Drafter
Clerk 10/10//2006
Title
AN ORDINANCE authorizing the King County executive to enter into an interlocal agreement for the watershed basins within Water Resource Inventory Area 8, and an interlocal agreement for the Green River, Duwamish and Central Puget Sound watersheds within the geographic planning area of Water Resource Inventory Area 9, which includes portions of Water Resource Inventory Areas 8, 10 and 15.
Body
BE IT ORDAINED BY THE COUNCIL OF KING COUNTY:
SECTION 1. Findings:
A. In response to the 1999 listing of the Puget Sound Chinook salmon under the Endangered Species Act ("ESA"), King County and other affected jurisdictions determined that Watershed Resource Inventory Area ("WRIA")-based salmon conservation planning was a critical and necessary component of ESA compliance and of salmon recovery overall.
B. On October 16, 2000, the King County council adopted Motion 2000-0573, authorizing the executive to enter into three interlocal agreements between King County and other eligible governmental entities in, respectively, WRIAs 7, 8 and 9, for the purpose of cooperatively developing and funding watershed-based salmon recovery plans and other water resource management projects and programs in the King County portion of WRIA 7 (Snoqualmie and South Fork Skykomish watersheds), in WRIA 8 (Lake Washington/Cedar/Sammamish watersheds) and in WRIA 9 (Green/Duwamish watershed).
C. Under each of the agreements, the participating jurisdictions appointed one representative to take part in a watershed forum for that WRIA, which acted as the governing body for the activities undertaken under each respective agreement. In each agreement, King County was designated as the service provider to complete the annual scopes of work agreed upon by the watershed forums.
D. Upon execution of the agreements and over the ensuing terms of the agreements, the jurisdictions that were parties to the agreements (five in WRIA 7, twenty-seven in WRIA 8 and seventeen in WRIA 9) cooperatively and successfully completed salmon recovery plans for their respective watershed areas.
E. In late 2005, the jurisdictions that were parties to the WRIA 7 agreement, along with the Snoqualmie Tribe, executed a new five-year interlocal agreement for the joint implementation of the WRIA 7 Plan and other water resource protection and restoration measures they may choose to undertake.
F. The WRIA 8 Plan, entitled "Lake Washington/Cedar/Sammamish Watershed Chinook Salmon Conservation Plan," sets out one thousand two hundred actions (falling under the categories of site-specific protection and restoration projects, land use programs, incentives and regulations, and public outreach and education) to protect and restore habitat in support of Chinook salmon recovery.
G. The WRIA 9 Plan, entitled "Making Our Watershed Fit for A King: The Green/Duwamish and Central Puget Sound Salmon Habitat Plan," recommends one hundred sixty-two actions to protect and restore habitat in support of Chinook salmon recovery (falling under the categories of site-specific protection and restoration projects, land use programs, incentives and regulations, and public outreach and education) to protect and restore habitat in support of Chinook salmon recovery.
H. In tandem with ratification of the WRIA 8 and WRIA 9 Plans, the WRIA 8 and WRIA 9 Forums began work to set out their intentions for cooperative implementation of their respective plans, and provided for the extension of their interlocal agreements to December 31, 2006 in order to complete this task.
I. The WRIA 8 Forum, which intends to recompose itself as the WRIA 8 Salmon Recovery Council, and WRIA 9 Forum have prepared, and are presenting for approval to the appropriate legislatures, new interlocal agreements to cooperatively conduct and oversee WRIA plan implementation actions over an initial ten-year period, covering the years 2006 to 2015.
J. During the first ten years, the WRIA 8 and WRIA 9 partners will work with other stakeholders to implement the recommendations of their respective plans. Some actions will be taken by the governments individually, some by the governments working jointly, and some in cooperation with other partners.
K. For both WRIA 8 and WRIA 9, plan implementation will be guided by an adaptive management strategy, involving monitoring and analysis of implemented actions and modification of management strategies in light of evolving opportunities and scientific data.
L. The extraordinary level of interjurisdictional cooperation and productivity achieved through the WRIA 7, WRIA 8 and WRIA 9 planning efforts is expected to continue to be a model for interjurisdictional cooperation during the initial implementation period of the WRIA plans.
SECTION 2. The King County executive is hereby authorized to enter into two interlocal agreements. one for the watershed basins within Water Resource Inventory Area 8, and one for the Green River, Duwamish and Central Puget Sound watersheds
within the geographic planning area of Water Resource Inventory Area 9, which includes portions of Water Resource Inventory Areas 8, 10 and 15.
1