San Juan County's marine resources committee concept has worked so well that it has been exported to six other counties in the Northwest Straits.
Now, those seven MRCs (San Juan, Jefferson, Clallam, Island, Whatcom, Skagit and Snohomish) may set an example leading to the creation of more locally based marine conservation committees throughout the entire Puget Sound.
Two companion bills were introduced Jan. 22 in the state House of Representatives and the state Senate (HB 2575 and SB 6581), which would allow every county and city in the Puget Sound to create marine resource committees. HB 2575 is currently in the House Committee on Natural Resources and SB 6581 is before the Senate Committee on Natural Resources, Parks and Shorelines.
San Juan County's state senator, Harriet Spanel, is one of the Senate co-sponsors of SB 6581.
The bills are being hailed by local environmentalists and government representatives for taking a grassroots, locally developed model for marine conservation and applying it Sound-wide. Residents who live in a county or city bordering Puget Sound can petition their representatives to establish local marine resource committees. When local agencies receive these petitions, they will be required to make a decision whether or not to form an MRC within 60 days.
"For three-and-a-half years, Northwest Straits has established a pretty good model," said Mike Sato, North Sound director of People for Puget Sound. Sato said the bills can hopefully put a spotlight on the San Juans on how the local MRC has sponsored projects to improve marine habitat here.
John Evans was on the San Juan County Board of Commissioners when the commission initially made the proposal to form MRCs several years ago. He said the proposal to take this concept statewide, "makes me kind of proud, frankly.
"I thought it was a good idea in the beginning, and I still do. The best stewards in the Sound are the people in the neighborhood, so to speak," Evans said.
Jim Slocomb, director of the San Juan County MRC, said the legislation is "very cool." Slocomb expressed a concern that the language in the bill might affect potential funding for the existing Northwest Strait MRCs. Tom Cowan, executive director of the Northwest Straits Commission, said the current MRCs have a different funding source, and he doesn't think there should be conflicts for funding.
The current MRCs get much of their grant funding through the federal government since the Northwest Straits Commission is a federal entity.
The new MRC model for the rest of the Sound would allow funding from state Department of Natural Resources aquatic land leases to go toward MRC projects. Cowan said the Northwest Straits Commission fully supports these two bills, since many of the marine issues salmon habitat, bottomfish depletion, etc. being dealt with in the Northwest Straits are also issues throughout the entire Puget Sound. "We think it's a really good idea," Cowan said.
Spanel said she was initially approached about the legislation by members of People for Puget Sound. "The People for Puget Sound like what's happening with the Northwest Straits (Commission)," said Spanel.
Spanel did see one flaw with the bill in that while it provides a funding mechanism for the new MRCs, it may not provide a lot of actual money to begin with. Spanel said the DNR lease revenues currently go to a variety of restoration and other projects and she isn't sure how much might be available specifically for MRC programs. There's some belief that local entities can help fund the new MRCs, she said.
One of the things Slocomb likes about this legislation is that it advocates the same kind of voluntary programs, such as San Juan's voluntary bottomfish "no take" zones, rather than just adding more regulations. Slocomb thinks that "through education and peer pressure, you can meet 90 percent of your desired results" when it comes to marine protection.
Slocomb also said that allowing the establishment of local MRCs allows locals to craft programs that fit their areas. "The people with the most intimate knowledge are the locals," said Slocomb. "The locals have the best idea what's wrong and what can be done to fix it."
The two bills direct the MRCs from around the Sound to analyze the condition of their specific marine environment by compiling existing and new scientific data available from the state and federal governments.
Beyond the allowance of Sound-wide MRCs, the bills would also create a Puget Sound Marine Protection Task Force. There would be representatives of Department of Ecology, Department of Natural Resources, the state Department of Fish and Wildlife and other state agencies on the task force.
The task force would be required to develop recommendations by Dec. 31 on how state and local efforts to crate marine reserves and marine protected areas can be better coordinated among all the state agencies which play a part, and how the state can make better use of limited funds.
The legislation also specifically states that the state must coordinate its efforts with the various Tribal governments around the Puget Sound. Tribal representatives recently attended a San Juan MRC meeting and told committee members that they must include Tribes more in their management proposals.
- Pierre LaBossiére reports on sports, environment and law enforcement for sanjuanjournal.com and The Journal of the San Juan Islands. He can be reached at (360) 378-4191 ext. 20 or email.
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