City hears update on WRIA 8 Chinook conservation plan as interlocal agreement renewal approaches

Lake Forest Park councilors received a briefing March 24 on salmon recovery work in the Lake Washington–Cedar–Sammamish watershed (WRIA 8) and the interlocal agreement (ILA) that funds and governs regional recovery efforts.

Jason Mulvihill‑Coontz, the WRIA 8 salmon recovery manager, told the committee that the watershed’s conservation work is driven by a local plan that is a chapter of the federal Puget Sound Chinook recovery plan and that the partners are proposing a new interlocal agreement covering 2026–2035. “The main goal here is to provide you with some more context about salmon recovery in the watershed, Lake Forest Park’s participation in the interlocal agreement partnership, that supports salmon recovery work, and we’re renewing that partnership for another 10‑year period this year,” Mulvihill‑Coontz said.

Why it matters: WRIA 8 covers the most populated watershed in the state and includes many urban shorelines and streams that provide juvenile salmon habitat. The interlocal agreement structures governance, technical coordination, and the locally managed grant rounds that fund on‑the‑ground restoration projects. Lake Forest Park is a member and pays an annual cost share; the city’s 2025 share is $5,409.

Key details

- Background and plan: WRIA 8 partners adopted a local Chinook conservation plan in 2005; that plan was incorporated into the Puget Sound federal recovery plan adopted in 2007. The local plan was updated in 2017 and operates on 10‑year horizons; the current planning horizon ends this year, and partners plan another update.

- Governance and funding: The ILA convenes elected representatives from 28 local governments to form the Salmon Recovery Council and supports a small staff team that coordinates technical committees, annual grant rounds and reporting. Mulvihill‑Coontz said the partnership manages roughly $5–7 million a year in grant funds, supplied mainly by the King County Flood Control District ($4.2 million/year), the Puget Sound Acquisition and Restoration Fund (~$1.5 million every two years) and Salmon Recovery Funding Board grants (~$530,000).

- Accomplishments and scale: Mulvihill‑Coontz said the partnership has awarded about $38 million to on‑the‑ground projects across the watershed and maintains a prioritized capital project list by stream and lake.

Discussion and questions

Council members asked how the ILA funds are used and whether the proposed renewal changes the agreement materially. Mulvihill‑Coontz said the cost‑share portion of the ILA funds the program’s administrative functions — staff coordination, grant management, scientific coordination and outreach — but does not directly fund capital restoration work, which comes from grant programs.

On changes to the ILA, Mulvihill‑Coontz said the 2026–2035 ILA is a “pretty simple update” that aligns language across three King County watershed ILAs, tightens clerical provisions (for example, moving the date the annual budget is provided from September to October) and reflects current practice; he said there were no substantive policy changes highlighted to the council.

Council members also asked about trend data and the major challenges facing recovery. Mulvihill‑Coontz said Chinook returns have “basically stopped the bleeding” over the past two decades — a stabilization but not a rebound — and cautioned that long life cycles and ocean conditions mean it can take a decade or more to show durable trends. He flagged several major bottlenecks facing recovery in the watershed: elevated water temperatures in the Lake Washington Ship Canal, predation on juvenile and adult salmon (including marine mammals at the Ballard Locks and invasive predatory fish in lakes), disease exacerbated by warming, and effects of artificial light on predation.

Next steps and city role

Mulvihill‑Coontz said partners are preparing a progress report on the 2017 plan goals and will ask member jurisdictions to consider the 2026–2035 interlocal agreement; Lake Forest Park staff indicated the council would see the ILA for formal consideration in a future meeting cycle. Council member Faritani was identified as Lake Forest Park’s voting member to the Salmon Recovery Council and Deputy Mayor Lori Bodie as an alternate. Resident Jeff Jensen was noted as returning to the recovery board in a different capacity.

Ending

Mulvihill‑Coontz closed by offering WRIA 8 staff support for project planning and said the partnership will continue to refine project priorities, monitoring, and outreach to broaden community involvement in recovery work.