Drafter
Clerk 10/28/2005
Title
AN ORDINANCE authorizing the executive to enter into an interlocal agreement for the Snoqualmie and South Fork Skykomish Watersheds within Water Resource Inventory Area 7, and authorizing the executive to enter into extensions of the Interlocal Agreements for the Watershed Basins within Water Resource Inventory Area 8 and Water Resource Inventory Area 9.
Body
BE IT ORDAINED BY THE COUNCIL OF KING COUNTY:
SECTION 1. Findings:
A. In response to the 1999 listing of the Puget Sound Chinook salmon under the Endangered Species Act ("ESA"), King County and other affected jurisdictions determined that water resource inventory area ("WRIA")-based salmon conservation planning was a critical and necessary component of ESA compliance and of salmon recovery overall.
B. On October 16, 2000, the King County council adopted Motion 11077, authorizing the King County executive to enter into three interlocal agreements between King County and other eligible governmental entities in, respectively, WRIAs 7, 8 and 9, for the purpose of cooperatively developing, funding and implementing watershed-based salmon recovery plans, habitat protection and restoration efforts and other water resource management projects and programs in the King County portion of WRIA 7 (Snoqualmie and South Fork Skykomish watersheds), in WRIA 8 (Lake Washington/Cedar/Sammamish watersheds) and in WRIA 9 (Green/Duwamish watershed).
C. Under each of the agreements, the participating jurisdictions appointed one representative to take part in a watershed forum for that WRIA, which acted as the governing body for the activities undertaken under each respective agreement. In each agreement, King County was designated as the service provider to complete the annual scopes of work agreed upon by the watershed forums.
D. Upon execution of the agreements, and over the ensuing five-year terms of the agreements, the jurisdictions that were parties to the agreements (five in WRIA 7, twenty-seven in WRIA 8 and seventeen in WRIA 9) cooperatively and successfully completed salmon recovery plans for their respective watershed areas.
E. The WRIA 7 plan is entitled the "Snohomish Basin Salmon Conservation Plan" ("WRIA 7 Plan"), the WRIA 8 plan is entitled the "Lake Washington/Cedar/Sammamish Watershed Chinook Salmon Conservation Plan" ("WRIA 8 plan"), and the WRIA 9 plan is entitled "Making Our Watershed Fit for A King: The Green/Duwamish and Central Puget Sound Salmon Habitat Plan" ("WRIA 9 plan") (collectively referred to in this ordinance as "the plans").
F. The WRIA 7 plan includes a long-term vision for recovery and ten-year numeric milestones for improvement in key habitat conditions critical for salmonid survival. Plan recommendations include over one hundred forty King County capital projects as well as policies, programs, incentives, stewardship and education actions. Actions are prioritized based on geographic areas and are also customized for agriculture, forestry, rural and urban land uses.
G. The WRIA 8 plan sets out one thousand two hundred actions (falling under the categories of site-specific protection and restoration projects, land use programs, incentives and regulations and public outreach and education) to protect and restore habitat in support of Chinook salmon recovery.
H. The WRIA 9 plan recommends one hundred sixty-two actions to protect and restore habitat in support of Chinook salmon recovery (falling under the categories of site-specific protection and restoration projects, land use programs, incentives and regulations and public outreach and education) to protect and restore habitat in support of Chinook salmon recovery.
I. As set out in the three interlocal agreements, each party in the respective WRIAs was called upon to ratify, through its legislature, the completed plans as the means to finalize the plans and move into plan implementation. The WRIA 7 plan was fully ratified in July 2005, the WRIA 8 plan was fully ratified in September 2005 and it is expected that the WRIA 9 plan will be fully ratified by December 2005.
J. In tandem with WRIA 7 plan ratification, the Snoqualmie forum worked to outline its plan for cooperative implementation of the WRIA 7 plan over an initial five-year period to begin upon signature of a subsequent interlocal agreement.
K. The proposed Interlocal Agreement for the Snoqualmie and South Fork Skykomish Watersheds within WRIA 7 provides for the joint implementation of the WRIA 7 plan and associated habitat restoration and protection measures as well as intergovernmental coordination on other watershed issues including water quality, water quantity and flood hazard.
L. The WRIA 8 and WRIA 9 forums require additional time beyond the term of their first interlocal agreements, which both expire on December 31, 2005, in order to plan their implementation strategies, and wish to extend the term of their respective first interlocal agreements to December 31, 2006.
M. The extraordinary level of interjurisdictional cooperation and productivity achieved through the WRIA 7, WRIA 8 and WRIA 9 planning efforts is expected to continue to be a model for interjurisdictional cooperation.
SECTION 2. The King County executive is hereby authorized to enter into an interlocal agreement for the Snoqualmie and South Fork Skykomish watersheds within
WRIA 7 and is authorized to enter into extensions of the interlocal agreements for the watershed basins within WRIA 8 and WRIA 9.