PEOPLE FOR PUGET SOUND’S ‘ACTION AGENDA’
FEBRUARY 2008
Protecting and restoring habitat through land use

Puget Sound’s shoreline is made up of over 2,500 miles of sandy beaches, rocky shores, eelgrass beds, kelp forests, salt marshes, and mudflats.  These shoreline habitats have historically supported an abundance of life in and around the Sound, such as sea and shorebirds, herring and smelt, shellfish, salmon, and seals and whales.

But Puget Sound habitats are at risk.

•    More than one-third of Puget Sound shoreline habitat has been destroyed due to bulkheads, piers, docks, and other structures. 
•    Throughout Puget Sound, 75% of salt marsh habitat is gone.
•    Development has removed forest cover and hardened the surface of the landscape, resulting in stormwater runoff and reduced streamflows during the dry season. 
•    Puget Sound’s salmon and orca whale populations are listed as endangered by the state and federal government.
•    The human population of Puget Sound is expected to increase another 1.4 million people by 2020, adding to growth pressures. Climate change will add stress to these fish and wildlife populations
•    Our remaining forests, shorelines, rivers, and estuaries are under pressure from growth, risking harm to fish and wildlife. Unless we change the way development occurs, the problems we created in the past will continue into the future.

The Partnership should act now to:

•    Ensuring existing laws, such as critical areas ordinances, are being enforced. Preventing habitat loss through enforcement is more cost-effective than restoring damaged areas.
•    Accelerating completion of shoreline master program updates, including fully funding shoreline protection programs and providing technical assistance.
•    Promoting smart growth that concentrates density and connects with transportation projects that take us away from reliance on single occupancy vehicles
•    Requiring that state agencies better protect fish and wildlife habitat.
o    Washington State Department of Fish and Wildlife needs to revise the hydraulic project approval process by requiring that forage fish-friendly alternatives be looked at first, with hard armoring used as a last resort.
o    Washington Department of Natural Resources needs to ensure leases on state-owned aquatic lands are not harming forage fish, salmon, eelgrass, or
•    Requiring clearing ordinances or regulations in every jurisdiction to prevent loss of forest cover and protect habitat from damage
•    Increasing funding for acquisition of habitat and open space.
•    Creating incentives to help landowners restore shoreline habitat
•    Funding demonstration projects for habitat restoration and soft shoreline protection measures
•    Funding low impact development stormwater demonstration projects on state lands and in areas of existing high density development to demonstrate it can be done.