Sno-Stilly Riparian Zone Management Strategy

Efforts

Efforts describe the goal-oriented activites of workgroups

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This is an evolving long-term project led by NOAA Restoration Center that aims to integrate multiple efforts to cultivate a more comprehensive riparian zone management strategy in the Snohomish-Stillaguamish lowlands, that integrates Salmon Recovery and TMDL implementation with farmland preservation and regulatory coordination as part of Coordinated Investment efforts.

This work follows some initial collaboration between SCD and NOAA in the Working Buffer Pilot Project. It has been running parallel to Snohomish Agricultural Resilience efforts led by SCD, which includes the Snohomish Farmland Protection Strategy work built around mapping and prioritization by PCC Farmland Trust and supported by the Snohomish Sustainable Lands Strategy.

Status

• Snohomish CD secured NEP funding for a planning phase and the County and NOAA have pledged technical assistance.
• We have assembled REFERENCE MATERIALS (see below) that inform riparian zone management in the Sno-Stilly lowlands.
• We have developed a preliminary Geographic Information System to support discussion, decisions, and quantification (see below).
• We have had an initial "meet and greet" with riparian zone field staff from Snohomish County (including Surface Water Management and Weed Control), Snohomish Conservation District, Tulalip Tribes, Stillaguamish Tribe of Indians, and Sound Salmon Solutions, which are the primary riparian zone project managers in the Sno-Stilly lowlands.

Geographic Information System

To support discussion, analysis and quantification of riparian zone work, NOAA staff are developing a multi-scale riparian zone geodatabase, using best available local data sources to explore how we ask questions about the riparian zone, and how broad strategies defined by legal mandates translate into a detailed understanding of local landscapes.

Contact paul.r.cereghino@noaa.gov for data sharing.

• Additional KMZ data are available from a google drive folder.

Products

• File:SCD 2016 riparian easement grant proposal.pdf describes funding requested from NEP riparian easement program for planning.
• File:SCD 2016 riparian easement grant figures.pdf provides maps and concept for expanded riparian zone analysis.
• Pilot areas were selected based on recent prioritization work in the Lower Stillaguamish Floodplain, North Fork Stillaguamish Floodplain, Jim Creek Watershed, and Pilchuck Creek Watershed, recent habitat analysis in Pilchuck River Watershed, and impending TMDL analyses in the Pilchuck River Watershed and French Creek Watershed.
• Draft appendix describing the spatial framework File:Cereghino 2017 DRAFT riparian framework.pdf

Reference Materials

Stillaguamish River strategies build on Recovery planning and TMDL temperature analysis.

• STAG 2000 provides the technical basis for salmon recovery planning.
• USACE 2000 describes an Army Corps General Investigation of restoration in the Stillaguamish.
• Pelletier & Bilhimer 2004 describes assessment of temperature violations under Clean Water Act
• Turner et al 2004 describes a council approved flood management strategy.
• SIRC 2005 is the published Stillaguamish Salmon Recovery Plan.
• Lawrence 2006 stillaguamish temperature TMDL strategy describes an implementation strategy to resolve findings of Pelletier & Bilhimer 2004.
• Griffith & Fuller 2012 describes long range salmon recovery targets in the Stillaguamish Delta.
• Hall et al 2014 describes model analysis of factors correlated with peak flow and low flow trends.
• Walter et al 2014 describes a strategy for managing peak flows for chinook survival.
• Leonetti 2015 augments the implementation strategy through identification of cold water refugia.
• STAG 2015 describes an acquisition strategy for restoration of floodplain processes.

Snohomish River work builds on Salmon Recovery Planning, Pilchuck River Watershed assessments, French Creek Watershed analyses, and the impending Temperature and Fecal Coliform TMDL.

• Savery & Hook 2003 describes an initial habitat survey of the Pilchuck River.
• FCWMC 2004 describes inter-agency planning in the French Creek Watershed
• SBSRF 2005 is the published salmon recovery plan
• DeVries 2010 describes geomorphic conditions in the Lower Skykomish Floodplain, a related reach scale plan is not yet available.
• SCSWM 2012 integrates assessments of the Pilchuck River Watershed integrating several reports.
• File:SCSWM 2012 pilchuck river geomorphic assessment.pdf
• File:SCSWM 2012 pilchuck river habitat assessment.pdf
• File:Flint et al 2013 woods creek habitat.pdf - habitat assessment in the priority Woods Creek, while outside the focus area, provides insight into recovery strategies.
• File:Flint 2012 woods creek riparian action plan.pdf - describes riparian strategy based on temperature analysis.
• File:DeVries 2015 lower snohomish geomorphic assessment.pdf describes geomorphic context of the lower snohomish.
• File:SCSWM et al 2015 snohomish salmon protection plan.pdf describes a watershed protection strategy for salmon recovery.
• A TMDL for fecal coliform and temperature is pending for French and Pilchuck.

bacteria associated with feces that indicate the likelihood that drinking water will cause a bacterial infection.