U.S. Representatives Denny Heck and Derek Kilmer convened the first field hearing of the Congressional Puget Sound Recovery Caucus today at the Center for Urban Waters in Tacoma.
The caucus was formed by the two freshmen congressmen in June, with a pledge to focus on three initial recovery priorities established in the Puget Sound Partnership’s Action Agenda, “preventing pollution from urban stormwater runoff, protecting and restoring habitat, and restoring and re-opening shellfish beds.”
The list of 16 speakers included retired Representative Norm Dicks and former head of the EPA William Ruckelshaus, who used the occasion and the large presence of agency, tribal and other leaders to call for increased collaboration among those working in the region.
“We can’t have state and federal agencies going in different directions,” said Ruckelshaus. who pointed to the Action Agenda as a touchstone for unifying recovery efforts. Congress should insist on collaborative approaches among agencies, he said.
Funding for Puget Sound recovery was also a major theme of the caucus, and was addressed by most participants. Some, like NOAA’s Northwest Fisheries Science Center Director John Stein called for more funding for monitoring. Stein cited as an example the lack of a research vessel for monitoring juvenile salmon declines in North Puget Sound. Others, such as David Troutt, Chair of the Puget Sound Salmon Recovery Council called for additional support for monitoring the effectiveness of existing protection and restoration projects. “How do we know that what we are doing is effective?” he asked. “How we measure and declare success is very important.”
Download a scan of the Puget Sound Recovery Caucus agenda.
