Progress on Protecting Fish and Streams

The 2011 Legislative Session saw progress in some areas
that have been at the center of controversy for years.
One such instance was ESHB 1886, which passed with
broad, bipartisan support and enacts a new approach to protecting
fish and streams adjacent to agricultural land.

WEC has been working on this issue side by side with our
partners at Futurewise and The Nature Conservancy. In the
past few years, we have engaged in a legislatively-mandated
conversation, facilitated by the Ruckelshaus Center, which
brought together farming interests, local governments and
environmental advocates to try to find common ground. This
is important because for years, environmental, county and
farming interests have been locked in an unproductive battle
over the implementation of existing laws.

WEC participated in the process because, in most places, the
status quo is not working to protect critical habitat for fish and
wildlife. Despite laws on the books, most streams and rivers
in farming country are not actually required to be protected
through buffers or other means. Faced with the dire need to
promote both protection and restoration of habitat to save
dwindling fish runs, WEC and our partners sought to frame
up an alternative and more collaborative approach that both
protected the environment and met the needs of the farming
community. While the solution passed this session is not
perfect, it provides a real opportunity for progress.

The new law creates a voluntary program for the protection
and restoration of critical riparian habitat on agricultural
lands, supported by concrete benchmarks and enhanced enforcement of existing regulations. It requires watersheds to develop benchmarks for success that are subject to state agency
approval. If the benchmarks are not met or the program is
unfunded, then counties must adopt and enforce binding
regulations to protect critical areas on agricultural lands.

What this legislation offers is a new paradigm that focuses on
voluntary action. And importantly, it has buy in from farmers
and promotes a collaborative, rather than an adversarial,
approach to protecting key habitat. This is exciting in the near
term and there is potential for significant federal dollars in an
area where there is a strong need for funding.

While any paradigm shift presents risks and challenges, we are
proud to be a part of this effort to break existing gridlock and
promote solutions that will deliver real on-the-ground results.