Thurston County wins salmon-recovery grant to build framework measuring regulatory ecological outcomes
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Summary
County staff announced a roughly $489,000 salmon-recovery grant to build a framework that will assess net ecological gain and loss from county regulations and programs, partnering with the Thurston Conservation District and outside expertise.
Thurston County staff told the Planning Commission on Feb. 4 that the county has secured a salmon-recovery grant to build a framework measuring the combined ecological effects of the county’s regulatory programs, including the Shoreline Master Program and Critical Areas Ordinance. The presenter said the effort will aim to quantify where the county is losing or gaining ecological function across programs and regulations.
Scope and partners: staff described the project as a monitoring-and-assessment framework modeled in part on the Voluntary Stewardship Program (VSP) approach. The county will partner with the Thurston Conservation District as the service provider and said the project will draw on a recently hired former NOAA scientist on the county team for technical work.
Funding: staff described the award as "about a $500,000 grant" during the meeting; commissioners later referenced a specific figure of $489,000. Staff said the budget will be split with the conservation district for program design and monitoring tasks.
Why it matters: staff said the project could give the county better evidence about the overall performance of regulatory protections and nonregulatory programs and could inform future code and program decisions to meet the state’s 'no net loss' mandate more demonstrably.
Next steps: staff said the county would develop a framework and monitoring approach in partnership with the conservation district and will return with program details and schedule.
