Surface Water Management Division
Critical Areas Monitoring and Adaptive Management Program
| The monitoring and adaptive management program was developed to support implementation of Snohomish County’s Critical Area Regulations (CAR) in order to meet the requirements of the Washington State Growth Management Act (GMA). The program goal is to determine the effectiveness of the regulations in conserving the functions and values of the County's critical areas. |
Remote Sensing Image of County used to detect changes in critical areas |
Program Overview
The critical areas monitoring plan is designed to rapidly detect changes in critical area functions. The plan includes an adaptive management framework to increase certainty of achieving the conservation goal of preventing a net loss of critical area functions and values. The monitoring results will evaluate whether modifications to Critical Areas Regulations or other County programs are needed to prevent a net loss of critical area functions and values.
The monitoring plan consists of three main components:
- Assessment of changes in land cover in Wetland and Fish and Wildlife Habitat Conservation Areas using primarily remote sensing methods
- Assessment of physical, chemical and biological conditions in small catchments developing under the new CAR relative to control sites
- Assessment of changes in shoreline conditions along major rivers and lakes
Wetlands and Fish & Wildlife Habitat Conservation Areas (FWHCA) are the focus of the monitoring program. The regulations contain greater flexibility in approach to protection of these two types of critical areas, and thus greater uncertainty of protection.
Current Program Reports
The Critical Areas and Shorelines Monitoring 2010 Status Report is currently in final review. This status report documents and quantifies change within FWHCA’s, wetlands, buffers, and other land cover types as a result of human-induced modification from 2007 to 2009. Please check back for this document or contact us for more information.
2010 Critical Areas Monitoring and Adaptive Management 2010 Status Report - (STILL IN REVIEW)
Appendix A Land Cover Classification for Snohomish County Critical Area Monitoring (2.5 mb PDF download)
Appendix B Intensive Catchment Supply Status Report (885 kb pdf download) - Updated 2010
Appendix C Shoreline Inventory Status Report (3.04 mb PDF download) - Updated 2010
Past Program Reports
2008 Critical Areas Status Report (2.8 mb PDF download)
Appendix A Land Cover Classification for Snohomish County Critical Area Monitoring (2.5 mb pdf download)
Appendix B Shoreline Inventory Status Report (3.04 mb pdf download)
Appendix C Intensive Catchment Supply Status Report (885 kb pdf download)
Contacts
Ben Dittbrenner, CAR Biologist, 425-388-3923
Gi-Choul Ahn, Senior GIS Analyst, 425-388-3464 extension 4621
Mike Rustay, Principal Habitat Specialist, 425-388-3464 extension 4666
Some of these documents are in pdf format. To read these files you'll need to have Adobe Acrobat Reader installed on your computer.