2013 State of the Sound: Accountability and Funding of Puget Sound Recovery

Hundreds of management actions are underway to protect and restore the health of Puget Sound, many of which are identified in the region’s 2012 Action Agenda. The Puget Sound Partnership has been tasked by the Washington State Legislature with ensuring accountability for achieving the Action Agenda. Tracking and accountability are the first steps to successfully addressing Puget Sound ecosystem recovery. The State of the Sound is a legislatively required performance report produced by the Partnership every two years. Analysis of performance management of, and funding for, actions and programs, and status of the ecosystem are featured in the latest report published in 2013. Examples include: • 68% of the 199 the recovery actions are on plan or complete • The majority of the time, the reason for slow, or no, progress is lack of resources • The actions are under-funded by $390 million • Since 2012, the region has closed the funding gap by 22% In addition to the data presented above, this presentation will discuss: • How the data are gathered • The development and use of the online Report Card tool for tracking status and funding • The success of the Report Card forums - held before the Leadership Council - in moving forward Near Term Actions that are falling behind; and • Common barriers to implementation This presentation will be a companion presentation to 1. The 2013 State of the Sound: Status of the ecosystem, proposed by Nathalie Hamel (Puget Sound Partnership), and 2.Success in the Sound: Local Examples of How Restoration Efforts Have Succeeded, proposed by Katherine Boyd(Puget Sound Partnership) and Constance Sullivan (Puget Sound Institute. The four presenters will discuss the linkages among tracking, ecosystem indicators, and effectiveness monitoring in Puget Sound recovery efforts