2022-2026 ACTION AGENDA EXPLORER
STRATEGY 4
Riparian Areas
Protect and restore riparian areas by improving regulatory frameworks and incentives and increasing funding.
Decades of land use and development have significantly degraded riparian vegetation corridors along Puget Sound rivers and streams. Intact riparian corridors are critical for keeping fresh and marine waters clean and cool, controlling erosion, moderating variability in water volume and timing of flow (flood storage), and offering key habitat for numerous terrestrial, freshwater, and interface species, such as salmon. Healthy riparian habitat ensures the integrity of the river- or streambank, thereby reducing erosion and flooding; provides a source of woody debris that creates habitat features and slow flows; shades the water and reduces temperatures; delivers nutrients necessary to support the base of the food web; and filters out pollutants before they enter the water.
Growing and protecting trees along the lengths of our rivers and streams safeguards our water, provides vital habitat for our threatened salmon species, and improves resilience to climate change. To realize those functions, time is of the essence: trees take years—or even decades—to grow tall enough to provide significant shade, habitat, and carbon sequestration benefits. Meanwhile, land conversion pressures from expanding development threaten to lock in riparian impairment.
Intact forested riparian corridors can better preserve and restore habitat function than land converted to residential or commercial development. A comprehensive suite of tools, including improved regulatory frameworks and funding for incentives, must be deployed to deliver the scale and pace of riparian protection and restoration needed to achieve resilience in Puget Sound.
Implementing the Benthic Index of Biotic Integration and other Implementation Strategies supports the success of this strategy.
Growing and protecting trees along the lengths of our rivers and streams safeguards our water, provides vital habitat for our threatened salmon species, and improves resilience to climate change. To realize those functions, time is of the essence: trees take years—or even decades—to grow tall enough to provide significant shade, habitat, and carbon sequestration benefits. Meanwhile, land conversion pressures from expanding development threaten to lock in riparian impairment.
Intact forested riparian corridors can better preserve and restore habitat function than land converted to residential or commercial development. A comprehensive suite of tools, including improved regulatory frameworks and funding for incentives, must be deployed to deliver the scale and pace of riparian protection and restoration needed to achieve resilience in Puget Sound.
Implementing the Benthic Index of Biotic Integration and other Implementation Strategies supports the success of this strategy.
DESIRED OUTCOMES
Ecologically important lands Restore riparian and in-stream habitat
Actions
Establish and implement science-based riparian protection, restoration, and management policies that result in a minimum ‘1 Site Potential Tree Height’ forested riparian area standard. (ID #11)
Key opportunities for 2022-2026 include:
- Establish and implement a statewide riparian standard and ensure it is included in local land use planning and regulation;
- Establish a riparian plant propagation program at public and private nurseries to meet future riparian restoration needs;
- Gather and evaluate riparian management, guidance, and implementation data;
- Enhance funding for and capacity of riparian area landowners, tribal governments, local governments, and nongovernmental organizations (for example, Conservation Corps) to acquire, restore, and manage riparian properties;
- Develop a monitoring program to track implementation and effectiveness of a variety of tools and incentives.
Provide incentives, financial and technical support to local jurisdictions that have prioritized riparian restoration. (ID #201)
Key opportunities for 2022-2026 include:
- Fund and implement technical assistance and outreach programs with riparian landowners to assist in the implementation of BMPs that will protect, restore, and enhance riparian habitat;
- Establish a riparian reserve program that provides financial incentives for all landowners to set aside and restore riparian areas important for salmon recovery;
- Provide technical support and enforcement capacity to local jurisdictions;
- Support policies that improve effectiveness and advance the intent of the GMA and SMP.
Implementation Considerations
Key opportunities for 2022-2026 to integrate human wellbeing considerations and climate change responses into efforts include:
Human Wellbeing
- Improve residents’ knowledge of and access to riparian areas to foster a sense of place and increase political will for protecting and restoring these areas.
- Connect riparian area protection and restoration to benefits for both landowners and communities.
- Offer incentives in expedited procedural frameworks to make restorative practices easier and faster for landowners.
- Increase resources and capacities of local agencies to protect and restore riparian areas.
Climate Change
- Factor future climate conditions into integrated planning processes for riparian protection and restoration projects.
- Promote riparian protection and restoration actions that also increase carbon sequestration.
- Incorporate targeted climate change education into technical and financial assistance programs for landowners.
Ongoing Programs
Ongoing programs provide regulatory oversight, technical support, implementation resources, funding, or guidance and serve as the critical foundation for Puget Sound recovery. The following is a list of example state and federal ongoing programs that help to implement this strategy. Many more local, tribal nations, and nongovernmental programs exist that support this strategy.