Jan. 8, 2008
Sims shares King County’s plans to support Puget Sound Partnership
Executive details how county will integrate its Sound clean up efforts regionally
Even as the public awaits an overall Puget Sound Partnership (PSP) action plan due this fall, King County is aggressively integrating its long-standing efforts to restore and protect Puget Sound so that they work hand in hand with the new state agency.
In a report transmitted to the Metropolitan King County Council today, Executive Ron Sims shared the county's Puget Sound recovery work to date and its vision for supporting the Puget Sound Partnership.
"This report makes plain King County's commitment to ensuring that our wide-ranging work improving water quality, reducing toxics, protecting and restoring habitat, and increasing awareness about what the public can do to make a difference, will complement the overarching effort of the Puget Sound Partnership," Sims said.
"Life abounds here. The biodiversity of our Puget Sound is nothing short of astonishing. But the time to act is now if we want to save this remarkable inland sea," Sims said.
The Puget Sound Partnership was created by the Washington State Legislature in 2007 to lead efforts to restore the environmental health of Puget Sound. The Partnership is preparing an Action Agenda – a roadmap for recovery – to be completed by Sept. 1, 2008.
"King County's leadership on Puget Sound restoration efforts should serve as a model to other local governments," said David Dicks, executive director of the Puget Sound Partnership. "I look forward to continuing to work with King County as the Partnership's Action Agenda is developed."
Sims' report outlines King County's plans to play an active role in developing the Partnership's action agenda, increase the county's water quality monitoring and scientific analysis, and refocus work plans where needed to best support PSP.
County departments have formed a Puget Sound Team, which in 2008 will work with the Partnership and other jurisdictions to ensure that King County's expertise and knowledge of Puget Sound are used to:
- Help in developing PSP action agenda priorities.
- Prioritize countywide projects and studies that will help obtain state and federal funding via PSP.
- Assess county readiness and resources for the environmental monitoring required to support PSP.
- Coordinate all county programs related to the restoration and protection of Puget Sound.
- Coordinate regular communication with other partners working to implement recovery in the South Central Puget Sound Action Area.
Sims praised staff, noting that King County is "well on its way to addressing our impacts on the health of Puget Sound and how we will aggressively pursue recovery and protection of this national treasure." But he said there is much more to do and that King County stands ready to work with the region to accomplish its goals.
The report outlines King County's ability to address five immediate actions requested by the Governor via PSP:
- Identify and address areas with immediate septic problems.
- Protect Puget Sound habitat.
- Implement priority projects to restore damaged forests, rivers, shorelines, and marine waters.
- Accelerate control and cleanup of toxic pollution.
- Significantly reduce polluted stormwater runoff.
It also identifies a number of specific actions currently under way that address each of these immediate actions, and identifies technical, data, or regulatory gaps.
Sims was named the South Central Puget Sound Action Area representative on PSP's Ecosystem Coordination Board (ECB) and the board's newly appointed chair in December. He will play a key communications and coordination role with the county's many partners in the South Central Puget Sound Action Area and the other stakeholders represented on the ECB.
"From salmon recovery planning to climate change adaptation, King County has demonstrated its dedication to providing environmental leadership and fostering coordination on issues of regional importance," said Sims. "Restoring and protecting Puget Sound is one of the most important efforts of our generation."