Conservation Committee – Thurston County
Conservation Action / Thurston County Focus Biodiversity Advocacy to Conserve Habitat—Black Hills Audubon Conservation Committee BHAS’s Conservation Committee has been advocating for conservation of mature forest habitat, Wildlife Corridors, and more environmentally friendly development codes, as well as pushing for more aggressive work to protect quantity and quality of water – especially for wildlife habitat – in this region. Examples include: DNR (Washington Dept. of Natural Resources): We have supported the Center for Responsible Forestry’s advocacy to log other holdings and halt logging of mature complex forests under state control, because these forests sequester carbon (fight climate change) and also provide the best kinds of habitat for birds and other wildlife (in comparison to tree farms). WDFW (Washington Dept of Fish and Wildlife): We have supported WDFW land acquisitions for conservation – 4 of them in Thurston County. These lands will conserve important wetland, forest, and prairie habitat for
COASTAL RESILIENCE
COASTAL RESILIENCE Kathleen Snyder In August, Black Hills Audubon co-sponsored a program with Audubon Washington on Coastal Resilience in the face of climate change and rising ocean levels. Noah Linck and Jay Krienitz, both of the Washington Department of Ecology, spoke about their agency’s efforts to prepare shoreline communities, especially underserved ones, for the effects on infrastructure and wildlife that are coming. This was part of Audubon Washington’s “Audubon Around the Sound” – a Puget Sound coastal resilience tour featuring speakers, field trips, and community events aimed at bringing conservationists together to protect Puget Sound’s coastal habitats. The program also mentioned several ways in which our BHAS community can assist in this. Below is a list of those opportunities: 1. MyCoast: Washington. This is a project of the Department of Natural Resources to gather photographs of coastal beaches, unusual tides, major marine debris, and storm surges. The photos are used
Comprehensive Plan Update
Thurston County Comprehensive Plan – Update from the BHAS Conservation Committee ** See below for public comment info ** By Betsy Norton Thurston County Comp Plan: The Thurston County Comprehensive Plan 2045 update is well underway. Initial outlines by county staff and discussions of draft chapters are proceeding with the TC Planning Commission through September. The Planning commission is listening, reading staff content and public comment, and discussing what will be included in their full plan proposal in the October/November timeframe. Comp Plan Environmental Impact Statement (EIS): Thurston county has initiated a programmatic Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) for the comp plan itself – an assessment of the plan’s likely impact to the natural and built environment, along with recommendations on updates to the proposed Comp plan to avoid negative impacts. Right now, they are “scoping” the EIS – to determine what all it should cover – and