through the Snoqualmie Watershed, WRIA 8, and WRIA 9 salmon conservation planning and implementation efforts is expected to continue to be a model for interjurisdictional cooperation under these new interlocal agreements.
BE IT ORDAINED BY THE COUNCIL OF KING COUNTY:
SECTION 1. The King County executive is hereby authorized to enter into interlocal agreements for salmon conservation efforts for the watershed basins within the King County portion of Water Resource Inventory Area 7, which is the Snoqualmie and South Fork Skykomish Watershed, the watershed basins within Water Resource Inventory Area 8, which is the Lake Washington/Cedar/Sammamish Watershed, and the watershed basins within Water Resource Inventory Area 9, which is the Green/Duwamish
and Central Puget Sound Watershed, substantially in the form of Attachments A, B, and C to this ordinance.