WDFW frames 'effective protection' as first step before pursuing net ecological gain

Morgan Carlson, a Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife presenter, told the Habitat Committee the agency reframed the policy language to remove baggage and focus discussions with tribes and stakeholders. She said legislature-directed provisos and agency work emphasized first making existing protections more effective and then defining transparent, measurable ecological-improvement indicators that can be counted at both site and landscape scales.

"We are committed to not just protecting the resources we have today, but really seeking ecological improvement in Washington's ecosystems," Carlson said, describing the agency's 25-year strategic plan and the proviso work that followed bills introduced in recent legislative sessions. Carlson outlined a four-part approach: strengthen effective protection under existing laws, define an ecological-improvement system with clear indicators, develop accounting and administration methods that roll site-scale measures up to landscape indicators, and continue restoration and recovery programs while better harnessing voluntary contributions from development and grant programs.

Commissioners pressed staff on which baseline should be used and how private-property constraints would affect any program. Carlson said the proviso work treated current observable environmental conditions as the baseline and noted that private property, legal takings concerns and climate change complicate implementation. "Sometimes our mitigation and compensation tools don't get us back to baseline; we still see cumulative degradation," Carlson said, noting the agency's high-resolution change-detection analyses show ongoing localized losses.

Carlson and Habitat program staff recommended leaning into existing authorities and incentives — including using grant scoring to reward projects that advance ecological improvement — rather than pursuing a prescriptive regulatory net-gain mandate at this time. She also said the agency will continue engagement with tribes, local governments and stakeholders and focus science capacity on the most critical uncertainties that limit effective action.