S-1573.1  _______________________________________________

                         SENATE BILL 6011

          _______________________________________________

State of Washington      57th Legislature     2001 Regular Session

By Senators Jacobsen and Kline

Read first time 02/13/2001.  Referred to Committee on Natural Resources, Parks & Shorelines.

Coordinating the salmon recovery effort.

    AN ACT Relating to promoting regional coordination of salmon recovery planning; and creating a new section.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON:

NEW SECTION. Sec. 1.  (1) The legislature finds that the building blocks of the state's salmon recovery strategy are the locally developed and implemented salmon recovery plans and activities.  Such watershed and regional efforts as the lower Columbia fish recovery board, upper Columbia salmon recovery region, Puget Sound tri-county assembly, Puget Sound shared strategy, Skagit watershed council, Chehalis basin partnership, Hood Canal coordinating council, Snake river conservation district, and numerous other salmon recovery and water resources planning entities bring a depth of local experience, expertise, and resources into salmon recovery.  Each of these watershed and regional entities is different and unique, but they have in common a shared objective of recovering salmon populations that occur throughout large regions of the state.  For the most effective state recovery strategy, incentives for coordination throughout salmon recovery regions are needed.

    (2) Therefore, it is the purpose of this act to encourage the coordination of watershed and regional level efforts addressing salmon recovery-related activities through the creation of regional entities that encompass state salmon recovery regions.  Incentives for watershed and regional coordination will be provided through state funding and technical assistance that is in addition to existing state assistance for watershed level planning and projects.  The funding and technical assistance will be targeted to those regional efforts organized to coordinate salmon conservation strategies, plans, and projects across individual watersheds; promote prioritization of proposed funding for projects and other recovery activities among these watersheds; and develop region-wide salmon conservation and recovery plans for acceptance by federal agencies administering the endangered species act.

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