We developed a strategy to protect and promote natural shorelines in Puget Sound. Now what?
On May 2, 2018, the Habitat Strategic Initiative- partnering with Shore Friendly Kitsap and the Puget Sound Partnership- hosted a workshop at the Suquamish House of Awakened Culture. The goal of the workshop was to identify what the Puget Sound Partnership’s Ecosystem Coordination Board (ECB) can do to help find long-term and sustainable funding for both:
- shoreline homeowner education and incentive programs (e.g. “Shore Friendly”), and
- implementation of on-the-ground projects that remove shoreline armoring.
Shoreline homeowner education and incentive programs have been very successful in Puget Sound, and they’ve primarily been supported through EPA Geographic Fund grants given out by the Marine & Nearshore Lead Organization (predecessor of the Habitat Strategic Initiative).
As the Marine & Nearshore grant program sunsets, it is passing on a recommendation now echoed in the Shoreline Armoring Implementation Strategy to pursue ways to grow and sustain these important programs. With most of the grant funding expiring in 2018, the region needs to start working now to create a sustainable funding pathway for programs like Shore Friendly.
A beautiful day to gather in Suquamish, learn about education and incentive programs, and make progress on developing ongoing funding
The workshop had close to 50 participants, with notable attendees including Washington State Senator Christine Rolfes, Kitsap County Commissioner Charlotte Garrido, Suquamish Chair Leonard Forsman, the co-chairs of the Governor’s Southern Resident Killer Whale Task Force, Stephanie Solien and Les Purce, and ECB Chair Will Hall.
In the morning, workshop participants learned about “Shore Friendly” and similar programs that conduct homeowner outreach and education to incentivize voluntary armoring removal. A highlight was hearing first-hand success stories of the Shore Friendly program from a Kitsap homeowner that has removed her bulkhead and a contractor who has done shoreline armoring removal projects.
For a taste of the morning session, check out this video produced by Shore Friendly Kitsap. The video includes first hand accounts from homeowners about what they learned through the education program and how they decided to restore their shorelines by removing shore armor.
In the afternoon, workshop participants broke out into small discussion groups to brainstorm funding solutions to continue education programs like Shore Friendly when the grants funding them expire. Other groups brainstormed ways to increase funding to do on-the-ground shoreline armoring removal projects throughout Puget Sound. Each participant left the workshop with their personal 15% solution: some small task they committed to do to advance one of the funding options.
Next steps
Ecosystem Coordination Board chair Will Hall and Partnership Boards Coordinator Tristan Peter-Contesse presented the funding solutions generated at the workshop at the May 17 ECB meeting. After a lively dialogue, the ECB identified a few preferred options and developed a working group to explore viability. This work group will report back at the board’s August meeting, at which point the ECB may propose a legislative request or other actions to secure a sustainable funding source for shoreline homeowner incentive programs and projects. Additionally, some of the ideas generated during the workshop will be carried forward into the Southern Resident Killer Whale task force.
Did you know? The Implementation Strategies are the plans to make strategic progress on our Puget Sound recovery goals. Several of these strategies are already being carried out by partners across the region. Beyond creating and improving the strategies, the Habitat Strategic Initiative adds value by identifying key barriers holding up progress and convening the right people to work on the issue. In this case, the ECB, a diverse board of Puget Sound leaders, were the right people to take on the funding obstacle.