habitat protection
Protecting the Nearshore for Salmon and their Prey
FRIENDS of the San Juan’s Voluntary Salmon Conservation Project protects high quality nearshore marine habitat for salmon and key salmon prey species in San Juan County using existing land conservation tools. While land acquisition, conservation easement and tax-incentive programs are common protection strategies in San Juan County, they are typically employed in terrestrial environments.
FRIENDS’ Voluntary Salmon Conservation Project provides landowners and land mangers with the information they need to expand protection to shoreline environments.
The San Juan Islands are home to much of the region’s healthy and intact nearshore marine habitat. The listing of many Puget Sound salmon species as threatened raised awareness of the importance of forage fish and nearshore marine habitats. Since the primary threat to nearshore habitat in San Juan County is residential development, voluntary protection of priority habitat will be vital for salmon recovery and overall ecosystem health.
Protection of nearshore marine habitat has been identified as the most important salmon recovery strategy for the San Juan Archipelago at both the local and regional scale by Shared Strategies for Puget Sound, the Puget Sound Action Team, and the San Juan County Marine Resources Committee. Existing state and county policies provide some protection for existing forage fish spawning beaches and require “no net loss” for eelgrass habitat. As this protection is only provided to documented forage fish and eelgrass sites, FRIENDS of the San Juans led a four year public-private research project to assess San Juan County’s nearshore habitat for forage fish spawning beaches and eelgrass meadows (2001-2004).
 Recognizing that additional conservation strategies were needed to ensure long-term protection of habitats essential to salmon and salmon prey, FRIENDS initiated the Voluntary Salmon Conservation Campaign. In 2005, FRIENDS’ analyzed existing best available science and began to prioritize forage fish spawning and eelgrass habitat in San Juan County for voluntary protection. In addition, partnerships were formed with the San Juan County Land Bank and the San Juan Preservation Trust to incorporate nearshore habitat priorities into their strategic and site-based management plans.
Initial project results indicate a high level of interest and opportunity for protection of high quality habitat through existing voluntary protection strategies such as easements. During 2006, FRIENDS will continue to work in partnership with the Land Bank, the Preservation Trust, San Juan County and interested shoreline landowners to implement long-term protection of priority nearshore habitat.
Generous support for this project has been provided by the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation and the Charlotte Martin Foundation.
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