Overview: In 1972 Washington State voters passed the Shoreline Management Act (SMA), which requires all counties and cities to adopt Shoreline Master Programs (SMPs). Shorelines include rivers, streams, lakes, reservoirs, wetlands and a “shore lands” within 200 feet of one of these water bodies (RCW 90.58.030). The goal of SMPs are designed to manage development and use of shorelines with the goal of protecting shorelines as a natural resource for future generations, providing for public access to water, and to plan for water-dependent uses while ensuring there is “no net loss” of any ecological functions.
As we have seen in the last few years, floods have dramatically damaged homes built near rivers and too much development near shorelines can have a negative impact on endangered fish. The SMP helps to mitigate the risk and achieve the goal of “no net loss” by requiring buildings to be set back waterways. Counties are responsible for adopting SMPs and the state Department of Ecology (DOE) is required to ensure these SMPs comply with the SMA.
Latest News: June 2018, the Department of Ecology approved Okanogan County’s Shoreline Master Program that addresses the use, management and restoration of shorelines along the Chewuch, Methow, Okanogan, Similkameen and Twisp rivers, and lakes Pateros, Osoyoos and Palmer.
The Methow Valley Citizens Council and many others worked for over 10 years to encourage Okanogan County to protect the shoreline ecology in the Methow Valley.
One significant aspect of the Shoreline Master Program is that it assigns a category to every mile of every shoreline in the County, and these categories govern development on shoreline properties. In a draft of the Program previous to the one adopted, former county commissioners had reduced protection for thousands of acres of ecologically important shoreline. The Citizens Council worked with both Ecology and the current commissioners to restore protection for these areas, in the form of greater riparian vegetation buffers and larger setbacks for structures.
Resources:
MVCC Press Release and Timeline of Shoreline Masters Program
Department of Ecology guideline to Shoreline Master Programs
MRSC Shoreline Master Act guide
Timeline of MVCC’s Involvement with the SMP:
2006 – The update process began as a regional inter-governmental process between Okanogan County and incorporated municipalities.
2010 – A revised Draft SMP was released for public review and comment and the public was invited to submit and/or recommend changes.
2011 – A revised Shoreline Master Program was released for public review and comment and the public was invited to submit comments and/or recommended changes.
Early 2012 – The Board of County Commissioners decided to initiate additional public and legal review of the 2011 draft of the Shoreline Master Program before making a final decision.
2012 – County proposes revisions to its Shoreline Master Program (SMP). The County’s proposal lacks many important environmental protections and does not comply with state law.
2016 – MVCCnot successful in achieving adequate Shoreline protections when the Shoreline Master Program was first sent to the Department of Ecology (DOE) by the Okanogan County Commissioners.
2016 – MVCC works with the Colville Tribes, Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife, and NOAA to submit comments related to one of our chief concerns: the designation and protection of “Critical Fish and Wildlife Habitat.”
2017 – Under newly elected County leadership, MVCC staff and citizen volunteers hold discussions with the Department of Ecology, and with Okanogan County planning staff and Commissioners.
2017 – MVCC, along with partners and the public convince the Commissioners to designate, but not provide additional protections for, Critical Fish and Wildlife Habitat.
Fall 2017 – MVCC uses volunteer power to research and map an important loss: 4,400 acres of high quality shoreline habitat that had been converted from its protective “Riverine” designation and moved to the least restrictive “Rural” designation.
2018 – Commissioners receive significant comments from the public and redesignate the “Lost Riverine” parcels on the Okanogan and Methow rivers to a more protective “Conservancy” designation.
2018 – DOE approves Okanogan County’s Shoreline Master Program that addresses the use, management and restoration of shorelines along the Chewuch, Methow, Okanogan, Similkameen and Twisp rivers and their tributaries, and lakes Pateros, Osoyoos and Palmer.