Aquatic biota

About this indicator: King County's Aquatic Biota Index is derived from two main groupings of results regarding numbers of fish and stream insects. This weighting system applies 60 percent of fish results and 40 percent of the stream insects, or benthic indicators of biodiversity index results. Chinook salmon are the only fish reflected in this category. Other fish species should be included in the assessment of aquatic biota health, but there is no consistently collected data regarding these animals in King County.

Status: Information gathered over the last 100 years indicates an overall decline in the health of native, naturally spawning salmon populations in Puget Sound watersheds.

Influencing factors: Development and deteriorating water quality impact wildlife habitat — particularly the amounts of hard or paved surfaces, loss of tree cover and other changes to natural environments.

What you can do:

• Plant trees and reduce impervious surfaces by using pervious pavers in drive and walkways.
• Encourage your local city or town to make tree protection regulations stronger.
• Contact your elected officials and express how important wildlife protections are to you—including salmon restoration.

More information about King County's Fish and Stream Insects is available by continuing below for these measures:

• Chinook Salmon
• Stream Insect Health

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Chinook Salmon

About this indicator: Salmonid fishes native to King County include chinook, coho, sockeye/kokanee, pink and chum salmon, rainbow (including the anadromous form called "steelhead"), cutthroat, bull and dolly varden trout and pygmy and mountain whitefish. Each of these species has a diverse life history and relies upon a range of habitats for spawning, rearing, feeding and migration. They also have major cultural, economic and political roles in the Pacific Northwest. Of these, Chinook, Bull trout, and Steelhead have been listed for protection under the Endangered Species Act. Throughout much of Washington State, the harvest and hatchery propagation of these fish populations and to a lesser extent, their habitat, are co-managed by the State of Washington, through the Washington State Department of Fish and Wildlife (WA DFW), and the treaty Indian tribes.

King County includes all or portions of four major watersheds, which are denitified by Watershed Resource Inventory Areas (WRIA): the Snohomish (WRIA 7), Cedar/Lake Washington (WRIA 8), Green/Duwamish (WRIA 9) and Puyallup/White (WRIA 10). Although King County does not manage fish populations directly, it does have jurisdictional responsibility for many activities, including land-use regulation, which greatly influences the quantity, quality and distribution of salmon habitats.

Natural chinook salmon spawning ground escapement is the number of mature, adult chinook salmon that escape fisheries and return to their stream of origin to spawn naturally. It is an indicator of the abundance of chinook salmon and can be used, along with other population indicators, to evaluate the overall health of marine and freshwater ecosystems.

Chinook salmon long-term recovery goals (recovery goals) were established to be reflective of characteristics of a viable salmon population¹: abundance, geographic distribution, genetic and phenotypic diversity and productivity. These recovery goals were established for watersheds through the cooperative Puget Sound Shared Strategy process. The recovery goals to be targeted are 64,000 for WRIA 7, 12,200 for WRIA 8 and 27,000 for WRIA 9. There are no recovery goals for WRIA 10.

This indicator is based on the percent of natural chinook salmon escapement with respect to an adjusted annual recovery goal for each WRIA, where applicable. Our weighting system for this indicator is applied equally to WRIA 7, 8 and 9

Status: With the exception of increases on the Cedar (WRIA 8) and White Rivers (WRIA 10), the 2007 fish count was down from 2006 in WRIA 7, Lake Sammamish (WRIA 8) and WRIA 9. The increase on the White River (WRIA 10) was more than double in 2006 and has shown a steady increase since about 2000. Natural variations are expected due to a wide variety of influencing factors. Overall, the natural chinook salmon escapement results for each WRIA were far below the respective adjusted annual recovery goal and comprised of only 12 percent of the recovery target.

Influencing factors: Natural Chinook salmon escapement is related to the habitat and water quality of the County's rivers and streams, along with several other factors such as precipitation, hatcheries, biology, harvest, and flow management. Some annual variation in salmon returns is to be expected and is unrelated to local human influences. For example, natural cycles of ocean warming and cooling and longer term trends in climate can also greatly affect local salmonid productivity.

Existing DNRP response: Inter-jurisdictional, watershed-based salmon conservation plans have been completed for WRIA's 7, 8, 9 and 10. The plans were submitted to federal agencies for review in 2005, and accepted by the National Marine Fisheries Service in February 2006 with a few additions. The plans include actions for meeting long-term recovery goals. King County serves as the lead agency for two WRIA's and participates in the efforts and activities of all four. The county will continue its participation in the WRIA process and the larger, region wide Shared Strategy For Puget Sound process to secure funding for and implement the measures identified in these plans toward habitat improvement projects that should help to recover the species.

Priority new actions: King County is entering the implementation phase for the WRIA 7, 8 and 9 Salmon Conservation and Habitat Plans.

¹ A viable salmon population is defined as one with a negligible risk of extinction in 100 years. Negligible has been taken to mean less than 5%.

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Stream Insect Health

About this indicator: King County monitors stream health by collecting samples of benthic macroinvertebrates, commonly referred to as "bugs," from selected streams.

Scientists use a scorecard system called the Benthic Index of Biotic Integrity (B-IBI) to rank the health of streams. The scores are based on the types of stream bugs living in the stream and the number of different kinds of stream bugs present. By using this scoring system, we can compare very different streams to each other and rank their ecological health.

Status: The 2003 data are the most recent available. A total of 128 stations in 55 streams within 15 sub-basins across the Lake Washington/Cedar/Sammamish watershed (WRIA 8) and the Green/Duwamish watershed (WRIA 9) were sampled. Results for unincorporated and incorporated areas within King County are dramatically different. In 2003, 31 percent of the sampled streams in unincorporated areas had benthic insect communities in good or excellent condition, whereas none of the stream stations in incorporated areas rated this high.

Influencing factors: Development, pollutant runoff, loss of forest cover, stream and wetland ecological health, elevated stream temperatures, fish migration barriers, and of invasive and non-native plants are a few factors that can have an affect on the stream insect populations. Insufficient flows in streams can reduce number of sampling sites, affecting annual comparisons.

Existing DNRP response: WLR continues to implement programs focusing on minimizing degradation from development and pollutant runoff from farms, preventing the loss of forest cover and its numerous stormwater benefits, or implementing watershed improvement projects. King County's Stormwater Program focuses on flow control to minimize adverse effects from development, provides surface water design standards for new development and inspects and maintains stormwater control facilities.

The county continues to work with landowners to restore streamside parcels that have important benefits as aquatic resources. In addition, WLR's capital projects program builds small and large stream and wetland enhancement projects. Basin stewards work with the local community to respond to resident's inquiries for watershed protection, coordinate efforts among diverse public agencies, facilitate watershed project implementation, provide assistance to monitoring programs and provide public education opportunities. The Agriculture Program works with farmers and livestock owners to prevent agricultural pollutants from running off into streams.

Priority new actions: Implementation of the county's Critical Areas Ordinance and federal total maximum daily load (TMDL) requirements for impaired water bodies are regulations that will also support water quality improvements in both incorporated and unincorporated areas.

The taxonomic analysis of the 2005, 2006 and 2007 B-IBI samples will be complete in late 2008.

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