ContentsFramework1Riparian Toolkit1Landscape Conditions2Hydrologic Network Components2Polygon Attributes3Analytical Methods5Strategy Analysis6Stillaguamish6STAG 20016Pelletier & Bilhimer 20048SIRC 200510Lawrence 200611Hall et al 201413Walter et al 201413STAG 201514Leonetti 201515Snohomish15SCSWM et al 201515Scales of Analysis17

Framework

The goal of this analysis is to broadly describe the condition and extent of the “riparian zone”, to inform diffuse restoration and enhancement work necessary to restore streams, salmon, and waters supply. While “riparian zone” is commonly interpreted as a regulated vegetated buffer on a stream, more scientific definitions are broader:

Riparian areas are transitional zones between terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems and are distinguished by gradients in biophysical conditions, ecological processes, and biota. They are areas through which surface and subsurface hydrology connect waterbodies with their adjacent uplands. They include those portions of terrestrial ecosystems that significantly influence exchanges of energy and matter with aquatic ecosystems. Riparian areas are found adjacent to perennial, intermittent, and ephemeral streams, lakes, estuaries, and marine shorelines. (National Research Council 2002)

Riparian zones extend beyond streams into the watershed along ephemeral flows, through subsurface seeps, to perched wetlands. While we argue over regulations, the health of our water supply depends on how we actually manage watersheds.

Riparian Toolkit

Riparian zone management either aims to improve the habitat conditions in a stream, or improve the quantity and quality of water entering the stream over time. In our dry summer climate, storing winter rains to support cold summer flows is particularly important. The following general actions are repeated through thousands of pages of salmon recovery and clean water act planning documents:

1. Streamside Reforestation – planting forests near streams to improve soils, shade streams, and produce large wood and leaf litter.

2. Channel Restoration – remove armoring, and restore the sinuosity, riffle-pool structure, and floodplain connectivity of stream channels.

3. Floodplain Reconnection – remove levees and causeways that prevent the flow of floodwater, or install wood structures that reactivate side channels and flood flow pathways. Reverse incision.

4. Wetland Enhancement – retain and percolate surface runoff into soils and groundwater, by holding rain high in the landscape. The enhancement of wetland functions is achieved through a wide range of

5. Watershed Reforestation and Infiltration – through education and regulation, reduce the area of roofs, compacted soils, and pavement, and maintain forest cover.

If we act sufficiently, then we will have abundant clean cold water in streams that support fish and wildlife and agriculture, ample groundwater supplies, reduced flooding, and we will increase our resilience to resilient to climate change. To maximize efficiency and effectiveness we position our action in an advantageous position in the landscape. Finding the advantageous position is a matter of strategy.

Landscape Conditions

Our strategies define our search image—the kinds of places where a specific action will be most advantageous. The following characteristics of the landscape inform our riparian management strategy:

1) Fish Use – best available information is from WDFW Fish Distribution data. More detailed data are available to describe spawning areas. Rearing is inferred from habitat conditions, with different species selecting different rearing environments.

a) In areas of We restore channel structure where it provides spawning and rearing services. is

2) Vegetation – We consider the condition of vegetation both in the near-stream zone, and in the catchment. County Land Cover data is available with 8 foot pixels.

a) Respond to Stressors - We intensify our riparian management efforts to compensate for land use impacts.

i) Sediment and Fecal Management – in systems with lots of tillage we consider on-farm mechanisms for capturing sediment and surface runoff.

ii)

b) Cut Losses - At some point we “cut our losses” and focus on impacts with the greatest downstream effects, or focus work in other catchements where greater return on investment can be assured.

3) Active Farming – in floodplain settings we design floodplain reconnection to protect farm viability.

4) Water quality parameters – we intensify efforts in areas with measurable water quality violations.

5) Cold Water Refugia – we prioritize channel restoration in the vicinity of cold water refugia, particularly for pool formation. We intensify wetland enhancement in the catchments of cold water refugia to protect groundwater recharge.

6) In-channel habitat conditions – we use channel restoration where deforestation has led to channel widening

7) Reach geomorphology – we locate floodplain reconnection and in channel work based on how we expect that reach scale aggredation, incision, or avulsion may cause the site to evolve over time.

Hydrologic Network Components

Ultimately riparian work is played out at a parcel scale, with a willing landowner. Spatial analysis helps us know where to engage landowners with different strategies.

The following components of the hydrological network are used to evaluate the hydrological context of an individual parcel.

Streams – Water flows downhill, conflating to form streams. Some of these streams flow year round, and others only during a rainstorm. Each segment of the hydrologic network has a catchment—an area of land that drains to the line. The condition of that catchment further affects the segment. All segments form a continuous flow—whether seasonally, or above or belowground, upstream segments affect downstream segments. We evaluate four types of streams as part of our riparian network, in order of upstream to downstream:

1. Concentrated Flow Paths (50’ buffer where an area greater than 5 acres drains to a point.) – these are the topographic pathways that concentrate water, until a stream is formed stream. These corridors capture most of the rain, and are where groundwater recharge occurs

2. Non-fish-bearing Streams (Np/Ns - Perennial and Seasonal – 50’ buffer) – these are small perennial or seasonal channels that flow into our fish bearing streams.

3. Fish-bearing Streams (non-salmon-bearing) (F - 100’ buffer) – these are the perennial tributaries to the larger streams and rivers.

4. “Shorelines of the State” and Salmon-bearing Streams (S/F - CAR 150’ buffer) – these are the larger streams and rivers, frequently associated with floodplains.

Floodplains – Floodplains are unique in their soils, hydrology, and functions, and are separated from watershed areas for analysis. Within floodplain analysis we aim to consider both existing channels, potential future channel position (Channel Migration Zone), and the area wetted by different levels of flooding. In addition, many floodplains have levees, sometimes maintained by special districts, and these systems may affect how we manage the riparian zone.

Unit Type

A variety of polygons are constructed to describe various surfaces within the hydrologic landscape. Each surface is associated with some kind of stream (or absence thereof). In addition a polygon may be a “near-stream” unit or a “catchement” unit. These units may be nested, such that “near stream” units can be considered as part of the “catchment” of a higher order stream channel.

Confinement

StreamType

Proximity

Floodplain

Shorelines

Near-stream

Watershed

Fishbearing

Catchment

FlowPath

The catchment is defined by the point at which the stream flows into the next lower component of the network.

Polygon Attributes

Our analytical method produces two kinds of polygons. A near-stream polygon (buffer) and a catchment polygon. Each polygon is characterized using a number of metrics that describe the social, ecological condition of the catchment.

· Polygon area – catchment area is highly variable, and depends on complex post-glacial topography, and so has not intrinsic value. Catchment area does describe the amount of runoff that will enter the stream buffer at the pour point. Large catchments exert a greater effect on water quality and quality than small catchments. Polygon area is also used to calculate land cover percentage metrics.

· Stream length – the mapped stream density describes the degree to which a catchment tends to produce runoff. Surface soils that tend to rapidly saturate and produce overland flow will naturally form a higher channel density.

· Concentrated flow path length – the concentrated flow path density describes the extent to which topography conflates surface flow into confined pathways, as opposed to landscapes where flow concentration is poorly developed.

Degradation Metrics

· Road length – all roads are assumed to both generate runoff of perhaps 5 or 10 times forested landscapes, and through ditch systems, concentrate that runoff at low points that coincide with flow paths. In this way, roads effectively expand the drainage network within a catchment.

· Percent Impervious – The proportion of impervious land cover describes the degree to which development is producing Stormwater.

· Percent Cleared – the proportion of the polygon that is neither forest nor wetland describes the gross degree of vegetation modification.

Water Retention Metrics

· Depression Volume – in processing digital elevation models for routing flow, we fill areas that drain nowhere. The volume of this fill area describes the degree to which the landscape is likely to retain surface runoff due to irregular topography. Some of this irregularity may be related to data error, and so this metric is not precise, but provides a general order of magnitude. There should be a correlation between depression volume, percent wetland, and slope.

· Average Slope – average slope within the catchment describes the rate

· Percent Wetland – The area of

· Percent Forested – Describes the like

· Percent Open Water

Social Dynamics

· Average parcel size – the average parcel size describes the intensity of community settlement in the catchment. The parcel size is an attribute of the parcel, and this attribute is averaged for all parcels in each polygon. (There is some complexity here, as the analysis

· Mean potential parcel size (zoning)

· Percent forest cover loss

Analytical Methods

1. Snohomish DEM

2. Ecology PSWC Assessment Units

3. CLIP DEM to Middle Pilchuck Assessment Units

4. FILL Pilchuck DEM

5. CUT FILL between original and filled DEM

a. While there are scattered fill points, there are large areas associated with floodplains, lakes, and impoundments behind transportation infrastructure earthworks.

6. SLOPE of filled DEM

7. FLOW DIRECTION of filled DEM

8. FLOW ACCUMULATION of filled DEM

Stilly-Sno Riparian Zone Management StrategyDRAFT NOTES FOR DISCUSSION

Strategy Analysis

A variety of planning documents describe the management of water in the landscape. We have developed a complex language of stressors, pressures, drivers, management measures, strategies and actors to describe complex human-ecological systems. Most factors interact. Accurate conceptual diagrams rapidly lose value, in overwhelming complexity, while describing no place in particular, and obfuscating feedback loops and system dynamics. At the end of the planning process, there are a limited number of things we actually do. Each of these actions has complex effects.

1) Reduce development potential on parcel by acquiring property rights

a. Prevent future loss of forest cover and hydrological functions

2) Enhance hydrological functions on developed private land

a. Increase infiltration, reduce runoff, filter stormwater

b. Disconnect concentrated flows from streams and infiltrate

3) Restore native forest and restore conifer recruitment

a. Increase infiltration, reduce runoff, filter stormwater

b. Shade streams and provide inputs

c. Recruit logs

d. Support beaver populations

4) Manually increase complexity of stream channels

a. Increase riffles, pools, cover, and groundwater interaction

b. Prevent bad erosion

c. Recruit logs

5) Restore connectivity at road crossings

a. Pass adult and juvenile fish, sediment, and woody debris

6) Restore floodplain connectivity and topography

a. Restore habitat forming processes

7) Reduce sources of pollution through prohibition or education

In short we put the rain in the ground, and let the rivers run around.

Stillaguamish

STAG 2001

P36

In the Puget Sound lowland region, Horner and May (1998) suggested that the steepest rates of

decline in biological function occur as TIA increases above 5%. Similarly, other researchers have

shown that noticeable impairment of water quality, decreases in macroinvertebrate and fish

diversity, degradation of fish habitat, and declines in fish abundance occur at levels of

imperviousness as low as 7-12% and become severe above 30% (Spence et al. 1996).

Interestingly, 0.40 ha (1 acre) residential use zoning results in an average of 10% TIA while 0.20

ha (0.5 acre) residential zoning results in an average of 20% TIA (Schueler 1995).

P38

Small catchments and sub-watersheds are particularly vulnerable to increasing impervious

surface, especially when wetland complexes have been removed. Wetland preservation and

regeneration are perhaps the strongest tools to mitigate impervious surface and support habitat

characteristics.

P37

P38

A watershed planning scale approach, along with

protection and acquisition of large tracts of undeveloped land, will be key in minimizing and

mitigating the effects of increased impervious surface area.

P39

Holding habitat in the form of deep, cool pools (<16°C or <61°F) with abundant LWD, is a vital habitat element for chinook because they spend a long time in freshwater before spawning.

P42

A WDOE (1990) study compiled existing data on hydric soils and wetland inventories to

compare existing wetlands to historic wetland areas. A comparison of potential and existing wetland areas, as well as subsequent loss is presented for the Stillaguamish Watershed (Table 4). This analysis provided a list of potential restoration sites. Restoration activity is naturally contingent on property owners current or future land use plans. The existing total wetland area was estimated to be 2,500 ha (6,178 acres); (Figure 15). Based on wetland soils, there were historically 11,800 ha (29,158 acres) of wetlands, indicating that an estimated 78.5% of the historical wetlands have been degraded or lost.

P43

The greatest functional benefits [of wetlands] to chinook may be temperature maintenance through base flow support, flood flow storage/desynchronization, and sediment retention. All of these functions provide values that help increase the chinook’s chance of survival from the egg to returning adult stage.

In a stream system managed for wild fish production, blocking juvenile fish movements into tributary streams can lower production by arbitrarily limiting the capability to rear fish and increasing juvenile mortality (Leider et al. 1986).

P65

Changes in climate and consequent shifts in weather and streamflow can have a dramatic effect on chinook survival during the freshwater phase of their life cycle. Recent analysis of flow/smolt relationships on the Skagit River (Seiler et al. 1998) revealed a 20-fold decrease in egg to smolt survival (estimated at only 1%) during the 1990 flood. In years where no flooding occurred, egg to smolt survival was approximately 20%.

P69

· Maintain and restore natural watershed processes;

· Maintain a well-dispersed and well connected network of high quality habitat that

addresses the needs of all life history stages; and

· Develop, evaluate, and adapt land management activities using monitoring and

assessment in order to achieve the objectives listed above.

<11% fine sediment (<0.85 mm)

Forced pool morphology with one pool per 4 channel widths in tributaries with cool water (<16°C or 61°F) and overhead cover.

Large wood jams in main stems

Water temperature of 12–14° C (54-57°F)

Reduce landslide activity to background (75% reduction)

Recover 70% of wetland function (78% loss) = approximately 16,000 acres

Recover 50% of beaver pond function (81% loss) = approximately 200-1400 acres

Recover 50% of lost estuary habitat (85% loss)

DO of 8-9 mg/l to insure normal physiological function

Pelletier & Bilhimer 2004

P1

This study was initiated because of 303(d) listings in Deer Creek, Higgins Creek, Little Deer Creek, Pilchuck Creek, the mainstem Stillaguamish River, North Fork Stillaguamish River, and South Fork Stillaguamish River for exceeding the water quality standards for temperature.

P6

Adams and Sullivan (1987) reported that the following environmental variables were the most important drivers of water temperature in forested streams:

•Stream depth.Stream depth is the most important variable of stream size for evaluating energy transfer. Stream depth affects both the magnitude of the stream temperature fluctuations and the response time of the stream to changes in environmental conditions.

•Air temperature.Daily average stream temperaturesare strongly influenced by daily average air temperatures. When the sun is not shining, the water temperature in a volume of water tends toward the dew-point temperature (Edinger et al., 1974).

•Solar radiation and riparian vegetation.The daily maximum temperatures in a stream are strongly influenced by removal of riparian vegetation because of diurnal patterns of solar heat flux. Daily average temperatures are less affected by removal of riparian vegetation.

•Groundwater.Inflows of groundwater can have an important cooling effect on stream temperature. This effect will depend on the rateof groundwater inflow relative the flow in the stream and the difference in temperatures between the groundwater and the stream.

P17

The pollutants targeted in this TMDL are heat from human-caused increases in solar radiation loading to the stream network, and heat from warm water discharges of human origin

P18

Because factors that affect water temperature are interrelated, the surrogate measure (effective shade) relies on restoring/protecting riparian vegetation to increase stream surface shade levels, reducing stream bank erosion, stabilizing channels, reducing the near-stream disturbance zone width, and reducing the surface area of the stream exposed to radiant processes. Effective shade screens the water’s surface from direct rays of the sun. Other factors influencing heat flux and

water temperature were also considered, including microclimate, channel geometry, groundwater recharge, and instream flow.

P72-73

For areas that are not managed in accordance witheither the Forest Plan or the Forest and Fish Report, such as private non-forest areas, voluntary programs to increase riparian vegetation should be developed (for example, riparian buffers or conservation easements sponsored under the U.S. Department of Agriculture Natural Resources Conservation Service’s Conservation Reserve Enhancement Program).

•Instream flows and water withdrawals are managed through regulatory avenues separate from TMDLs. However, stream temperature is related to the amount of instream flow, and increases in flow generally result in decreases in maximum temperatures. Future projects that have the potential to increase groundwater inflows to streams in the watershed should be

encouraged and have the potential to decrease stream temperatures. Voluntary retirement or purchase of existing water rights for conversion to instream flow should also be encouraged.

•Management activities should control potential channel widening processes. Reductions in channel width are expected as mature riparian vegetation is established. Management activities that would reduce the loading of sediment to the surface waters from upland and channel erosion are also recommended.

•Hyporheic exchange flows and groundwater discharges are important to maintain the current temperature regime and reduce maximum daily instream temperatures. Factors that influence hyporheic exchange flow include the vertical hydraulic gradient between surface and subsurface waters as well as the hydraulic conductivity of the streambed sediments. Activities that reduce the hydraulic conductivity of streambed sediments could increase stream temperatures. Management activities should reduce upland and channel erosion and avoid sedimentation of fine materials in the stream substrate.

SIRC 2005

P73

Habitat linkages and restoration of lost habitat and related watershed functions will play a major role in the recovery of Chinook salmon populations. Table 8 demonstrates some of the linkages between habitat-forming processes, land use, resulting habitat conditions, and response by Chinook salmon in the Stillaguamish watershed.

P76

Thus, the first objective of this habitat strategy is to prevent further fragmentation of aquatic habitat. The second objective is to improve the connectivity between isolated habitat patches. The third objective is to protect and restore areas surrounding critical salmon habitat from further degradation, allowing for the expansion of existing refugia such as:

· Preferred spawning areas

· Off-channel floodplain habitat

· Estuary and marine shoreline habitat

· Complex sloughs and undisturbed blind tidal channels

· Natural riverbanks

P92-93

Riparian restoration projectsites will be selected using one or more of the following criteria:

· Areas where Chinook salmon use is highest or adjacent to these areas

· Potential to restore basic riparian function:

· reduction in water temperature

· large wood recruitment

· bank stabilization

· cover and nutrients for salmon

· In areas lacking properly functioning riparian forest cover located in upper watersheds that will contribute to the greatest area of downstream conditions for Chinook salmon. Predominantly in rural, urban, and agricultural land uses and private ownership.

P100

The following actions have the potential for improving hydrological conditions in the Stillaguamish Watershed:

· Restoration of floodplains, including wetlands, to increase infiltration, slow runoff, and reduce downstream peak flow impacts

· Development of plans in forested regions that targetthe reduction of road density and de-commissioning of under-utilized forest roads

· Improve the age class and cumulative acres of forested land cover

· Identification of optimum instream flow levels and actions to reduce water consumption throughout the watershed.

Hydrology Geographic Criteria Hydrology project sites will be selected using one or more of the following criteria:

· Floodplain and wetland restoration in higher elevation watersheds upstream of Chinook salmon spawning areas impacted by peak flows

· Forest protection strategies in the rain-on-snow zone (1000–3000 feet elevation)

Figure 19 priority riparian area and hydrology areas

Lawrence 2006

The highest-priority areas of river and stream reaches in the watershed that should be addressed through riparian planting and restoration projects are identified in Figure 8. The priorities assigned in this figure are based on the findings

of the TMDL temperature study (Ecology, 2004) and reflect both the effectiveness of the shade that could be achieved (i.e., shade is generally more effective in cooling smaller streams than it is in cooling larger streams) and the current

vegetation status of the streams that are prioritized (i.e., currently unvegetated riparian areas are given higher priority than those with existing, albeit not mature, vegetation).

P18

Existing inflows of cool groundwater and tributaries benefit the Stillaguamish and should be protected from potential negative impacts of development. Under the County Comprehensive Plan, lands located within 300 feet of streams designated as Chinook Salmon or Bull Trout corridors and lands within the 100-year floodplain are currently exempted from future development. County and City planning departments should also consider protecting streamside

lands with springs and side channels that provide cooler water to the Stillaguamish and its major tributaries.

P20 – Unconstrained high gradient channels are at greatest risk of solar warming under deforested conditions.

Wider stream channels such as braided streams are more vulnerable to solar warming. Braided stream channels separate and rejoin around gravel bars in a rapidly changing distribution of channels and bars. Braided channel patterns usually develop where flood discharges are high and fluctuate rapidly; where sediment transport rates along the stream bed are high; and where the channel gradient is steep and the stream banks are formed in weak, non-cohesive sand and gravel (Dunne and Leopold, 1978).

P21

Projects which restore natural stream channel meander patterns can enhance hyporheic flow and thus help lower stream temperature regimes. In addition, engineered placement of large woody debris in stream channels creates channel complexity and forms scour pools; improving fish habitat as well as enhancing streambed groundwater inflow to the stream (Booth, 1997; Drury, 1999). For these reasons, projects involving improved channel structure; such as placement of

large woody debris and restored meanders, are supported by this TMDL.

P21

Because infiltration can in some cases provide cooler groundwater inflow to streams, and because excess riverine erosion and sedimentation contributes to channel widening and warmer stream temperatures, low impact development projects are encouraged for this TMDL.

Hall et al 2014

High flows are correlated with long term trends of increasing rainfall and decreasing snow fall. High flows were not correlated with land cover. Lower flows were coorelated with both land cover, and climate trends.

Walter et al 2014

Because peak flow trend cannot be linked to anthropogenic land management, the focus of a peak flow strategy is to mitigate anticipated effects of peak flow.

Therefore land cover change on steep lands present a greater risk of erosion and increased peak flow than lower gradient lands.

Sites with higher total precipitation contribute more to peak flow events.

Straightened stream channels are more likely to have higher velocity, incise into their floodplains, and thereby reduce floodplain connection.

Both strategies looks for sites with few land owners and low elevations, and low intensity land uses.

Target for restoration are sites with narrower than typical channels, with bank armoring and low sinuosity. Targets for conservation were wider than typical channels with low bank armoring and high sinuosity. Low elevation parcels with few land owners and low intensity land uses had the greatest weight on priority.

STAG 2015 – acquisition strategy as part of recovery plan.

Adopts main stem strategy described in Walter et al 2014

Chinook use of the major Stillaguamish tributaries (Pilchuck, Jim, Boulder, Squire) is much less than what is observed in the North or South Fork Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife and Stillaguamish Tribe unpublished data). However,tributary use is important to preserving the diversity and spatial structure of the summer and fall Chinook populations. Diversity and spatial structure are two of the VSP parameters deemed essential for long term salmonid population viability (McElhany et al. 2000).

P10

South Slough and South Meander are two conceptual side channel connection projects along the main stem, near Interstate 5. Both projects could restore flow to relic side channels and provide off-channel rearing habitat for juvenile salmonids. Off-channel rearing habitat, especially in the main stem, has been drastically reduced from what was historically available to juvenile salmon (SIRC 2005). Opportunities to restore unrestricted channel migration are extremely limited along the main stem Stillaguamish due to intensive agricultural use and an extensive infrastructure network and these engineered side channel projects are the best chance of increasing rearing area in the next 10-20 years. Since neither would restore unrestricted flow to these channels, large acquisitions are not likely to be needed across the length of both channels. However, this strategy acknowledges that some conservation easements or fee simple acquisitions are probably necessary to advance these high priority projects. Since acquisitions in these areas would not restore natural processes in the same way as the corridor lands described in the above FPUs, lands along South Slough and South Meander were not ranked. This does not mean that these side channel projects are not a priority, since they are essential for advancing the targets outlined in the Chinook Recovery Plan. However, it would be difficult to rank them against acquisitions in floodplain units.

P10 – Parcels located adjacent to prioritized parcels are prioritized for acquisition

Leonetti 2015

· Evaluates the results of Puget Sound Characterization Project metrics describing water flow importance, and compares them to on-the-ground data describing stream temperature.

· There was a weak correlation between lower water temperature and "recharge importance" and the "groundwater" component of the water flow importance model.

· Snow fed creeks tend to be more sensitive to climate phase change than lowland rain fed streams.

· 96 potential "cold water refuges" were identified and classed by source, intensity, and size.

· Half of these were located in the northfork, where cold seeps, springs, and side channel inputs complemented tributary inputs. This is different from the South Fork which was dominated by tributary sources.

· This suggests a different strategy in NF vs. SF, with NF focused on river and floodplain restoration, and SF focused on watershed management and confluence enhancement.

· Continuous thermal profiling demonstrated areas of tributary and groundwater inflow that mitigated stream temperature in Jim Creek Watershed and Pilchuck Creek Watershed. Deep pool scour, may increase groundwater-streamflow interaction creating cold water refugia.

· Groundwater seepage accounted for 60% of flow accumulation in the lower 7 miles of Pilchuck Creek. Increasing deep scour pools may enhance this potential influence on stream temperature. This points to the importance of capture and infiltration of water across the watershed.

96 cold water refugia were identified within the study area. Half were located in the North Fork which included lots of seeps and springs. Southfork was dominated by tributary sources.

Snohomish

SCSWM et al 2015 – protection strategy

The continued degradation of hydrology in the Basin, rapid

urbanization, and threats from climate change motivated a new

effort focused on the protection of the water resources in the

Basin and the watershed processes that support them.

Scales of Analysis

 

Scale

Unit Description/Example

What is this Scale For?

What Questions Do We Ask?

Analytical Method

Landscape Scale

Region

Puget Sound

1) evaluate sub-populations;

2) tell general vital sign stories;

3) allocate resources among implementation strategies;

1) What are the goals for Puget Sound?

2) How should we allocate public resources?

Reference existing authorities and program priorities

Lead Integrating Organization

Snohomish-Stillaguamish LIO

Snohomish County

1) Organizing cross-sector social and political efforts; integrating state and regional partners within county jurisdictions around ecosystem management;

1) 2) Identification of 303d listings;

1) What are the ecosystem challenges our community in facing?

2) What are our greatest vulnerabilities in the future?

3) Where do the diverse interests of our communities align?

LIO Plan

Agricultural Land Protection Program

Watershed

Snohomish; Stillaguamish; WRIA

1) Organizing social-political efforts;

2) tracking salmon population status;

1) What is our strategy for protecting aquatic ecosystems and populations?

2) How will this watershed be affected by climate change?

Salmon Recovery Planning and Amendment

TMDL Analysis

Landform Scales

Sub-basin

Typically HUC12 or Watershed Management Unit

1) Select focus areas;

2) develop implementation strategy;

3) summarizing potential services and degradation pattern;

4) determine holistic context and goal

4) establish coordinated investment efforts

1) What are the main problems we are experiencing?

2) What are the goals for this place?

3) Who needs to be involved for implementation?

Salmon Recovery Planning Priorities

Change in C-CAP land cover

Floodplain Reach

Lower Snohomish, Delta, Lower Skykomish

1.

SLS Reach Scale Plan

Watershed Assessment Unit

PS Watershed Characterization WAU

1) Evaluating ecosystem service potential and degradation;

2) identifying targets and metrics necessary to change ecological function

1) Where should I go to work on problems?

2) What level of change should I achieve?

Floodplain Assessment Unit

To be determined, perhaps Konrad? Diking District?

2.

Stewardship Scale

Catchment

100 acre stream segment catchments

1) Identifying hydrological places for intervention; 2) Developing collective action strategies within neighborhoods

1) Where should I target intervention in watershed landscapes?

Parcel

County Parcel Number

1) Establishing landowner contact; 2) Educating landowner about ecosystem service potential of properties

1) How does my property affect the ecosystem?

2) What can I do to increase ecosystem services and resilience?