Presentation Abstract
In 2018, King County launched development of a Fish Passage Restoration Program to address fish passage barriers owned by the County. Fish passage restoration helps King County meet obligations and commitments to honor tribal treaty rights. It also complements the county’s long-standing efforts to advance salmon habitat protection and restoration. In partnership with federal, tribal, state, and city officials, this program identifies barriers to salmon passage, coordinates with other protection and restoration actions in the county, prioritizes barrier remedies, and seeks funding to invest in projects that remove barriers that will allow the most salmon to swim to the best habitat as quickly as possible. The County recently completed a multi-year effort to assess fish passability at all County-owned stream crossings, which revealed the County is responsible for about one thousand barriers blocking salmon from freely swimming upstream. In collaboration with the tribes and state, the County developed a prioritization formula that includes coho intrinsic potential habitat values, overall habitat gain, landscape quality scores, and connectivity metrics. The data showed that a relatively small number of barriers block salmon access to a large share of the potential habitat gain. The county is pursuing policy innovations and funding strategies to greatly accelerate the pace of barrier remedies and the resulting habitat gain.
Session Title
Collaboration, Communication, & Planning
Conference Track
SSE2: How We Protect the Salish Sea
Conference Name
Salish Sea Ecosystem Conference (2022 : Online)
Document Type
Event
SSEC Identifier
SSE-traditionals-423
Start Date
28-4-2022 10:15 AM
End Date
28-4-2022 11:45 AM
Rights
Copying of this document in whole or in part is allowable only for scholarly purposes. It is understood, however, that any copying or publication of this document for commercial purposes, or for financial gain, shall not be allowed without the author's written permission.
Type
Text
Language
English
Accelerating Fish Passage Restoration in King County, Washington
In 2018, King County launched development of a Fish Passage Restoration Program to address fish passage barriers owned by the County. Fish passage restoration helps King County meet obligations and commitments to honor tribal treaty rights. It also complements the county’s long-standing efforts to advance salmon habitat protection and restoration. In partnership with federal, tribal, state, and city officials, this program identifies barriers to salmon passage, coordinates with other protection and restoration actions in the county, prioritizes barrier remedies, and seeks funding to invest in projects that remove barriers that will allow the most salmon to swim to the best habitat as quickly as possible. The County recently completed a multi-year effort to assess fish passability at all County-owned stream crossings, which revealed the County is responsible for about one thousand barriers blocking salmon from freely swimming upstream. In collaboration with the tribes and state, the County developed a prioritization formula that includes coho intrinsic potential habitat values, overall habitat gain, landscape quality scores, and connectivity metrics. The data showed that a relatively small number of barriers block salmon access to a large share of the potential habitat gain. The county is pursuing policy innovations and funding strategies to greatly accelerate the pace of barrier remedies and the resulting habitat gain.
