The Washington State Biodiversity Conservation Initiative

PROJECT UPDATE

In April 2001, Defenders of Wildlife commissioned a study on the feasibility of developing a biodiversity strategy project in Washington, similar to the project initiated in Oregon in 1993. The study, completed in December 2001, triggered the introduction of a bill in Washington calling for the development of a state biodiversity strategy. The bill passed and was signed into law, and an appropriation of $32,000 was provided to the Interagency Committee for Outdoor Recreation to hire a contractor to carry out the tasks outlined in the bill. At its meeting of July 11, 2002 and after a competitive grant process, the IAC Board awarded the contract to The Nature Conservancy of Washington.

The purpose of Senate Bill 6400 (Chapter 287, Laws of 2002) is to take a close look at how state policies affect biological diversity and determine what non-regulatory approaches are needed, where these efforts should reside in state government, and how to make information about biodiversity protection more accessible to a wide variety of partners. A report describing the committee’s review of existing biodiversity programs and its recommendations for a coordinated biodiversity conservation strategy was provided to the Governor and Legislature on October 1, 2003.

Click here to view the Washington State Biodiversity Conservation Strategy Report on the Office of the Interagency website.

Read the feasibility assessment, below:

INTRODUCTION

National and Regional Losses of Biodiversity
We are facing a major crisis in the United States. We are in danger of losing much of our biodiversity in the next 25 years. Although we do not fully understand the consequences of this continual loss of native plant and animal species, and the ecosystems in which they function, we do know that healthy functioning ecosystems have substantial significance for our quality of life and for sustaining the natural resource industries, such as agriculture forestry, and outdoor recreation, that are so important for our Northwest economy.

The Nature Conservancy, in a 2000 publication Precious Heritage: Status of Biodiversity in the United States, indicated that one-third of the native U.S. flora and fauna is already considered to be of "conservation concern" from habitat loss, degradation and fragmentation due to sprawl development, agriculture and other land modifications (Stein et al. 2000). This trend is expected to continue unless we have a system of conservation lands in place to protect biodiversity values. The Environmental Law Institute's 2001 report, Status of the States: Innovative State Strategies for Biodiversity Conservation (Environmental Law Institute 2001), notes that few if any federal laws or programs address protection of plants, animals and ecosystems before they become imperiled; the same can be said of most state governments. To address this national loss of biodiversity, some states, including Florida and Oregon, have developed state-level initiatives to protect and restore biodiversity.

Washington state is no exception to the national trend of biodiversity loss. As the smallest and second most densely populated of all the rapidly growing Western states, Washington is in danger of losing much of its diversity of plant and animal life, and the natural processes that support them. This is especially true in the Puget Sound region, where most of the state's population and growth is concentrated. The state's population in 2000 was 5.8 million; this is expected to increase by almost two million by 2020. Without a statewide program to identify areas of important terrestrial and aquatic biodiversity, and a coordinated effort to protect those areas and natural processes, the long-term prognosis for Washington's biodiversity is discouraging.

What Is Biodiversity?
Defenders of Wildlife, in its publication Oregon's Living Landscape (Defenders of Wildlife 1998), defines biodiversity as "the variety of life and its processes". A widely accepted variation on this definition includes "the variety of living organisms, the genetic differences between them, the communities and ecosystems in which they occur, and the ecological and evolutionary processes that keep them functioning, yet ever changing and adapting" (Noss and Cooperrider 1994).

The Oregon Experience
In 1993, a small group of conservationists, frustrated with single-species and crisis-oriented management of complex natural resource issues, decided to try a new approach in Oregon by initiating the Oregon Biodiversity Project. The statewide effort, led by Defenders of Wildlife, The Nature Conservancy of Oregon and the Oregon Natural Heritage Program, was based on the assumption that it would be productive to evaluate the overall distribution of species, habitat types, land ownership and management strategies across the Oregon landscape to determine which areas should receive the highest priority for conservation. Over a five-year period, assisted by geographic information system (GIS) technology and a collaborative effort by dozens of public and private cooperators, the Oregon Biodiversity Project was able to shape the outlines of a biodiversity analysis and conservation strategy for the state of Oregon. By 1998, the project had raised and spent more than $800,000 in public and private funds, in addition to more than $200,000 in in-kind contributions. A variety of usable products were produced in the first five years of the project, including a full-color atlas containing a biodiversity assessment and strategy, a poster showing 42 "conservation opportunity areas" identified by the project, a CD-ROM containing conservation-related data sets and a number of publications and PowerPoint slide shows explaining the Oregon project.

The Biodiversity Partnership was created in 1999 as the implementation vehicle for the Oregon Biodiversity Project, and to promote similar efforts in other states. The Partnership is a loosely organized entity that serves as a coordinating mechanism for a wide variety of activities relevant to biodiversity conservation on-the-ground and in the policy arena at the federal, state and local levels. Although Defenders of Wildlife provides the administrative support for the effort and maintains a website for the exchange of information (www.biodiversitypartners.org), the Partnership does not advocate on behalf of its members. However, in 2001 a coalition of organizations and agencies, many of them active "biodiversity partners" persuaded the Oregon Legislature to adopt a comprehensive incentives bill to facilitate improved biodiversity protection on private lands. Another group of "biodiversity partners" promoted successful sustainability legislation that established the Institute for Natural Resources at Oregon State University.

Feasibility Study for a Washington Biodiversity Initiative
In April 2001, Defenders of Wildlife commissioned a study and report on the feasibility of a statewide biodiversity project in Washington state, similar to the successful Oregon Biodiversity Project. The study, assisted by a grant from the Charlotte Martin Foundation, was conducted by Joe La Tourrette, an independent contractor from Olympia, Washington, and Wayne Luscombe, Ph.D., a subcontractor from Portland, Oregon.

There are two aspects to the Washington biodiversity feasibility study: a policy assessment and a technical and GIS management assessment. The lead contractor has extensive knowledge of Washington's wildlife and other natural resources, as well as Washington state government, based on more than 25 years of experience as a state employee and policy consultant to state and federal government agencies; he took the lead in conducting the policy assessment. The subcontractor has vast working knowledge about the development and management of geographic information systems (GIS), based on more than 20 years experience working in that field as a manager with the World Bank; he took the lead in conducting the technical and GIS management assessment.

The feasibility study is based on a number of information sources, including the contractors' personal knowledge, current Internet research and interviews with more than 70 federal, state, local and tribal natural resource and GIS managers, state elected officials and representatives from conservation and business organizations. A policy questionnaire (Appendix I) was used in personal interviews with everyone except GIS managers; a separate technical questionnaire was used for interviews with GIS managers (Appendix II).

Personal interviews were conducted in Olympia, Seattle, Portland, and Vancouver, Washington. A number of phone interviews were also completed with people outside the Seattle-Portland area, and, in a few cases, questionnaires were completed by people who were unavailable for interviews. The combination of personal knowledge, current research, completed questionnaires and detailed field notes from each interview gave the contractors more than adequate information and insight to assess the feasibility of a Washington biodiversity initiative and to make sound recommendations.

This report represents the findings of the feasibility study. It begins with an overview of the current situation in Washington State, followed by an assessment of the interest, institutional capacity and constraints and opportunities that relate to a statewide biodiversity project. It also examines in some detail the technical capacities and the availability of information to support such a program. Based on these policy and technical assessments, the report makes key recommendations about the feasibility of doing a biodiversity initiative in Washington state and discusses some critical issues that will affect the project's implementation and ultimate success.