Protecting Hydrology in the Snohomish River Basin

The Snohomish Basin is a leader in the Puget Sound as the first to tackle the complex issue of watershed-scale habitat protection. The primary goal of this 2015 Snohomish Basin Protection Plan (SBPP) is to identify protection strategies that prevent the degradation of hydrologic processes that support salmon or salmon habitat. Since 2005, there have been many site-scale successes on restoration projects in the mainstems, estuaries and tributaries. However, many environmental indicators continue to decline, according to local data and the 2009 State of the Sound report (Puget Sound Partnership 2010). The continued degradation of hydrology in the Snohomish Basin, rapid urbanization, and threats from climate change motivated a new effort focused on the protection of the water resources in the Snohomish Basin and the watershed processes that support them. This Snohomish Basin Protection Plan identifies areas that are important to the goal of protecting hydrology, and examines new and existing tools to help support that goal. Through the protection of hydrology, the SBPP aims to ultimately protect habitat quality, quantity, and heterogeneity for fish and wildlife. This protection plan was developed at a time when there is recognition for the need to create watershed and ecosystem resilience in the face of growing populations and changing climatic conditions. This talk will present the technical approach and findings from this multi-year interagency planning process and discuss the first steps toward implementation