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COA
Public Hegalt
615 Sheridan Street
Port Townsend, WA 98368
www.JeffersonCountyPublicHealth.org
JEFFERSON COUNTY
BOARD OF COUNTY COMMISSIONERS
TO:
FROM:
DATE:
SUBJECT
AGENDA REQUEST
Board of County Commissioners
Philip Morley, County Administrator
Pinky Mingo, Environmental Public Health Director
Tami Pokorny, Natural Resources Program Coordinator
November 2, 2020
Presentation and Proposed Letter to Governor Inslee supporting
Floodplains by Design (FbD) Capital Budget Request
STATEMENT OF ISSUE:
Public Health requests the opportunity for Mendy Harlow, Hood Canal Salmon Enhancement Group, to
present a proposed letter to Governor Inslee in support of the DOE Floodplains by Design (FbD) capital
budget request.
ANALYSIS/STRATEGIC GOALS/PRO'S and CON'S:
Floodplains by Design (FbD; http://www.floodplainsbydesign.org/), administered by the Department of
Ecology, is a public -private partnership led by the Department of Ecology, the Nature Conservancy, and
the Puget Sound Partnership. FbD projects reduce flood risks and restore habitat along Washington's
major river corridors. The program's goal is to improve the resiliency of floodplains in order to protect
local communities and the health of the environment. In Jefferson County, the Hood Canal Salmon
Enhancement Group (HCSEG) received FbD funds in 2017 to protect and restore the lower Big Quilcene
River. Their 2021 application builds upon existing efforts to expand and implement this restoration effort.
Mendy Harlow, executive director of HCSEG, will present a letter to Governor Inslee for BoCC signature
that requests $70 million for FbD in his 2021-23 capital budget for projects the state. Submission of the
letter is requested on November 2, 2020.
FISCAL IMPACT/COST BENEFIT ANALYSIS:
There is no fiscal impact to the county's General Fund for supporting the FbD capital budget request.
RECOMMENDATION:
Public Health recommends that the County Commissioner hear the presentation by Mendy Harlow and
sign the letter to Governor Inslee in support of the Floodplains by Design (FbD) capital budget request.
REVIEWED BY:
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Philip Morley, unty Administrator
Community Health
Developmental Disabilities
360-385-9400
360-385-9401 (f) Always working for a safer and healthier communi ;:
The Honorable Jay Inslee
Governor of Washington
Office of the Governor
P.O. Box 40002
Olympia, WA 98504-0002
November 2nd, 2020
Dear Governor Inslee,
The Board of County Commissioners of Jefferson County write to thank you for your past support of
Floodplains by Design, a popular, cost-effective public -private -tribal -agricultural partnership that
delivers critical results for communities, conservation and Washington's urban and rural economies.
We write today to respectfully request that you include $70 million in your 2021-23 biennial capital
budget for Floodplains by Design.
Administered by the Department of Ecology, Floodplains by Design has been supporting tribal
nations, farmers, and flood managers in Jefferson County, and across the State to transform how
floodplains are managed since 2013. Local demand for this type of collaborative multi -benefit
investment has only grown and become more sophisticated in its ability to provide local results and
leverage public investment.
Among the 2021 FbD projects are broadly supported packages that protect farmland; restore
estuaries; remove, improve or set back levees, improve agricultural drainage, reduce flood
hazards, restore salmon and shellfish habitat, and more. These projects are the result of hard
work by local governments, tribes, farmers, watershed groups, the conservation community,
salmon recovery advocates and state and federal agencies to come together to craft creative and
unique suites of actions that deliver reach and watershed scale change. They would create an
estimated 1,169 jobs impacting at least 38 legislative districts throughout the state, many of
which are currently experiencing nearly double-digit unemployment.
Here in Jefferson County, we have a strong desire to restore and protect our many unique natural
ecosystems that is, in part, being addressed by ongoing floodplain acquisition and restoration work
on the Big Quilcene River. The Moon Valley Reach, the upper portion of the three-mile long project
area, is the primary focus of the current request for funding proposed by the Hood Canal Salmon
Enhancement Group. Locally, Floodplains by Design would provide numerous and wide-ranging
benefits to the local ecosystem, the community of Quilcene, and Jefferson County as a whole. These
benefits include the reduction of flood related issues and damages, improvement of water quality,
creation of new local jobs, stimulation of the local economy, rehabilitation of salmon populations
including ESA listed Hood Canal Summer Chum and Puget Sound Steelhead, and the addition of
recreational opportunities.
Across much of Washington state, the Floodplains by Design program not only helps sustain local
economic productivity, the infrastructure works it funds creates hundreds of local high -paying
engineering and construction jobs. Capital investments get people to work. Capital investments in
flood risk reduction simultaneously protect communities from devastating floods that would be even
harder to recover from. Investments in salmon recovery sows the seeds for a return of harvestable
fish for cultural, recreational and commercial purposes. It has also been a time when more and more
families find solace in the outdoors. Floodplains by Design has created or improved 25 public areas
where Washingtonians and visitors can go to find respite and renewal in nature — creating more
opportunities for improving not just physical resilience, but spiritual resilience as well.
Residents of Jefferson County depend on healthy, livable, safe floodplains, and local communities
like Quilcene need state support and incentives to better manage river systems in a holistic way that
builds community, economic and environmental resilience. It's clear that now, more than ever, it is
time to invest in Washington's people and natural places.
We ask for your support for $70 million in capital funding for Ecology to incentivize collaboration on
flood risk reduction, salmon recovery and working lands protection and enhancement through its
Floodplains by Design program. With a capital investment of $70 million, Floodplains by Design
projects in the 2021-23 biennium would leverage another $91 million in funding from other
sources, resulting in $161 million in support for getting Washingtonians back to work. This
investment will also increase our collective climate resilience, reducing risk, protecting land and
water and restoring habitat and — perhaps most importantly —fueling the hope and hard
collaborative work represented in the suite of projects that are ready to go. Thank you.
Respectfully,