The Des Moines City Council Environment Committee on Dec. (meeting date not specified) reviewed an interlocal agreement to continue the city’s participation in Water Resource Inventory Area 9 (WRIA 9) salmon-recovery coordination and funding.

Tyler Weakley, Surface Water Manager for the City of Des Moines, said the item "is also on consent tonight, approving the ILA with WRIA 9. It's a great relationship for salmon recovery and also supporting our Des Moines Creek Estuary Project." The presentation was delivered in coordination with King County staff member Matt Goreng, who described the regional framework for implementation.

The ILA establishes watershed-level governance and an operational funding mechanism to support an annual work plan and grant round for priority projects across the WRIA 9 area. Goreng said the regional approach grew from the 1999 listing of Chinook salmon and subsequent shared-strategy efforts and that "if we're gonna do salmon recovery right, it's gonna have to be embedded in our local government structure." The watershed ecosystem forum recommends project priorities and the ILA funds day-to-day coordination and the annual grant round.

Committee members asked about local projects and how Des Moines benefits. Weakley said the city’s annual contribution to the WRIA 9 operating budget is about $16,000 of roughly $606,000 in combined operating funds. Goreng and Weakley outlined larger grant sources that feed project funding: roughly $4.2 million annually from the Flood Control District cooperative watershed management grant program, about $1.1 million every other year from the Puget Sound Acquisition and Restoration (PSAR) program, and roughly $300,000 annually from the Salmon Recovery Funding Board (SRFB). Goreng also said the program has helped leverage roughly $200 million across the watershed and listed accomplishments including revegetating over 500 acres and preserving about 4.5 miles of marine shorelines.

Committee members pressed on which local projects are currently prioritized. Goreng described feasibility work on a Mazze Creek project (paused as not currently feasible) and said a McSorley Creek/state park project reached 60% design before the county paused project implementation; Goreng said state parks staffing and prioritization influence whether that design will proceed to construction. Goreng also noted research sampling of small tributaries that has identified juvenile Chinook using non-natal streams, which could create new project priorities in future biennial project rounds.

The presentation also reviewed regional items such as the Howard Hanson Dam fish-passage effort, which Goreng said has had about $270 million appropriated and remains a priority for Congress and the watershed.

The WRIA 9 ILA item was presented to the committee as a consent item; the transcript does not record a formal committee vote or signature of ratification during this meeting. Committee members expressed support for continuing participation and described the arrangement as a long-term investment in regional salmon and nearshore health.

Looking ahead, Goreng said the watershed forum has asked partner jurisdictions to sign the ILA extension and that he expects the local signatory process to continue through the scheduled outreach to member councils.