Proceedings of the 2007 Georgia Basin Puget Sound Research Conference
Session 1C: Modeling and Decision Support Tools I
Chair: Julia Bos
Green Infrastructure Assessment Tool Applied to an Alternative Futures Application
Under the auspices of several state laws, including the Growth Management Act (RCW 36.70A) and the Shorelines Management Act (RCW 90.58), local governments in the State of Washington are responsible for making and implementing land use decisions that accommodate expected growth while limiting environmental impact. The Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife is supporting local government planners in these efforts by developing wildlife habitat suitability assessment tools and providing guidance applicable over multiple spatial scales. We introduced a Green Infrastructure Geographic Information System (GIS) assessment tool applied to an Alternative Futures application within Kitsap County, Washington. GIS data, including ecoregional assessments, road density, land use/land cover, priority habitats and species, as well as local empirical knowledge, were used to produce a map that depicts current wildlife habitat suitability for the entire county. A process that combined this suitability map with citizen input and county planned development information was used to estimate three different alternative futures for wildlife habitat suitability in the Silverdale community watershed.
Linking Lands: Integration of Wildlife Habitat Mapping into Municipal Policies and Programs
Over the past 7 years LEPS has been working with the Township of Langley, all levels of government, as well as community groups to develop a municipal Wildlife Habitat Conservation Strategy. From the outset, the intent of the multi-stakeholder partnership was to identify habitat in the Township and work with the municipality to identify tools to protect wildlife habitat. The partnership has been extremely successful.
The entire Township has been mapped using 13 habitat classifications. A habitat-species database based on “Wildlife-Habitat Relationships in Oregon and Washington” (O’Neil et al. 2001) links habitat types with species that use that type of habitat. The database indicates that the Township provides habitat for over 250 species of wildlife.
LEPS is working with representatives from the Township to identify municipal policies and programs that can be used to support wildlife habitat conservation, enhancement, and restoration. Goals include:
• Protection of wildlife habitat patches and connectivity
• Integration of habitat protection into policies, and programs
• Implementation program to protect wildlife habitat
• Assessment of the financial implications of wildlife habitat protection, enhancement and restorationThis initiative is an excellent example of how collaboration between government, non-government organizations, and community groups can lead to positive changes both on the ground and in government policy!
Fergus Creek Integrated Watershed Planning
The Fergus Creek Watershed within the City of Surrey is under pressure for development and requires environmental protection to assure a viable fish and wildlife presence in the future. The City of Surrey has proactively undertaken the preparation of an Integrated Plan to preserve existing areas while allowing targeted development of urban and recreational opportunities in the watershed. The Integrated Plan balances the need to maintain and enhance natural areas while providing recreational and urban development opportunities.
Urban planning for largely rural portions of the watershed includes accommodation for high density housing while protecting habitat, wildlife corridors, and critical forested areas. Large contiguous green space areas will provide opportunities to provide wildlife habitat, riparian stream setbacks and interconnect park areas for recreation.
To accommodate the requirement to maintain stream health, advances in analysis techniques have lead to a system that provides a quantitative analysis of both the potential erosion and the availability of aquatic habitat. A complex set of rainwater BMP’s have been optimized for implementation within the watershed. The optimized systems provided a reduction in stream erosion potential while maintaining the stream duration of flows for aquatic habitat and volumetric runoff and reducing the sediment washoff from the watershed.Supporting Fish-Friendly Land and Water Resource Decision Making
Throughout the Puget Sound land and water resource managers plan for salmon recovery and habitat protection by addressing future urbanization and groundwater withdrawals. Often planning and development result in direct impacts to sensitive salmon streams. The time-lag between decision making and the impact to the resource can be decades; the impacts are often incremental and appear insignificant. In Kitsap County these temporal and spatial land use and environmental planning issues are being successfully bridged using “alternative futures” planning process which simulates and assesses future watershed conditions under various land use and water use scenarios.
This paper will present how policymakers use the “alternative futures” planning process to assess and make important land use and population growth decisions while protecting and conserving salmon and water resources.Cumulative Impact Assessments for Shoreline Management
Washington’s Coastal Zone Management Program is implemented primarily through locally adopted plans and regulations approved by the state. The cumulative effects of shoreline development and activities must be addressed in the updated local Shoreline Master Programs. We have developed a conceptual model for systematic quantitative and qualitative evaluation of the cumulative impacts resulting from shoreline modifications and uses as described in the WA State Shoreline guidelines 173-26 WAC. We address the SEPA/NEPA requirements to complete Environmental Impact Statements and Environmental Assessments for SMP updates. We develope a framework for interpretation and use of existing geospatial information and suggest some preliminary case examples.
Driving Forces, Uncertainty, and the Nearshore: Scenarios for the Puget Sound Nearshore
As with coastal ecosystems around the globe, the Puget Sound nearshore is experiencing increasing degradation due to direct and indirect impacts of urbanization. While multiple strategies have been proposed to protect and maintain the current nearshore ecological functions, we do not know their effectiveness under alternative future conditions. In the past, planners have relied on predictive models and visions for creating management strategies. However, the major driving forces currently influencing this region may change and interact in unpredictable manners to create a suite of plausible futures. Our ability to imagine these futures will determine our capacity to plan accordingly. In this paper, we present scenario planning as a tool to delineate a set of planning strategies that seek to protect the Puget Sound Nearshore ecosystem based on the changing needs of the Region over the next 50 years. This paper highlights the first four steps of the entire scenario planning process including: selecting a focal issue, identifying driving forces, ranking importance and uncertainty, and selecting scenario logics. The results of thirty three expert interviews and a one day workshop lead to initial scenario sketches and a regional Puget Sound perspective about where we might be headed.