Local video highlights 'soft' shoreline stabilization approaches

We have integrated an interesting new video into our web content about shoreline stabilization.

The video, produced by Island County’s Shore Friendly program, highlights different approaches property owners in the region can use to protect and enjoy their shorelines while also promoting a healthy ecosystem.

The video features local Island County residents and Hugh Shipman, our coastal geologist, sharing information about the environmental, recreational, and aesthetic benefits of natural and restored beaches.

Many property owners control shoreline erosion or prepare for development by using bulkheads, seawalls, revetment, and other hardened structures on the water’s edge to protect soils and unstable banks from currents and waves.

Hardened structures are common along many of the 2,500 miles of marine shoreline in Puget Sound. They are also frequently used along the shorelines of our inland streams, rivers, and lakes across the state.

Soft shore protection is the process of designing natural materials such as gravel, sand, logs, or roots in such a way to protect a shoreline from erosion. Beaches with soft shore protection generally look more like natural beaches, as opposed to hard armoring which gives beaches more of a "blunt" look, while providing easier access to the beach for recreation and further protecting the Puget Sound ecosystem.

  

Our shoreline master program (SMP) guidelines also encourage shoreline development practices designed to reduce risk to property and avoid adverse environmental impacts. We help communities reduce erosion risks while ensuring the long-term protection of state shorelines by: 

• Providing policies that reduce erosion risks.
• Offering our local government partners technical assistance and regulatory guidance.
• Encouraging environmentally-friendly soft shoreline stabilization techniques over hard armoring approaches such as revetments, bulkheads, and seawalls.
• Helping our local partners locate new development out of erosion-prone areas as much as possible.

The goal of the county’s Shore Friendly project is to promote alternative strategies for shoreline residential properties that provide for the use and enjoyment of the property while promoting and maintaining nearshore ecosystems to support fish and wildlife.

Island County has developed a host of educational materials to help residents learn about their options for protecting their shoreline homes and properties by considering natural beach and soft shore options including a cost benefit analysis, the soft shore permitting process, and a set of frequently asked questions.

We also have a number of guides and publications designed to help shoreline property owners manage surface and groundwater drainage on coastal bluffs, use vegetation to stabilize erosion on slopes, and a vegetation management guide for Puget Sound bluff property owners.

Watch Island County’s Shore Friendly video for ideas and more information about using natural solutions to protect state shorelines.

Ecology seeking comment on Clallam County's proposed shoreline master program revisions



Shoreline along Lake Sutherland, about 17 miles west of Port Angeles in Clallam County

Starting today, we are accepting public comment until Thursday, Feb. 28, about significant revisions Clallam County is seeking to make to its shoreline master program (SMP).

The locally-tailored set of land-use policies and regulations is designed to protect and guide how Clallam County will develop, restore, and preserve more than 600 miles of marine and freshwater shorelines in the county, including:

• Approximately 130 miles of marine shoreline including a portion of the Pacific Ocean coastline, Strait of Juan de Fuca, and numerous saltwater inlets such as Clallam, Crescent, Dungeness, Freshwater, and Sequim bays.
• More than 480 miles of freshwater shoreline along the Bogachiel, Calawah, Elwha, Quillayute, and Sol Duc rivers.
• About 1,500 shoreline acres around six lakes in the county including Beaver, Crescent, Dickey, Elk, Pleasant, and Sutherland.

Clallam County last amended its SMP in 1992. The revised SMP will replace the county’s current master program and is designed to:

• Prioritize water-oriented uses and development in Clallam County.
• Provide for public access to public waters and shorelines.
• Support restoration actions consistent with the county’s shoreline restoration plan.
• Incorporate critical area regulations to ensure environmentally-sensitive areas within the county’s shoreline jurisdiction are protected.

Shoreline along the Elwha River in Clallam County.

Draft SMP documents available for review online or by appointment

Electronic copies of the county's draft SMP documents are available for review and comment through our website while printed copies are available for review, by appointment, at Ecology and Clallam County. To arrange a time to view printed documents at Ecology, please contact Michelle McConnell. Her phone number is 360-407-6329 and Ecology's physical address is:

Washington Department of Ecology
Southwest Regional Office
300 Desmond Dr.
Lacey, WA 98504

To review the draft SMP documents at Clallam County, please contact Steve Gray. His phone number is 360-417-2520 and the county office is located at:

Clallam County
Department of Community Development
223 E. 4th Ave., Suite 5
Port Angeles, WA 98362

How to submit public comments

Comments only need to be provided once before the Feb. 28 deadline at 5 p.m.. While we prefer public comments be submitted through our online comment form, we also will accept comments by mail sent to:

Michelle McConnell
Washington Department of Ecology
Southwest Regional Office
PO Box 47775
Olympia, WA 98504-7775

Next steps

Once the public comment period closes Feb. 28, Ecology will compare Clallam County's proposed SMP to requirements under the state Shoreline Management Act and Shoreline Master Program Guidelines. Based on the comparison, we will decide whether to:

• Approve Clallam County’s proposed SMP as is.
• Approve the updated SMP with recommended changes.
• Send the proposed SMP back to Clallam County with required changes to meet statutory and rule requirements. Recommended changes may also be included with the required changes.

Marine spatial plan adopted to protect our coastal resources

Ruby Beach on Washington's Pacific coast.

Did you know that only four Washington counties – Clallam, Grays Harbor, Jefferson and Pacific – have marine shorelines on the Pacific Ocean?

Together, these four jurisdictions account for 331,000 acres of marine waters and have 157 miles of open ocean coastline. Our coastal communities and coastal Indian tribes have a rich history and maintain a unique relationship to our coastal resources.

Yet, there are increasing demands on these resources – including new projects and uses that can potentially create conflicts with uses or damage our marine resources.

State develops, adopts marine spatial plan

To ensure Washington maintains a resilient, healthy coastal marine ecosystem, we worked closely with our partners at the Washington departments of Fish and Wildlife and Natural Resources (DNR) to adopt a new tool – called a “marine spatial plan” – to help make coordinated, science based decisions about proposed new ocean projects and uses.

The guidance establishes processes for coordinating among local and tribal governments and state and federal agencies and for ensuring interest groups and the public have opportunities to weigh in on future projects.

Since the plan contains new policies to protect sensitive ecological areas and fisheries, the plan also puts the state in a strong position to review and shape new ocean activities in areas of state and federal waters in the plan's study area.

The state worked closely with local and tribal governments, other state agencies, the Washington Coastal Marine Advisory Council, environmental and planning groups, the private sector and the public to develop the plan.

Plan will help evaluate new ocean projects, uses

The new guidance will help us evaluate new proposals seeking to be located between Cape Flattery and Cape Disappointment. The plan covers a patch of the Pacific nearly 6,000 square nautical miles in size.

Right now, most of ocean uses in Washington center on recreation, maritime shipping, coastal fishing and shellfish aquaculture. But we know we have to be ready to effectively assess proposals for new uses and activities such as:

• Renewable energy
• Mining
• Dredged material disposal
• Marine product harvesting
• Offshore aquaculture operations

Our marine spatial plan builds on a 2010 law passed by the state legislature. Six years in the making, the new plan outlines the data and information that are needed to evaluate new proposals – especially the potential effects new ocean uses could have on people, our local communities and the environment.

It also integrates existing state policies and standards that projects must satisfy such as demonstrating that projects have no likely, long-term significant adverse impacts to resources or uses.

Competition for small fraction of ocean ecosystem

Michele Culver, Intergovernmental Ocean Policy Manager for state Fish and Wildlife said “while the ocean is a vast ecosystem, there is competition to use a small fraction of it.”

The plan, Culver said, provides a way for the state to carefully consider the placement of proposed new uses and the effects on other important activities, such as fishing, that occur in the same area.

  

While the plan establishes protections for fisheries and ecologically sensitive areas in state waters, it doesn’t change current management or permit processes for existing marine activities such as fisheries management plans or shellfish aquaculture.

Before we adopted the guidance, the state sought and received comments on the draft plan and a related environmental impact statement which helped us evaluate anticipated impacts that could arise from adopting the plan.

We carefully assessed all the comments we received and they helped us refine the plan. We will submit the marine spatial plan as part of Washington’s federally-approved Coastal Zone Management Program.

Get involved and stay current on marine spatial planning
  

The new state marine spatial plan creates an inclusive decision-making process that carefully considers economic, social, ecological, and cultural interests and gives all users an avenue for having input on the most appropriate strategies to guide and evaluate future uses of our Pacific Ocean waters.

Everyone can keep tabs and get involved in with marine spatial planning in Washington.