'CERTIFIED SHORE STEWARDS'
Private property owners yield information and recognition for protecting and
conserving their own nearshore resources
1. PROJECT SUMMARY
Island County recognizes, educates and assists shoreline property owners who adopt specific 'best management practices' and become Certified Shore Stewards. This volunteer-driven program is designed, funded and managed by the county Marine Resources Committee [MRC] to conserve and restore Puget Sound salmonid and intertidal nearshore marine habitats on private properties. The pilot program is meeting success with waterfront homeowners that need and appreciate increased access to information, and support with restoration efforts.
Signage affords recognition of owners' efforts 'Branding'
In partnership with the Natural Resources Conservation Service [NRCS]; both local Conservation Districts; Washington State University Extension and two hundred Island County/WSU Beach Watcher volunteers -- the MRC plans to enhance this program's scope in 2004. Together these partners will target participation by farmers, private forest owners and ranchers, so they may appreciate and benefit from the Shore Stewards program as well.
2. THE NEED FOR SHORE STEWARDS
A substantial number of the county's shoreline owners indicate that they
cannot determine whether a nearshore is healthy or unhealthy -- merely from
a lack of reliable information. Their motives are not improper, their access
to reliable marine-stewardship information is inadequate. The cure is not
heavy-handed regulation: top-down directives from governmental agencies do
not always yield the desired landowner reaction. As it is, regulators and
enforcement agents are under fiscal constraints that obviate such measures.
Shore Stewards acknowledges that property owners are in charge. The Northwest
Straits Initiative spawned seven county MRCs in northern Puget Sound on the
presumption that those closest to environmental resources were in the best
position to affect good stewardship of those resources. In such matters, "possession
is nine-tenths of the law."
By design, Shore Stewards provides respect and recognition for beneficial
stewardship practices. It is a vehicle to deliver information, assistance,
support and incentives where they are most needed. [See www.shorestewards.org
opening by July 15th]
2. THE NEED FOR SHORE STEWARDS
While substantial salmon recovery actions, riparian restoration projects
and marine conservation efforts are now underway Sound-wide, the vast majority
of coastal and nearshore 'real estate' is under the exclusive control of private
property owners. Whether vacation homes, permanent residents, farmers, foresters,
ranchers, businesses or government facilities -- as a group, their land-and-water-use
practices will have more direct effect upon the condition of shoreline and
marine resources than all other stakeholders.
Yet they cannot be said to act as a 'group' with respect to their nearshores.
These fortunate owners unquestionably appreciate the value of their real estate.
Their investments and improvements establish that fact. However, experience
informs the sponsoring MRC that these same owners are often unfamiliar with
subtle coastal processes and complex marine habitats existing within the "scenery."
As a result, many residents are innocently unaware of the correct measures
- or which to avoid - affecting their immediately-neighboring marine resources.
Certainly none have any intention to cause harm. Among these owners are numerous
ag properties with considerably longer shoreline areas, and the ability to
affect far more habitats positively. They deserve and will benefit from involvement
in, and recognition from the Shore Stewards program.
4. A COLLABORATION OF SUPPORTERS
Six partners -- local, state and federal -- cooperatively support the Shore
Stewards program: Island County (local government, through its Marine Resources
Committee), the NRCS (Department of Agriculture, federal agency), two Conservation
Districts (state elected districts), a state university Cooperative Extension
office, and one of its volunteer programs (WSU Beach Watchers).
A. Project Lead - Island County MRC (www.islandcountymrc.org)
Lead sponsor Island County Marine Resources Committee is a 13 member citizen-volunteer
panel of varied stakeholders appointed by and advisory to the County Commissioners.
A full-time executive director and a part-time administrative assistant staff
the MRC. This panel one of seven county-participants in the congressionally-adopted
Northwest Straits Initiative [www.nwstraits.org]; and is represented on the
regional Northwest Straits Commission.
The Commission provides technical support, training and financial resources
to over a hundred MRC appointees and their MRCs, and is fiscally administered
by the Department of Ecology under the operational supervision of the Padilla
Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve.
This innovative structure employs a county-based "bottom-up" approach
to the protection of the region's vital marine resources by diverse stakeholders
brought together expressly for that purpose. Each MRC sets local priorities,
investigates conditions by funding assessments, sponsors restoration and outreach
projects, and recommends science-based marine-policy to their respective local
governments.
Over 100 active volunteers, representing local planners, tribal co-managers,
and the scientific, economic, commercial fisheries, recreational, and conservation
communities have accepted local MRC appointments.
B. Natural Resources Conservation Service (www.nrcs.usda.org)
The USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service is the federal agency that
assists people to conserve natural resources on private lands. The Service
is a ready-made technical-support source for Shore Stewards participants,
and ideally positioned to benefit the agricultural sector. Farmers, ranchers,
and other agricultural producers rely on NRCS for assistance through conservation
programs and technical information to protect the natural resources on their
land. The voluntary nature of this program and its shoreline focus are compatible
with many existing services offered by NRCS. Formerly the Soil Conservation
Service, NRCS brings 60 years of scientific and technical expertise to the
Partnership. It has established a policy of encouraging partnerships such
as are involved in the program. (see http://www.nrcs.usda.gov/partners/)
"NRCS is embarking on a major effort, called locally-led conservation,
which is an extension of the agency's traditional assistance to individual
farmers and ranchers for planning and installing conservation practices for
soil erosion control, water management and other purposes. It means that local
people, generally with the leadership of conservation districts along with
NRCS technical assistance, will assess their natural resource conditions and
needs; set goals; identify ways to solve resource problems; utilize a broad
array of programs to implement solutions; and measure their success. This
voluntary effort is fostered by the conservation provisions of the 1996 Farm
Bill and is designed to better tailor the Agency's assistance to meet the
needs of individuals and communities served."
-- A Strategy For The 21st Century, NRCS www.nrcs.usda.gov/programs/watershed/Locally_Led/locallyled.html
C. Whidbey Conservation District [serves Whidbey island only]
Island County's two islands are each supported by Conservation Districts --
a unique form of non-regulatory government matching local resource needs with
technical and financial resources, supporting landowners to solve on-the-ground
conservation needs. Chapter 89.08 of the Revised Code of Washington is the
legislative basis for conservation district work in Washington. Each conservation
district is directed by a five-member Board of Supervisors:
· Three members are locally elected, and at least two of the three
elected supervisors must be landowners or operators of a farm.
· Two members are appointed by the Washington State Conservation Commission,
and at least one must be a landowner or operate a farm.
Many of the conservation programs delivered by the Districts are compatible
with Shore Stewards' goals. For example, the Conservation Reserve Enhancement
Program (CREP) is a joint partnership between the State and USDA, and is administered
by the Washington State Conservation Commission and the Farm Services Agency
(FSA). The agreement was signed in 1998 and provides incentives to restore
and improve salmon and steelhead habitat on private land.
D. Snohomish Conservation District
(http://www.snohomishcd.org/ Camano)
The counterpart District for Camano Island. As to both Districts, the Shore Stewards program's encouragement of and reliance on volunteered conservation practices by private landowners is perfectly timed for the "Agriculture, Fish and Water (AFW)" process. At this writing: "Negotiations have begun between the Agriculture community and the state departments of Agriculture, Fish and Wildlife, and Ecology, as well as the Washington State Conservation Commission and staff from the Governor's Office, representatives from federal agencies, local government, interested legislators, environmental groups, and Tribes. This collaborative process called Agriculture, Fish and Water (AFW) is aimed at voluntary compliance." (July 5, 2003) http://afw.scc.wa.gov/
E. Washington State University Cooperative Extension (www.island.wsu.edu)
This office has provided substantial office and managerial support to the
MRC and the Shore Stewards project in particular. Its director serves as financial
lead to the MRC, and supervises the program staff.
F. WSU Beachwatchers (www.beachwatchers.org)
The WSU Beach Watchers program (200 strong) supplies the vast majority of
volunteers to the program, who perform every manner of routine to skilled
service in support of participants' conservation practices. All Beach Watchers
have undergone a 100 hour comprehensive training program on the issues. They
were instrumental in the pilot project's start-up and success.
5. YEAR TWO OBJECTIVES FOR 2004
Primarily, new memberships, with the goal of this proposal to add 140 - 200 new program participants by the end of August, 2004, and a project video production. Six new workshops are to be scheduled. Current deliverables include signage (see above), a Power Point presentation, an application [attached], a forty-page 'best management practices booklet' [attached] and a website. Strong program branding enables future adoption anywhere and everywhere that has marine waterfront properties.
6. SPECIALIZED STRENGTHS OF SHORE STEWARDS
There are two distinct bases of necessity for this program:
> Shore Stewards addresses marine shoreline issues/ESA listing:
By objective standards of biological assessment, the marine resources of Puget
Sound have been in alarming - and steady - decline for the past forty years.
Upon science-based examinations, many of the factors negatively impacting
these habitats and species are the unintended consequences of human co-habitation.
CONCLUSION: Although we humans are among the species least directly dependent
upon nearshore resources and intertidal habitats, our collective conduct can
have the most influence on their condition.
This sad condition became a matter of broadest public concern in March of
1999, as wild Puget Sound Chinook and other salmonids in local waters were
listed under the Endangered Species Act. Other fish, birds, aquatic flora
and marine mammals are also threatened, or have diminished in spatial coverage.
Island County has over 4,500 shoreline property owners of all types, encircling
212 miles of Whidbey and Camano Islands in northern Puget Sound. At 208 sq.mi.
it is the second smallest Washington county, yet only one other county exceeds
its population growth rate (total approx 75,000).
These coveted waterfront properties are situated at the heart of Puget Sound's
principal marine salmonid migration corridors.
Miles of endangered or threatened nearshore habitat is located on private
property, under the control of owners with little or no access to nearshore
stewardship information or best management practices for their properties.
Issues such as the viability of eelgrass beds, how and whether to harden a
shoreline with a bulkhead, when and where forage fish spawn, and the usefulness
of shoreline shade plants are generally unfamiliar to well-meaning owners.
> Shore Stewards will target/involve ag owners:
The "Island County Limiting Factors Report" recently prepared by
the Washington Conservation Commission in conjunction with salmon recovery
baselines, synopsized the county's demographics as follows:
"The natural characteristics of WRIA 6 are directly affected by human
population and land use. Island County is the second smallest but second fastest
growing county in Washington State. Between 1980 and 1990, the County's population
grew by 37 %, the highest in the state. The 1997 population was 71,600. The
incorporated Urban Growth Areas of Oak Harbor, Langley and Coupeville total
12.8 sq. km. Government lands total 42.8 sq. km, including state parks and
Whidbey Naval Air Station. Sixty-two percent (329.2 sqkm) of Island County's
land is zoned for residential land use. Lands zoned for forest management
(44.5 sqkm) and agriculture (18.6 sq.km) comprise 12 % of County land. About
45 % of these parcels have not been developed.
Agriculture has been an important historical land use in WRIA 6, though it
is relatively small in comparison to other counties. In 1997, there were 622
parcels (52.8 sqkm ) of land in agricultural tax programs. Of this total,
40.2 sqkm were in parcels 0.08 sqkm (20 ac) or larger. In 1987, there were
only 4 farms over 2.0 sqkm in size.
Island County considers its housing stock to be its "largest long-term
capital asset." Residential development encompasses much of the WRIA
6 shoreline and is expanding into rural and forested areas. The shorelines
are in high demand for private beachfront homes and sites with scenic vistas
of the water and mountains. The parcels comprising nearly 80 % of the County's
shoreline are developed, primarily with platted single-family communities."
[ http://salmon.scc.wa.gov/reports/wria6sum.pdf ]
The farm demographics show 19,526 acres in farms, 13.67% of the county's
133,504 total acreage [Source: WASS], alhough the population percentage of
employees in ag, forestry and Fishing is but 2%, ag operators represent a
specific, targetable group of nearshore owner/users whose conservation behavior
is of extraordinary impact.
There is an overwhelming need to devise strategies and programs that attract
this population and successfully encourage the adoption of good stewardship
practices upon their shoreline real estate. Among all categories of shore
owners, agricultural professionals stand to have the most impact, if only
because the average county farm is 61 acres in size.
7. TARGETING AGRICULTURAL PARTICIPANTS
This proposal funds the targeted recruitment of, inclusion of, and program
support for agricultural owners - of farms, timber and ranches -- in the "Certified
Shore Stewards" program. Island County's substantial population of ag-property
owners either abut its 212 miles of marine shores, or share a watershed with
the marine waterfront.
The MRC and its partners submit that voluntary adoption of good stewardship
practices by farmers and ranchers is a) in their own best interests, b) benefits
a regional salmon recovery effort, and c) conserves important intertidal resources
that are under enormous pressure locally.
In practice, ag operators are very conscious of the necessity of good stewardship
practices with their land, and will be instructive to homeowners.
8. A NEW SCOPE OF WORK
Measureable project objectives of the scope of work include:
a. refine and expand the Camano island program with 40-50 new enrollees;
b. include & recruit farming, ranching and forestry property owners on
Camano;
c. recruit and enroll 100 - 150 new program participants on Whidbey island;
d. with numerous agriculture land users (as many as can be) targeted to volunteer;
e. conduct a total of six new workshops on nearshore issues for program participants;
f. promote and accomplish outreach presentations for the county's realtors;
farm groups, neighborhood organizations, service groups, and the public.
g. contract with department of corrections for 500 additional aluminum, reflective
signs;
h. produce a videotape on the project.
9. METHODOLOGY
The core methodology of this program is to enlist those in the best position
to protect shoreline habitats: property owners. Shore Stewards has been developed
and implemented as a program that educates and enlists such owners to become
innovators in waterfront living. To get started, selected early-innovators
with leadership characteristics were introduced and publicized the project.
New participants fill out an application, meet established criteria and certify
their waterfront property as a salmon-friendly habitat.
All are accepted, and receive the sign (recognition), the best management
practices booklet (education/information), and are eligible for direct staff
support and workshop attendance.
The ten basic tenets of shoreline living that are agreed to by participants
improve the nearshore habitat for salmon and other species. They include:
- Use water wisely.
- Maintain your septic system.
- Limit pesticide and fertilizer usage.
- Manage your upland water runoff.
- Encourage native plants and trees.
- Know the permit procedures for shoreline development.
- Develop bluffs with care.
- Minimize bulkheads.
- Respect Intertidal life.
- Preserve eelgrass beds and forage fish spawning habitats.
10. RESEARCH/MANAGEMENT IMPLICATIONS
The potential of converting the custodians of property into habitat stewards has broad and innovative management implications. It works for the simple reason that those closest to a resource are in the best position to care for it. The presumption that homeowners are ill-motivated to behave in a habitat-friendly way is rejected, in favor of the experience that access to good information is vital; and that owners can be good stewards in their own best interests.
11. THE LARGER CONTEXT
From the Limiting Factors report:
"Estuary and Nearshore Habitats. Whidbey and Camano Islands historically
supported a number of estuaries and other nearshore ecosystems. As already
mentioned, most of these sites have been heavily modified by agricultural,
residential and other land uses. Other nearshore sites are still functioning
with natural processes but are under private ownership and vulnerable to future
disturbance. Loss of access to fish passage, loss of connectivity between
streams and tidal waters, and degraded riparian habitat are the main habitat
factors.
Shoreline residential homes continue to have a major impact on the nearshore
environment. Once the homes are built, property owners often construct bulkheads
to protect them from erosion. Bulkheads, docks, groins, and marinas all impact
salmon habitat. Water quality impacts occur when septic systems are installed
for domestic sewage and experience flooding in relation to naturally fluctuating
water levels." [Id.]
The Shore Stewards is distinctly a part and parcel of a larger ongoing effort.
The sponsoring MRC has been undertaking a comprehensive assessment of nearshore
resources and processes since 1999. This has entailed the complete underwater
videography of all eelgrass beds, surveys of forage fish spawning habitats,
surveys of shoreline hardening, a coastal geology assessment of feeder bluffs
and accretion shoreforms, and extensive outreach programs.
The Shore Stewards project enables the MRC to distribute the knowledge and
data it has generated to those in the best position to put it to use. For
example, we will be able to advise participants that their shoreline property
is a surf smelt or sand lance spawning area, or whether their shallows are
occupied by extensive eelgrass beds. They will have access to information
about alternatives to shoreline bulkheading. These are but a few examples.
They can then take responsibility with information they previously lacked.
12. EVALUATION MONITORING
A survey of participants will be undertaken in the summer of 2004 to create a database with suggestions, needs, preferences, topics of interest and evaluations of the program and personnel.
Additional Note: All program materials and literature are reviewed by the
project's science team, consisting of:
· Jim Johannessen, M.S., Coastal Geologic Services, Inc.
· Jacques White, Ph.D., People for Puget Sound
· Tom Mumford, Ph.D., Department of Natural Resources
Go to the Shore Stewards
Website
