American Rivers Identifies Snoqualmie as one of "America’s Most Endangered Rivers"

In April, American Rivers’ released its annual list of America’s Most Endangered Rivers. This year, the list included southwest Washington’s Lewis and Puget Sound’s Snoqualmie Rivers. Washington Trout and 1000 Friends of Washington joined American Rivers as "Local Partners" in the Snoqualmie listing.

On the Snoqualmie, American Rivers identified urban and suburban sprawl pressure as an acute threat to the river, and key upcoming federal, state, and local government decision points that will determine how the river meets that threat. If the region can successfully limit sprawl, the Snoqualmie could serve as a model for salmon recovery and sustainable river-management. The quality of the model we produce could likely determine the fate of rivers and salmon throughout the Northwest.

The Snoqualmie is a rare treasure, literally at Seattle’s back door. Despite a century of forestry and agricultural impacts, and despite its proximity to the growing Seattle/King County metropolis, the Snoqualmie watershed still retains broad areas of healthy wildlife and salmon habitat. Its coho salmon are still abundant, and the Snoqualmie will serve as a bulwark in the fight to recover Puget Sound chinook, listed as threatened under the Endangered Species Act. Unfortunately, this unique resource will not be adequately protected under existing and proposed regulations.

King County has taken some steps to protect the river. Its new Comprehensive Plan will limit growth, but everyone acknowledges that development in the watershed will increase. We believe current plans will allow it to increase too much, too fast for the sake of the Snoqualmie and its wild fish.

Current science suggests that even low-density growth will have harmful impacts on the river ecosystem. For instance, the 4% to 20% increases in Snoqualmie-basin development contemplated in current growth planning could correlate 30% reductions in salmon abundance. Regulations to protect critical areas must be expanded, strengthened, and adequately enforced. Future growth must be directed to the more urbanized basins, and away from sensitive areas like those in the Snoqualmie Basin. King, Snohomish, and Pierce Counties must submit to NMFS a strong Tri-County salmon-recovery plan that will limit sprawl, adequately protect listed salmon, establish a model for responsible river management, and preserve some of Puget Sound’s last, best salmon habitat.

If the largest, richest, most progressive jurisdictions in the Northwest fail to protect the Snoqualmie, can we expect to save the rest of the region’s rivers and their wildlife? American Rivers listed the Snoqualmie not just because it needs to be protected, but because it can be saved. We believe that the public and its representatives can gather the commitment to preserve this gem in Seattle’s back yard, before it is too late.

For more information, visit American Rivers at http://www.americanrivers.org/