S-1207.4
_______________________________________________
SENATE BILL 5935
_______________________________________________
State of Washington
56th Legislature
1999 Regular Session
By Senators Jacobsen, Oke, Snyder, McDonald, Spanel, Swecker, Sellar,
Morton, Hale, T. Sheldon, Rasmussen, Winsley and Stevens
Read first time 02/16/1999. Referred to Committee on Natural
Resources, Parks & Recreation.
AN ACT Relating to the recovery of salmon;
amending RCW 79.01.2951
and 79.01.2955; adding a new chapter to Title 75 RCW; and declaring
anemergency.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON:
{+ NEW SECTION. +} Sec. 1.
It is the intent of the legislature:
(1) That the managing task force establish
and direct a process
that will provide the best reasonable and necessary habitat along
salmon bearing streams. It will provide a process that will
protect
those streams from undesirable sediments and other harmful substances
coming from the land as a direct use of the land;
(2) That the coordinated resource management
standards created
under RCW 79.01.295 should be used to complete agreements concerning
land uses under this act;
(3) That only ongoing governmental processes
be utilized to
accomplish the purposes of this chapter, including statutorily
authorizing watershed enhancement groups and voluntary salmonenhancement
groups;
(4) That there is established a broad-based
task force of citizens
affected by this chapter to coordinate the implementation of this
section while depending on agency and tribal expertise;
(5) That there be full cooperation with
tribal government and
nontribal commercial fisheries representatives in order to allow
them
to meet their harvest needs from hatchery salmon while each works
with
the state on how to ensure that endangered wild salmon stocks have
total escapement opportunity until there are adequate wild salmon;
(6) That a neutral and unbiased process
established by the task
force be utilized to inspect all pertinent harvesting activities
and
report back to the legislature concerning compliance with the
provisions of this section;
(7) That the task force be fully accountable
to the legislature and
the governor as to the progress and success of the implementation
of
this chapter;
(8) That legislative policy and directives
on salmon habitat and
related water quality programs provide productive solutions;
(9) That prior to implementing other efforts,
the state,
cooperating with landowners, must ensure the control and management
of
surplus runoff water to provide more and cleaner water for fish
while
avoiding environmental damage;
(10) That there be legislative directives
to put a salmon harvest
and escapement program in place at the earliest possible time;
(11) That a state salmon recovery plan
be put in place at the
earliest possible time to meet the requirements of the federal
endangered species act and the federal clean water act especially
in
regards to the portion of federal law addressed by this act;
(12) That fish predation is a major obstacle
to salmon recovery and
this problem must be satisfactorily addressed to obtain the necessary
cooperation needed to put a successful salmon recovery program
inplace;
(13) That the principles that guide this
act are (a) to utilize, to
the fullest extent possible, ongoing procedures such as conservation
district development of land use plans with an added element of
agreed
upon implementation assurance and a monitoring process to obtain
compliance; (b) additional involvement with state and federal agencies
plus tribal input to the fullest extent possible; and (c) to bring
about salmon habitat and water quality conditions considered adequate
to restore salmon, utilizing a cooperative process with the landowner
that establishes agreed upon proper land use that is compatible
with
salmon recovery efforts; and
(14) That a priority to be followed is
to minimize land purchases
and land rentals by the government and to minimize compensation
while
maximizing land use agreements and using available funds to support
programs and processes that bring about salmon recovery in the
most
effective, efficient, cooperative manner with landowners.
{+ NEW SECTION. +} Sec. 2.
The legislature establishes the
following requirements, guidelines, priorities, timelines, targets,
and
accountability for salmon habitat and water quality process programs
to
be developed and implemented as described in this act:
(1) Institute a coordinated program that
landowners and other
affected persons will comfortably participate in;
(2) Place top priority on addressing instream
spawning conditions
first where water is adequate for spawning;
(3) Provide more and cleaner water by
controlling excess runoff
with many small retain and release structures;
(4) Have instream and streambank salmon
spawning projects in one
quarter of the appropriate tributary streams each year for four
years;
(5) After four years, have an action-oriented
program that will
meet the necessary requirements of federal laws, such as the endangered
species act and the clean water act;
(6) Create a proper citizen's body responsible
for reviewing,
monitoring, and reporting to the legislature, the governor's office,
and the news media.
{+ NEW SECTION. +} Sec. 3.
The definitions in this section apply
throughout this chapter unless the context clearly requires otherwise.
(1) "Owner" means the legal owner, lessor-operator
of property and
municipalities.
(2) "Task force" means the managing task
force created in section
4 of this act.
{+ NEW SECTION. +} Sec. 4.
(1) A managing task force is created
to oversee the implementation of this act as well as monitor and
report
progress to the legislature and governor at regular and reasonableintervals.
(2) The task force is authorized to select
a director and
secretarial personnel to fulfill the members' needs to carry out
the
intent of this act.
(3) Ten regular members shall be appointed
by the legislature,
shared equally between the majority leader and minority leaders
in the
senate and the co-speakers of the house of representatives, and
two
members appointed by the governor with state agencies as nonvoting
ex
officio members. Tribes will be asked to place four regular
members,
one each from four different regions of the state.
(4) Members appointed to fill the indicated
number of positions
shall come from nominees offered from commercial fisheries, one
recreational fishery, one city government, one county government,
one
directly affected business, one small landowner from the west side
of
the state, one agriculture from irrigated, nonirrigated, livestock
from
eastern Washington, three, agriculture from western Washington,
two.
The governor will appoint two regular
members at large, one from
eastern Washington and one from the governor's salmon recovery
office.
Ex officio agency members shall come from
the departments of fish
and wildlife, ecology, agriculture, as well as the conservation
commission, and the association of conservation districts.
Regular members will serve on a part-time
basis.
(5) Chairs, co-chairs, and ranking members
of the natural
resources, environmental quality and water resources, and agriculture
and rural economic development committees in the house of
representatives and senate will be nonvoting ex officio members
of the
task force. Directors or their designees from the departments
of fish
and wildlife, ecology, agriculture, the conservation commission,
conservation districts, the governor's office, and Washington State
University will each serve on the task force as nonvoting ex officiomembers.
{+ NEW SECTION. +} Sec. 5.
The duties and responsibilities of the
task force are to:
(1) Elect a chair and vice-chair from
the regular membership eachbiennium;
(2) Oversee the implementation of this
act;
(3) Monitor all activities covered in
this act;
(4) Report the progress quarterly to the
natural resources
committees of each house of the legislature and the governor;
(5) Employ a director and other necessary
staff to serve at the
discretion of the task force in a manner chosen by the task force;
(6) Adopt a plan of action at the earliest
possible time after the
effective date of this section, following consultation with appropriate
persons in the legislature; and
(7) The task force is responsible for
the accountability factor,
collecting all possible information concerning how this act and
other
salmon recovery efforts are progressing, including but not limited
to
harvest, hatchery, and predator review processes.
{+ NEW SECTION. +} Sec. 6.
The three elements of habitat,
harvest, and hatchery programs shall be developed in unison, and
be
dependent on each other as to when the habitat portion will beimplemented.
{+ NEW SECTION. +} Sec. 7.
All private lands involved in salmon
habitat improvement programs shall be managed in a manner that
provides
reasonable and necessary habitat improvements for salmon and also
provides reasonable economic use by the owner so that very little
compensation is required.
{+ NEW SECTION. +} Sec. 8.
The governor's salmon office is
authorized to negotiate with federal agencies to accomplish the
goal of
meeting the requirements of the federal clean water act and the
federal
endangered species act. The legislature must ratify the finalagreement.
{+ NEW SECTION. +} Sec. 9.
(1) For the purposes of this act, the
governor's office will be the sole coordinator during the process
of
formulating any cooperative arrangements between the tribes and
the
task force. After the governor's office has communicated
and
cooperated with the tribes, the results will be reported to the
task
force by the tribes.
(2) Whenever the task force activities
or expected results relate
directly to the objective of bringing about a state salmon recovery
plan that complies with the federal endangered species act and
the
clean water act, the governor's office will be the sole coordinator
with federal agencies. The governor's office must report
results of
their communications and recommendations to the task force.
(3) The task force will make every possible
effort to alert the
governor's office at the earliest possible time of activities relating
to the federal agencies and also move in a positive manner to
incorporate the federal agencies' recommendations that relate directly
to the task force's legislatively directed responsibilities.
(4) All meetings held by the governor's
office that concern this
act are open to the public.
{+ NEW SECTION. +} Sec. 10.
(1) Additional funds will be provided
for the following agencies in order to allow its staff to participate
in the field application of this act: The department of ecology,
the
department of agriculture, the department of fish and wildlife,
and the
conservation commission.
(2) Federal agencies should participate
as ex officio members of or
advisors to the task force at their discretion.
{+ NEW SECTION. +} Sec. 11.
(1) Each federally recognized tribe
is invited to participate in the implementation of this act.
(2) There is no intent that tribal lands
within the boundaries of
a reservation be included in the implementation of this act, unless
requested by that tribe, or classified timber lands of more than
twenty
acres under one ownership.
{+ NEW SECTION. +} Sec. 12.
Every possible effort must be made to
attract private property owners and affected businesses and
municipalities to participate in this voluntary program.
{+ NEW SECTION. +} Sec. 13.
(1) A coordinated resource management
planning process, with standards established under RCW 79.01.295
and
79.01.2951, is a tool that must be fully utilized as part of obtaining
the goals of this act.
(2) For the purposes of accomplishing
the intent of section 1 of
this act, when land use is under consideration, the coordinated
resource management planning process, RCW 79.01.295 and 79.01.2951
should be used whenever possible.
Sec. 14. RCW 79.01.2951 and 1996
c 163 s 2 are each amended to
read as follows:
The legislature finds that many wild stocks
of salmonids in the
state of Washington are in a state of decline. Stocks of
salmon on the
Columbia and Snake rivers have been listed under the federal endangered
species act, and the bull trout has been petitioned for listing.
Some
scientists believe that numerous other stocks of salmonids in the
Pacific Northwest are in decline or possibly extinct. The
legislature
declares that to lose wild stocks is detrimental to the genetic
diversity of the fisheries resource and the economy, and will represent
the loss of a vital component of Washington's aquatic ecosystems.
The
legislature further finds that there is a continuing loss of habitat
for fish and wildlife. The legislature declares that steps
must be
taken in the areas of wildlife and fish habitat management, water
conservation, wild salmonid stock protection, and education to
prevent
further losses of Washington's fish and wildlife heritage from
a number
of causes including urban and rural subdivisions, shopping centers,
industrial park, and other land use activities.
The legislature finds that the maintenance
and restoration of
Washington's rangelands (({- and -})){+ , +} shrub-steppe vegetation{+
, and privately owned agricultural and other private land +} is
vital
to the long-term benefit of the people of the state. The
legislature
finds that approximately one-fourth of the state is open range
or open-
canopied grazable woodland. The legislature finds that these
lands
provide forage for livestock, habitat for wildlife, and innumerable
recreational opportunities including hunting, hiking, and fishing.
The legislature finds that the development
of coordinated resource
management plans, that take into consideration the needs of wildlife,
fish, livestock, timber production, water quality protection, and
rangeland conservation on all state-owned grazing lands {+ and
privately owned lands +} will improve the stewardship of these
lands
and allow for the increased development and maintenance of fish
and
wildlife habitat and other multipurpose benefits the public derives
from these lands. The legislature finds
that the state currently provides
insufficient technical support for coordinated resource management
plans to be developed for all state-owned lands and for many of
the
private lands desiring to develop such plans. As a consequence
of this
lack of technical assistance, our state grazing {+ and other +}
lands,
including fish and wildlife habitat and other resources provided
by
these lands, are not achieving their potential. The legislature
also
finds that with many state lands being intermixed with private
grazing
lands, development of coordinated resource management plans on
state-
owned and managed lands provides an opportunity to improve the
management and enhance the conditions of adjacent private lands.
A purpose of chapter 4, Laws of 1993 sp.
sess. is to establish
state grazing lands as the model in the state for the development
and
implementation of standards that can be used in coordinated resource
management plans and to thereby assist the timely development of
coordinated resource management plans for all state-owned grazing
lands
{+ and privately owned lands +}. Every lessee of state lands
who
wishes to participate in the development and implementation of
a
coordinated resource management plan shall have the opportunity
to doso.
Sec. 15. RCW 79.01.2955 and 1996
c 163 s 1 are each amended to
read as follows:
(1) It is the purpose of chapter 163,
Laws of 1996 that all state
agricultural lands, grazing lands, and grazable woodlands shall
be
managed in keeping with the statutory and constitutional mandates
under
which each agency operates. Chapter 163, Laws of 1996 is
consistent
with section 1, chapter 4, Laws of 1993 sp. sess.
(2) The ecosystem standards developed
under chapter 4, Laws of 1993
sp. sess. for state-owned agricultural (({- and -})){+ , +} grazing{+
, privately owned, and other +} lands are defined as desired ecological
conditions. The standards are not intended to prescribe practices.
For this reason, land managers are encouraged to use an adaptive
management approach in selecting and implementing practices that
work
towards meeting the standards based on the best available science
and
evaluation tools.
(3) For as long as the chapter 4, Laws
of 1993 sp. sess. ecosystem
standards remain in effect, they shall be applied through a
collaborative process that incorporates the following principles:
(a) The (({- land manager and lessee or
permittee -})) {+
landowners and appropriate agencies +} shall look at the land together
and make every effort to reach agreement on management and resource
objectives for the land under consideration;
(b) They will then discuss management
options and make every effort
to reach agreement on which of the available options will be used
to
achieve the agreed-upon objectives;
(c) No land manager or owner ever gives
up his or her management
prerogative;
(d) Efforts will be made to make land
management plans economically
feasible for landowners, managers, and lessees and to make the
land
management plan compatible with the (({- lessee's -})) {+ owner's
+}
entire operation;
(e) Coordinated resource management planning
is encouraged where
either multiple ownerships, or management practices, or both, areinvolved;
(f) The department of fish and wildlife
shall consider multiple
use, including grazing, on lands owned or managed by the department
of
fish and wildlife where it is compatible with the management objectives
of the land; and
(g) The department of natural resources
shall allow multiple use on
lands owned or managed by the department of natural resources where
multiple use can be demonstrated to be compatible with RCW 79.68.010,
79.68.020, and 79.68.050.
(4) The ecosystem standards are to be
achieved by applying
appropriate land management practices on riparian lands and on
the
uplands in order to reach the desired ecological conditions.
(5) The legislature urges that state agencies
that manage grazing
lands make planning and implementation of chapter 163, Laws of
1996,
using the coordinated resource management and planning process,
a high
priority, especially where either multiple ownerships, or multiple
use
resources objectives, or both, are involved. In all cases,
the choice
of using the coordinated resource management planning process will
be
a voluntary decision by all concerned parties including agencies,
private landowners, lessees, permittees, and other interests.
{+ NEW SECTION. +} Sec. 16.
This act does not apply to timber
land units of more than twenty acres each.
{+ NEW SECTION. +} Sec. 17.
During the implementation of this
act, sections 1 and 4 of this act must be recognized as the guide
for
the remainder of this act.
{+ NEW SECTION. +} Sec. 18.
A state general fund bond is the
method preferred for funding of salmon recovery projects.
{+ NEW SECTION. +} Sec. 19.
Conservation links, being the
critical link between the people and governmental agencies, have
a
statutory role in a broad spectrum of activities with the public
and
landowners that relate to clean, abundant water through proper
land use
and other local projects. State and federal funding is vital
for their
work. Conservation districts are to be the coordinators of
the
coordinated resource management planning process, created in RCW
79.01.295 and 79.01.2951, with state funds being provided to personnel
in each district through the conservation commission, as recommended
by
the task force.
{+ NEW SECTION. +} Sec. 20.
During the implementation of the thisact:
(1) The utmost flexibility possible is
desirable when habitat
improvement programs are being implemented on private land.
(2) When a reasonable portion of a potential
salmon bearing stream
has been reinhabited, that stream should be considered as qualified.
(3) Volunteer group activities to reclaim
or enhance salmon
populations shall be a high priority for assistance and funding.
(4) Salmon habitat improvement projects
on smaller tributaries
shall receive exemptions from normally required permitting by stateagencies.
(5) The department of fish and wildlife
shall place a high priority
on assisting local efforts when incubators are requested.
(6) During the establishment of buffer
zones and riparian area
uses, special emphasis will be placed on the multiple use concept
while
adequately enhancing salmon recovery.
{+ NEW SECTION. +} Sec. 21.
Sections 1 through 13 and 16 through
20 of this act constitute a new chapter in Title 75 RCW.
{+ NEW SECTION. +} Sec. 22.
If any provision of this act or its
application to any person or circumstance is held invalid, the
remainder of the act or the application of the provision to other
persons or circumstances is not affected.
{+ NEW SECTION. +} Sec. 23.
This act is necessary for the
immediate preservation of the public peace, health, or safety,
or
support of the state government and its existing public institutions,
and takes effect immediately.
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