Whatcom Salmon Recovery

Salmon Recovery Plan
Endangered Species Act
The Clean Water Act
The Salmon Recovery Act
Puget Sound Shared Strategy
Watershed Management Project
Wild Salmonid Policy

A variety of factors have caused salmon runs to decline or delay their recovery. Federal, state, and local governments have attempted to address these factors with laws and policies, which sometimes overlap and sometimes conflict. A number of public processes have been set up to implement or respond to these laws and policies.

Specific policies have been developed to guide management of salmon harvest, hatcheries, and habitats. They are described on the specific pages for those issues.

Endangered Species Act

The federal Endangered Species Act of 1973 (ESA) aims to reverse the trend of human-caused extinctions of animal and plant species. Once a species is listed as either endangered ("in danger of extinction throughout all or a significant portion of its range" ESA §3[6]) or threatened ("likely to become endangered within the foreseeable future throughout all or a significant portion of its range" ESA §3[19]) under the ESA, a variety of federal protections are triggered. These protections include a prohibition on "take," which according to the Act means to "harass, harm, pursue, hunt, shoot, wound, kill, trap, capture, or collect, or to attempt to engage in any such conduct" (§3[19]). Take may include damage to the habitat that the listed species requires to survive.

One term that is often heard in discussions about ESA and take is "4(d) rule" or "4(d) coverage." Both terms refer to Section 4(d) of the ESA, which states that either the National Marine Fisheries Service or the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (depending on what the species is and where it is found) shall issue regulations that are "necessary and advisable to provide for the conservation of the species." A 4(d) rule serves two functions: it provides a specific means for protecting a threatened species, and gives assurance, or coverage, to local governments (or other governmental or private entities) that the actions they authorize or perform are legally allowed under the ESA.

In 2000, several Puget Sound runs of chinook salmon and bull trout, including the stocks found in WRIA 1, were listed as threatened. The listings have triggered the Salmon Recovery Act, through which WRIA 1 projects have received $8 million in funding, and the Puget Sound Shared Strategy, for which a WRIA 1 salmon recovery plan is being developed. The Municipal Research and Services Center of Washington describes the issues facing Washington municipalities as they respond to the ESA listings.

The ESA is administered jointly by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the National Marine Fisheries Service.

The Clean Water Act

The federal Clean Water Act, which is implemented by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, protects water quality for "beneficial uses"-including fish stocks-and mandates the cleanup of polluted water bodies.

ESHB 2496, The Salmon Recovery Act

The state Salmon Recovery Act of 1998, which was codified into state law as RCW 77.85, created a framework for funding salmon habitat projects throughout the state. Also known as ESHB 2496, the law established a process for local organizations to submit a list of habitat projects for each WRIA, based on local priorities, to compete for state and federal funds from the Salmon Recovery Funding Board (SRF Board). Each WRIA has its own Lead Entity that is charged with coordinating the local ranking process; in WRIA 1, the Lead Entity is Whatcom County.

Whatcom County has received $8 million in funding for salmon habitat projects through the SRF Board. A list of these projects is available here.

In addition, ESHB 2496 created the Governor's Salmon Recovery Office and an independent science panel, among other actions.

Puget Sound Shared Strategy

The Puget Sound Shared Strategy is a project to coordinate salmon recovery for the counties adjoining the Puget Sound. The Shared Strategy goal is self-sustaining populations of salmon at harvestable levels. One of the project's initial steps has been to develop target ranges of the number of salmon that need to return to each of the Puget Sound's major watersheds in order to ensure self-sustaining populations.

The Shared Strategy has provided a template for the upcoming WRIA 1 Salmon Recovery Plan.

The WRIA 1 Watershed Management Project

Enabled under the state Watershed Management Act, the WRIA 1 Watershed Management Project is developing a plan to manage water quantity, water quality, instream flow, and fish habitat. One of the project's major effects on salmon recovery will be the likely revision of instream flow requirements for the streams and rivers in WRIA 1.

Wild Salmonid Policy

In 1995, the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW) adopted a Wild Salmonid Policy to manage harvest and hatcheries with the goal of better protecting wild runs. The policy also suggests habitat standards for other government agencies, businesses, and individuals to adopt.

Larson's Log Jam

Canyon Creek Fish Passage
The lower 4.5 miles of Canyon Creek [link to Canyon Creek Watershed of the Month], a major tributary to the North Fork Nooksack, are important spawning habitat for North Fork early chinook, which are listed as threatened with extinction under the federal Endangered Species Act. (At river mile 4.5, there is a natural waterfall that prevents further migration upstream.) The creek is also considered a priority area for a second threatened species, bull trout.

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