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A shellfish beach at Hamma Hamma on Hood Canal.
By NATALIE JOHNSON
r~,(lla[ie@n~esoncou nt,y.com
Since the mid-1980s the Hood Ca-
nal Coordinating Council (HCCC) has
worked to address water quality issues
from a regional approach, bringing to-
gether area partners to combine efforts.
"Fish don't know the county bound-
aries," Executive Director Scott Brewer
said.
Last week, a part of the Hood Canal
region expressed a desire to back out of
that partnership.
The Mason County Board of Com-
missioners voted unanimously on Oct.
23 to give a 90 day notice of the coun-
ty's intent to withdraw from the coun-
cil, as is required in the membership
agreement.
"I have expressed concerns for a
number of years about the Hood Canal
Coordinating Council," Mason County
Commissioner Lynda Ring Erickson
said. "-We need to be very focused and
., very strategic. Sometimes I think that
"tl{ey'~e'%st that strategic focus:"
Mason County is one of five voting
members in the council. The others
represent Jefferson and Kitsap coun-
ties and the Skokomish and S'Klallam
Port Gamble tribes.
In addition to the council's five vot-
ing members, it also has ex-officio mem-
bers such as the Washington State De-
partment of Ecology, Washington State
Department of Fish and Wildlife and
the Puget Sound Partnership, among
others.
"They'll come and go, depending on
the issue," Brewer said.
The council also has more than 200
partners, he said, including groups
such as the Hood Canal Salmon En-
hancement Group.
Rather than have dozens of orga-
nizations implement separate water
quality programs, the HCCC attacks
water quality and habitat issues from a
regional perspective, Brewer said.
That approach allows the council to
create programs to benefit the entire
Hood Canal, he said, such as its Inte-
grated Watershed Management Plan,
Salmon Recovery Program, In Lieu Fee
Mitigation Program and community
engagement, among others.
"We are the regional recovery orga-
nization for summer chum salmon,"
Brewer said. "The coordinating council
now is the body responsible for getting
that plan integrated."
Because the HCCC is the lead fis-
cal agent for chum salmon recovery, it
administors state and federal funds to
other local salmon recovery organiza-
tions too.
When voting to withdraw from the
council, the Mason County Commis-
sioners expressed concern about one
program in particular -- the In Lieu
Fee Mitigation, or ILF program.
The HCCC first discussed an ILF
program in relation to a U.S. Navy
project to put in a new warf on Hood
Canal in Kitsap County.
The project involved clearing a 1/5-
acre wetland and 3/4-acre area of ripar-
ian habitat to make way for a 6.3 acre
over-water structure.
During the permitting process for a
project like this, organizations have to
go through an Environmental Impact
Statement.
"It gets determined at some point
that these impacts are unavoidable,
(then) they're required to do mitiga-
tion," Brewer said.
In some cases, such as the Navy's, he
said it makes more sense to charge a
fee in lieu of mitigation.
Specifically, the Navy has paid $6.9
million to HCCC for them to manage
the mitigation process.
"They're paying for a service -- we
have the responsibility to do that miti-
gation," said Richard Brocksmith,
director for habitat programs at the
HCCC. "The beauty of the In Lieu Fee
system is, like the Navy, they don't
have to be in the business of habitat
restoration."
Being in charge of the mitigation
allows the HCCC to, again, provide a
watershed- or region-wide approach,
he said.
Ring Erickson said it isn't so much
the substance of the program that con-
cerns her, but whether Mason County
Journal file photo
will retain the right to have a final say
on a mitigation project.
She also expressed concern that the
ILF program could be used to address
mitigation for a Washington State De-
partment of Transportation project to
widen State Route 3 through Belfair.
"I do think that the voters of Mason
County expect us to be involved," she
said.
The HCCC voted ":n July, with Ma-
son County as the lone dissenting vote,
to approve the ILF program. There are
eight other ILF programs in the coun-
try, Brewer said.
County commissioner Steve Bloom-
field said the commission did not have
adequate time to review changes to the
ILF proposal before the HCCC board
voted on it.
"They give us a five-minute presen-
tation, a PowerPoint, then they said,
'Would you please sign it.' I hadn't even
seen the document," he said.
Bloomfield said the Mason County
Commission had been under the im-
pression that the ILF program would
only be used in the Navy project, and
said adopting the ILF would conflict
with the Mason County Comprehen-
sive Plan.
Brewer said the HCCC wants to
work with Mason County to under-
stand their concerns and resolve any
differences.
"We didn't really understand their
concerns and the issues," he said. "In
h{ndsight, we need to do a better job of
laying out the In Lieu Fee program."
Bloomfield also expressed concerns
about the council's financial practices.
While its members recieve financial
statements at each meeting, he said he
preferred more in-depth presentations
on the state of the budget.
Commissioner Tim Sheldon also
questioned the council's finances at
the Oct. 23 Mason County Commission
meeting.
Both sides have expressed an inter-
est in working out their differences.
"It's not just about in lieu fees, there
are other things," Bloomfield said. "I
think there's potential to work it out if
somebody makes an effort."
o::o H00dCanai
COMMUNICATIONS
SHS Content on Local Channel 46!
%#
Hood Canal Communications has
partnered with the Career and ........
Technical Education Program at ;5 J
Shelton High School in order to ;Z
provide an opportunity to
showcase student video
production. Watch Climber's
sports, activities and student
achievement on our Local
Channel 46! Visit
our website to view
a schedule of our
Local Channel 46 C#
programming.
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Shelton-Mason County Journal -Thursday, Nov. I, 2012 - Page A-3