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Ecosystem Recovery/ SJ-LIO
Working together to protect and restore the San Juan Islands’ ecosystem.
Recognizing that ecosystem recovery requires local actions to best motivate change, San Juan County and federally recognized local tribes in cooperation with a state agency called the Puget Sound Partnership (PSP) established a Local Integrating Organization (LIO). San Juan County Resolution 23-2010 states that "San Juan County recognizes the value of its citizens and the good stewardship of the marine resources that comes from organized and coordinated actions in a priority that reflects the needs of the local people and the demand of local resources, together with the objective of implementing a strategy to restore and protect Puget Sound and Salish Sea" (What is the Salish Sea?).
ABOUT SAN JUAN LOCAL INTEGRATING ORGANIZATION
San Juan County's Action Agenda Oversight Group (AAOG), more commonly known and referred to as the San Juan Local Integrating Organization (SJ-LIO), is one of ten LIOs recognized by the PSP with the goal of “overseeing the restoration of environmental health of Puget Sound by 2020” under RCW 90.71.210.
The San Juan LIO brings together numerous existing committees, governmental and non-government organizations, county agencies, tribes, and local watershed groups that coordinate actions to protect and restore the San Juan Islands’ ecosystem. Together, representatives from these organizations set priorities, design local near-term actions, locate and coordinate funds to implement those actions. These actions then become a part of the PSP’s Action Agenda, which is essentially a “road map” to Puget Sound recovery.
Accountability Oversight Committee
TBD (Chair – voting member) – San Juan County Council
Vacant (voting member) – Lummi Nation
Stan Walsh (voting member) – Swinomish Tribe
Patti Gobin (voting member) – Tulalip Tribes
TBD (ex-officio - non-voting) – Puget Sound Partnership Leadership Council
Implementation Committee
Sam Whitridge – San Juan County/WRIA 2 Lead Entity
Kendra Smith – San Juan County Environmental Stewardship Department
Frances Robertson - San Juan County Marine Program
Kyle Dodd – San Juan County Health & Community Services
Stan Walsh – Skagit River System Cooperative, Swinomish Tribe
Paul Andersson – San Juan Islands Conservation District
Megan Dethier – University of Washington Friday Harbor Laboratories
Kimbal Sundberg – Clean Water Advisory Committee
Adam Parrott – San Juan County Marine Resources Committee
Patti Gobin – Tulalip Tribes of Washington
Erin Licata - San Juan Stewardship Network
TBD – San Juan County Economic Development Council
TBD – San Juan Community Development and Planning Department
Generally, speaking LIOs are recognized as the local expert bodies for Puget Sound ecosystem recovery, and meet regularly as a forum to collaboratively develop, coordinate, and implement strategies and actions that contribute to the protection and recovery of local marine ecosystems. The San Juan LIO meets regularly as part of the County's monthly convening of Marine Advisory Committees (typically the first Thursday of the month, from 9am-12pm), along with the Marine Resources Committee and Salmon Recovery Lead Entity Citizen Advisory Group.
The LIO identifies local pressures and threats on our marine ecosystems and directs funding and local actions towards reducing their impacts in the San Juan Islands.
According to the Puget Sound Partnership Leadership Council, the purpose of the SJ-LIO is to:
- Communicate with the Puget Sound Partnership (a state agency), county agencies, tribes, non-profit organizations, and local watershed groups about local priorities that will advance the Action Agenda, a road map to Puget Sound recovery.
- Identify local ecosystem pressures that impede recovery efforts.
- Direct funding and local actions towards reducing the impacts of these pressures on the San Juan Islands and the Salish Sea.
Historically, the SJ-LIO worked on short-term recovery projects called Near Term Actions (NTAs), which support the implementation of the Puget Sound Action Agenda. NTAs were intended to take place within a two-year period and be closely tracked, measured, and reported quarterly.
In 2022, the Puget Sound Partnership changed this format, though all previous NTAs can still be found on the PSP website here.
Despite the change in tracking and reporting, the concept of how we get things done remains the same: break down the mountain of ecosystem protection and recovery work into manageable mole hills.
See our past and current projects here.