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WATERSHED PLANNING
With the passage of the Watershed Management Act of 1998, Washington State established a pathway for
developing locally-based watershed enhancement plans based on Water Resource Inventory Areas, or WRIAs.
This optional program is outlined in
Chapter 90.82 RCW and provides a framework within which citizens,
tribes, local governments and others can collaborate to develop watershed management plans. Sponsored
by the Washington Department of Ecology, all watershed
management plans address water supply reliability issues, while water quality, instream flows, and habitat
are optional.
In the Middle Snake Watershed (WRIA 35), Asotin, Columbia, Garfield, and Whitman Counties, the City of
Clarkston, and the Asotin County Public Utility District joined to initiate organization of the WRIA 35
Planning Unit in 2002. The 37-member Middle Snake Watershed Planning Unit is comprised of the
initiating governments and the following stakeholder groups:
- landowners and citizens
- tribes
- conservation
districts
- agricultural groups
- local governments
- environmental groups
- state and federal agencies
The watershed planning process
in WRIA 35 will address water supply, instream flows, water quality, and habitat issues. In summer, 2003,
development of the Level 1 Technical Assessment will begin. This assessment will summarize current conditions
in the watershed, and will identify existing data gaps. Completion of the Level 1 Assessment is anticipated
by June, 2004. The Level 2 Technical Assessment will follow, focusing on detailed studies and gathering
additional information to fill in those data gaps. These technical assessments will feed into the watershed
management plan, tentatively scheduled for completion by the end of 2006. This watershed planning process
will be coordinated with Salmon Recovery Planning and BPA Subbasin Planning ongoing in the watershed.
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