NatureMapping Pierce County Biodiversity Alliance

Protecting Biodiversity in Pierce County Through Open Space Planning

Growth Management Act Requirements for Open Space Planning

The Washington Growth Management Act (GMA) requires every county in the state to address open space areas in their comprehensive plans. Pierce County knows this very well as this was one of the few issues appealed to the Central Puget Sound Growth Management Hearings Board (CPSGMHB) when the County adopted its original GMA comprehensive plan in 1995. The County lost that appeal and the CPSGMHB remanded the plan back for more work on the open space component. In response, the County Council established, through ordinance, an Open Space Implementation Committee (OSIC) to identify open space priorities and create a new open space map that reflects those priorities. The OSIC was also tasked with reviewing the County’s Current Use Assessment (CUA) Program, including development of a Public Benefit Rating System, and Conservation Futures (CF) Program for consistency with these open space priorities.

Creation of a Biodiversity Plan for Pierce County

The multi-year process included:

During the open space revision process, the Pierce County planners were approached by Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW) and the University of Washington who asked them to include as open space those land areas that have the greatest fish and wildlife biological diversity or “biodiversity.”

Using an updated landcover map, areas of high biodiversity were identified and groundtruthed.

The core habitats were connected by corridors which were often located along waterways.

The Biodiversity Network identified 16 biologically rich areas and connecting corridors that cover 267,784 acres of land.

In 2004, the County conducted a finer-level assessment of those lands within the Biodiversity Network and documented this effort in the report titled “Pierce County Biodiversity Network Assessment, August 2004”.

Implementation Strategies for the Biodiversity Network

This multi-pronged implementation strategy is putting emphasis on proactive conservation of multiple species, rather than on reactive restoration of individual threatened or endangered species.

Coverage was integrated into the County's Comprehensive Plan Open Space Corridors map; first in 1999 and then updated and revised again in 2004 based upon the Pierce County Biodiversity Network Assessment report.

Was the basis for the creation of a Residential (sensitive) Resource land use designation and zone (which provides for reduced densities inside the urban growth area)

Was the basis for the establishment of habitat consevation based desgin standards such as low impact development (LID) techniques and minimum native vegetation retention.

Is included into the various incentive programs such as the Conservation Futures Program and Current Use Assessment Program (PBRS).

The Pierce County Biodiversity Alliance (PCBA)

The Pierce County Biodiversity Alliance (PCBA) is comprised of a unique group of stakeholders, representing governmental, academic and non-profit agencies, whose mission is to preserve the long-term biodiversity of Pierce County.

The main emphasis of the PCBA is non-regulatory in nature and instead focuses on public outreach to property owners within this network, providing education on how to maintain the habitats and biological diversity. The PCBA goal is to establish biological surveys and monitoring programs and facilitate the development of habitat conservation plans that will provide detailed information on habitat quality and species presence/viability, restoration opportunities, and priorities for conservation and land acquisition for each BMA.

The PCBA selected the Gig Harbor BMA as a pilot. The process includes:

Conduct a bioblitz to compare the lists of species predicted to occur in the BMA

Conduct NatureMapping training to the local community before the bioblitzes.

Use the bioblitz data as a baseline from which residents can begin to assess changes over time

Conduct a year-long series of community meetings with the land owners to develop a longterm strategy to conserve biodiversity for their BMA and as part of the entire Biodiversity Network

Produce a Biodiversity Stewardship Document that can be used as a template as community efforts move to other BMA's.

Identifying an organization that would continue the process while the PCBA moved its efforts to another BMA.
A group of community members created the Crescent Valley Alliance and has developed their own stewardship plan by selecting portions of the larger document as first steps.

PCBA partners such as the NatureMapping Program and National Wildlife Federation Community Habitat Program continue to support the organization and community for long-term monitoring and evaluation.

This process is being tested on the Lower White River BMA. Updates will be posted monthly.