Protection and restoration of salmon bearing streams in agricultural landscapes of the Puget Sound basin: a synthesis of approaches to reach-scale planning for eight focus areas

In 2015 the Department of Ecology led development of a new initiative to protect and restore riparian areas on salmon bearing streams across agricultural landscapes of the Puget Sound Basin. Using Environmental Protection Agency National Estuary Program funding through the Watershed Lead Organization, the initiative solicited grant proposals from local organizations to develop reach-scale plans for river reaches that provide the strategic basis for a subsequent phase of implementation funding to acquire riparian zones from willing landowners either through conservation easement or fee-simple purchase. Grants were awarded to an array of partnerships between land trusts, Native American tribes, local governments, Conservation Districts and non-profit organizations. In the development of the reach-scale plans for each focus area these partners conducted a number of different activities to identify, prioritize, and lay the groundwork for the acquisitions and additional restoration actions. Activities ranged from complex geospatial modeling, to development of landowner outreach and recruitment programs and tools, to beaver management planning. This presentation compares and contrasts the approaches in each of the eight focus areas and outlines some lessons learned from the initial phase of this initiative to develop an innovative approach to permanently protect and restore riparian zones in agricultural landscapes