CITY OF SEATTLE
RESOLUTION __________________
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A RESOLUTION ratifying the 2021 Update to the Green/Duwamish and Central Puget Sound Watershed or Water Resource Inventory Area (WRIA 9) Salmon Habitat Plan, Making Our Watershed Fit for a King.
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WHEREAS, the 2021 Update to the WRIA 9 Salmon Habitat Plan (“WRIA 9 Plan”) is an addendum to the 2005 WRIA 9 Salmon Habitat Plan, and includes new science, revised habitat goals and recovery strategies, an updated capital project list, and a monitoring and adaptive management plan; and
WHEREAS, 17 local governments in WRIA 9 (“Parties”) have partnered through an inter-local agreement (“ILA”) since 2001 to jointly fund development and implementation of the WRIA 9 Plan to address a shared interest in, and responsibility for, long-term watershed planning and salmon recovery in the Green/Duwamish and Central Puget Sound Watershed (“Watershed”); and
WHEREAS, in March 1999, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (“NOAA”) Fisheries listed the Puget Sound Chinook salmon evolutionary significant unit, including the Green River Chinook salmon population, as a threatened species under the Endangered Species Act (“ESA”); and
WHEREAS, local jurisdictions have authority over certain habitat-based aspects of Chinook survival through land use and other policies and programs, and the State of Washington and tribes, who are the legal co-managers of the fishery resource, are responsible for addressing harvest and hatchery management; and
WHEREAS, the WRIA 9 partners recognize participating in the ILA and implementing priorities in the WRIA 9 Plan demonstrates their commitment to address the ESA listing of Chinook salmon; and
WHEREAS, coordination and cooperation among federal, state, and local agencies, tribes, businesses, non-governmental organizations, landowners, citizens, and other interests are essential to implement and adaptively manage a salmon recovery plan; and
WHEREAS, the Puget Sound Partnership is the Puget Sound region’s lead agency for planning and implementing the Puget Sound Salmon Recovery Plan, approved by NOAA Fisheries; and
WHEREAS, the WRIA 9 Plan is one of 15 watershed-based chapters of the Puget Sound Salmon Recovery Plan; and
WHEREAS, The City of Seattle supports cooperation at the WRIA level to set common priorities for actions among partners, efficient use of resources and investments, and distribution of responsibility for actions and expenditures; and
WHEREAS, habitat protection and restoration actions to increase Chinook salmon productivity trends are necessary throughout the watershed, in conjunction with other recovery efforts, to avoid extinction in the near term and restore WRIA 9 Chinook salmon to viability in the long term; and
WHEREAS, salmon recovery is interrelated with flood risk reduction, water quality improvement, open-space protection, recreation, economic development, and tribal treaty rights; and
WHEREAS, The City of Seattle has a strong interest to achieve multiple benefit outcomes for people and fish across the watershed; and
WHEREAS, the WRIA 9 Plan recognizes that salmon recovery is a long-term effort, and focuses on a ten-year implementation time horizon to allow for evaluation of progress and adaptation of goals and implementation strategies; and
WHEREAS, it is important to provide jurisdictions, the private sector, and the public with certainty and predictability regarding salmon recovery actions in WRIA 9; and
WHEREAS, the WRIA 9 Watershed Ecosystem Forum supports the concept of basin stewards to help implement the plan, and the City of Seattle, City Tukwila, King County, and the Port of Seattle have recently agreed to jointly fund a new Duwamish Basin Steward, in addition to a Green River Steward already working in the watershed; and
WHEREAS, if insufficient action is taken at the local and regional level, Chinook salmon populations in WRIA 9 are unlikely to improve and the federal government could list Puget Sound Chinook salmon as an endangered species, thereby decreasing local flexibility; and
WHEREAS, the Parties previously took formal action to ratify the 2005 Salmon Habitat Plan; NOW, THEREFORE,
BE IT RESOLVED BY THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF SEATTLE, THE MAYOR CONCURRING, THAT:
Section 1. The City of Seattle ratifies the Green/Duwamish and Central Puget Sound Watershed, Water Resource Inventory Area 9 Salmon Habitat Plan Update, Making Our Watershed Fit for a King (“WRIA 9 Plan”), attached to this ordinance as Attachment 1. Ratification is intended to convey The City of Seattle’s support for the following:
A. Protecting and restoring habitat based on best available science with the intent to achieve sustainable, resilient, and harvestable populations of naturally spawning Chinook salmon.
B. Pursuing a multi-benefit approach to WRIA 9 Plan implementation that integrates salmon recovery, flood hazard reduction, water quality improvements, open space and recreation, and equity and social justice to improve outcomes for people and fish.
C. Using the WRIA 9 Plan as a source of best available science to inform local government actions, including, but not limited to land use, shoreline, and transportation planning/permitting.
D. Using capital project guidance, programmatic actions, and policy outlined with the WRIA 9 Plan to inform local priorities for implementation via grants, capital improvements, ordinances, and other activities. Ratification does not obligate any partner to implement any specific actions or adhere to specific timelines for such actions.
E. Working collaboratively with local, state, federal partners, and tribes to support and fund implementation of the WRIA 9 Plan, including monitoring and adaptive management to address scientific uncertainty, tracking, and communicating progress, and refining strategies to ensure cost effective investments.
Adopted by the City Council the ________ day of _________________________, 2021, and signed by me in open session in authentication of its adoption this ________ day of _________________________, 2021.
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President ____________ of the City Council
The Mayor concurred the ________ day of _________________________, 2021.
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Jenny A. Durkan, Mayor
Filed by me this ________ day of _________________________, 2021.
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Monica Martinez Simmons, City Clerk
(Seal)
Attachments:
Attachment 1 - Green/Duwamish and Central Puget Sound Watershed, Water Resource Inventory Area 9 Salmon Habitat Plan Update