Heading North – Salish Sea Ecosystem Conference, Here We Come!

View fullsize

Written by Jenny Baker, Senior Restoration Manager
With Contributions by Julie Morse Senior Ecologist; Jodie Toft, Senior Marine Ecologist

The 12th offering of Salish Sea Ecosystem Conference is just around the corner and a cadre of us from TNC are ready to head north and dive in. Next week, over 1,000 indigenous knowledge-holders, scientists, policy-makers, students and other stakeholders from the US and Canada will collect in Vancouver, B.C. for 3 knowledge-packed days. The conference is a wonderful opportunity for interdisciplinary and transboundary collaboration and networking for those of us dedicated to the protection and recovery of the Salish Sea region.

The team is excited to share our work in the Salish Sea through three presentations and a poster. In the Toward Coordinated Resilience Planning Where People and Ecosystems are Being Squeezed by Climate Change session, a range of speakers will explore the complexity of addressing climate change in systems where past and current land use influence how climate change will affect people and nature, and some of the considerations that are needed as we plan for the future. We have two talks in this session. We will talk about our work to incorporate climate change considerations into floodplains project funding and marine shoreline planning, and our work to identify projects that have benefits for flooding, farms and fish in the Skagit river delta.

In the Local Stories and Results session, we will describe monitoring results from TNC’s Port Susan Bay project in an Ignite presentation, sure to be an informative and engaging crowd-pleaser. And we will present a poster titled New Tools for a United Front to highlightseveral new ideas and projects that TNC is working on. These include: TNC’s and the University of Washington’s “Outside Our Doors” publication, which synthesizes 40 years of research on benefits of nature in cities; tools for exploring flood risk and coastal resilience; a spatial assessment that answers the question how much agricultural best management practice implementation is needed and where is the best place to put it to get the strongest environmental outcomes; and the effects of polluted stormwater on coho salmon and promising solutions for treatment.

In addition to sharing our work and hearing from others, we look forward to the inaugural Billy Frank Jr. plenary, the keynote by Dr. Roberta Bondar, Canada’s first female astronaut and the world’s first neurologist in space, the art show, a reception at the Vancouver Aquarium and the First Nations/Tribal Dinner.

For me, this will be my third time attending this conference.  Every year I find it recharges and inspires me.  All day for three days, there’s non-stop presentations, poster sessions and great conversations over coffee with my colleagues, many that I’ve known for years but don’t see on a daily basis. Our work is often messy, and so complicated that I often get lost in the details… but this conference always reminds me of the big picture and how lucky I am to live and work in the beautiful Salish Sea.

Look for tweets from the team next week as we share highlights from the meeting!

NORFMA 2015 Annual Conference

Floodplain Management: Decisions Today Last Beyond Tomorrow

Written by Jenny Baker, Senior Restoration Manager and Bob Carey, Director of Strategic Partnerships

At a recent Northwest Regional Floodplain Management Association conference, there was lots of talk not just about flooding and how to keep people reasonably safe in floodplains (the charge of floodplain managers), but also about habitat for salmon and other fish and wildlife. This is a sea change.  In many places today, and in this region just a few years back, floodplain management conferences largely entailed presentations and conversations about reducing flooding through engineering and regulations.  Conversations about fish, wildlife, clean water and recreation occurred at different gatherings by different people – even though they were talking about the same rivers and coasts.

Today, to the Northwest is leading the nation in developing a more holistic and sustainable approach to managing our waterways.  The idea that floodplains provide a multitude of benefits to people and nature is being incorporated in planning and projects by floodplain managers in cities and counties, state agencies and the feds around the northwest.  In addition to a keynote by our own Bob Carey on the Washington Floodplains by Design Initiative, there were sessions on levee setbacks and floodplain restoration, and folks mentioned habitat restoration, green infrastructure and salmon in their presentations.  Throughout the conference, presenters and audience members often referred to Floodplains by Design and the work of the Conservancy in Washington State. We’re excited to see the momentum building at multiple levels for plans and projects that have tangible, long-lasting outcomes for nature and people.

Strategizing A Future with Healthy Floodplains

Innovative Topics on Display at the Floodplains by Design Management Meeting

Guest blog by Gordon White, Program Manager, Shorelands & Environmental Assistance, Department of Ecology
Photograph by (1) Andy Porter, Northwest Photographer

What do we want our rivers and valleys to look like in ten years? How can we strategize and plan now so that we have reduced flooding, clean water and ample wildlife habitat a decade from now? Those are some of the topics that were tackled at Floodplains by Design Management meeting hosted by The Nature Conservancy, Department of Ecology and Puget Sound Partnership.

“Fun” and “enlightening” are not words you usually hear after an all-day workshop on a beautiful Friday in Seattle. Yet I came away from the gathering feeling I’d enjoyed myself and gained important new insights into our challenges and our work.

The workshop was a working session with key leaders and project proponents from across the region with an interest in advancing integrated floodplain management and implementing Floodplains by Design-like projects. It presented an opportunity to continue the dialogue on what “it” is; what makes for useful planning scales and timeframes; and how to talk about success measures and stories.

Bob Carey from The Nature Conservancy gave an overview of the Floodplains by Design initiative, which created a strong entry point for everyone to work from as they discussed the finer points of the program. Jim Kramer, who specializes in building collaborative programs and initiatives, facilitated moving the dialog from conceptual to specific.

Cogs began spinning for attendees when Carol MacIlroy, a specialist in natural resource planning, shared a regional vision and planning scale along with timing. Participants were challenged with how best to capture the multi-benefit approach in their watersheds and regions. The Nature Conservancy’s Kris Johnson of gave a clear explanation of a GIS tool that creates new possibilities for scoping projects, leaving participants eager to learn more and try the tool.

For a summary of the legislative process and the Capital Budget we turned to Tom Bugert of The Nature Conservancy. The time is critical for this kind of information, and participants were empowered to play a role in fostering a successful outcome to the current legislative session.

We covered a lot of ground in one day and it was truly a team effort – one that is sure to yield long term results around our region. Results that will help our communities and ecosystems thrive well into the future.

You can learn more about Floodplains by Desgn.

Related Blog Posts

Orting Honored for Puyallup River Project

Restoring Nature to Protect People

Welcome to Flood Season

BIG: Topic of the day at Puget Sound floodplains conference