Property Owner, Renter and Contractor Information
Best Management Practices (BMPs) - Home and Business

A watershed consists of all of the land which contributes water to a specific body of water. To outline watershed boundaries, connect the points of highest elevation around a lake on a topographic map. Water falling within this bowl flows by gravity, in streams and groundwater, to the lake. Any substance within the watershed which can be transported by water eventually reaches the lake and affects water quality. Lake protection efforts often focus on shoreline land use, perhaps mistakenly creating the impression that only activities along the shore influence water quality. In truth, land use anywhere within a lake's watershed affects lake health. Click here for a handy Dos & Don'ts chart.
Property owners with wetlands - It is your responsibility to know the law and protect your wetland, especially if it is significant!! Oregon State Water Related Permits

New Blue Green Thumb watershed program website - click here

Sustainable definition: "Sustainable development is development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs." Brundtland Report

Lincoln City - Lincoln City's Code of Ordinances are online at www.lincolncity.org, or www.amlegal.com/lincoln_city_or. City Hall is located at 801 SW Hwy 101, Lincoln City, OR 97367, Planning 541-996-2153, Public Works 541-996-2154. Lincoln City has a tree ordinance. The city public works department has information on conserving energy and water, and the Preservation Association of Devils Lake (PADL) has brochures and handouts on the topic.

Lincoln County - Lincoln County Planning can be reached at 541-265-4192 in Newport. The Lincoln County website is www.co.lincoln.or.us.

Oregon State - The state of Oregon has ordinances concerning construction. The Oregon state website is www.oregon.gov. The Oregon Administrative Rules are at http://arcweb.sos.state.or.us/banners/rules.htm. For dock registration see http://statelands.dsl.state.or.us/DSL/contact_us.shtml

In 1973, Oregonians passed important new laws to protect their landscape and provide orderly ways of planning for new development. The city inventoried their natural resources. The purpose of the Natural Resources Overlay Zone (NR) is to conserve, protect, where appropriate develop, and where appropriate restore the resources and benefits of coastal shorelands, natural resources, and scenic areas, recognizing their value for protection and maintenance of water quality, fish and wildlife habitat, water-dependent uses, economic resources, recreation and aesthetics. Click here for more information about the Oregon Planning Program.

Obviously, it is not possible to maintain all watersheds in a pristine, undisturbed state. But the impacts of land use on water quality can be dramatically reduced if everyone cooperates. It is the cumulative effect of many people living, working, and playing in the watershed that contributes to changes in water quality over time. Consequently, only by changing or breaking old bad habits can we lessen our impact on water quality, by learning to live in a more equal partnership with nature and her resources.

Best Management Practices (BMPs) in Washington and California waterways:

Best Management Practices (BMPs) at Lake Tahoe
Best Management Practices (BMPs) are methods to help developed properties function more like natural, undisturbed forest and meadowland. Water that is conveyed to a lake by an undisturbed watershed is usually quite pure, because the watershed’s soils and plants act as a natural water purification system. BMPs help developed properties mimic natural conditions, preventing sediment and nutrients from entering our surface waters and filtering runoff water through the soil. By implementing BMPs, property owners can help slow the loss of lake clarity.
www.trpa.org/default.aspx?tabindex=1&tabid=194
www.tahoebmp.org/

King County Washington lakeside for salmon migration
Better docks for salmon - chinook - but may apply to coho
Interesting site with lots of information
http://dnr.metrokc.gov/wrias/8/lakeside-living/docks.htm
http://www.metrokc.gov/shorelines/
Added note: Rain Gardens - * Promote through design competitions and media coverage the use of “rain gardens” and other low impact development practices that mimic natural hydrology. Combine a home/garden tour or “Street of Dreams” type event featuring these landscape /engineering treatments

DRAFT
SERVICE PROVIDER TEAM RECOMMENDED
ACTION START-LIST FOR MIGRATORY AREAS
(INCLUDES LAKES, SHIP CANAL, LOCKS, ESTUARY/NEARSHORE)
(ALL TIER 1)
Technical priorities from WRIA 8 Conservation Strategy are listed in bold. Land use, public outreach, and site specific actions are listed for each technical priority. Technical priorities are interrelated, and many actions address multiple technical priorities.
NOTE: Actions for Sammamish River are located in the North Lake Washington Tributaries Action Start-List.
LAKE WASHINGTON (INCLUDING UNION BAY) AND LAKE SAMMAMISH RECOMMENDATIONS
Reduce predation to outmigrating juvenile Chinook by: reducing bank hardening, restoring overhanging riparian vegetation, replacing bulkheads and rip-rap with sandy beaches with gentle slopes, and use of mesh dock surfaces and/or community docks.
Basinwide recommendations (entire subarea is located with Urban Growth Area):
* Encourage salmon friendly shoreline design during new construction or redevelopment by offering incentives and regulatory flexibility to improve bulkhead and dock design and revegetate shorelines. Increase enforcement and address nonconforming structures over long run by requiring that major redevelopment projects meet current standards.
* Discourage construction of new bulkheads; offer incentives (e.g., provide expertise, expedite permitting) for voluntary removal of bulkheads, beach improvement, riparian revegetation.
* Support joint effort by NOAA Fisheries and other agencies to develop dock/pier specifications to streamline federal/state/local permitting; encourage similar effort for bulkhead specifications.
* Promote value of light-permeable docks, smaller piling sizes, and community docks to both salmon and property owners by direct mailings to lakeshore property owners or registered boat owners sent with property tax notice or boat registration tab renewal. Offer financial incentives for community docks in terms of reduced permit fees, loan fees/percentage rates, taxes, and permitting time, in addition to construction cost savings.
* Develop workshop series specifically for lakeshore property owners on lakeside living: natural yard care, alternatives to vertical wall bulkheads, fish friendly dock design, best management practices for aquatic weed control, porous paving, and environmentally friendly methods of maintaining boats, docks, and decks. Related efforts include creation of a website to convey workshop material, an awareness campaign, “Build a Beach,” to illuminate impact of bulkheads on development of sandy beaches.
* Restore shoreline in Lake Washington Section 1: restore Washington Department of Natural Resources property as part of shoreline trail project; work with private property owners to restore shoreline in Section 1. Use interpretive signage where possible to explain restoration efforts.
* Restore shoreline in Lake Washington Section 2: remove marina and bulkhead at Rainer Beach Lake Park, create shallow-water habitat and restore native overhanging vegetation; remove concrete bulkhead in northern portion of Pritchard Island Beach, create shallow-water habitat and restore native overhanging vegetation.
* Lake Sammamish State Park Protection: Several proposals exist pertaining to planned park development. Ensure that final park development plan adequately protects floodplain/riparian processes and mouth of Issaquah Creek. (Issaquah Reach 1, Lake Sammamish Section 1)

Protect and restore water quality in tributaries and along shoreline. Restore coho runs in smaller tributaries as control mechanism to reduce the cutthroat population. Reconnect and enhance small creek mouths as juvenile rearing areas.
Basinwide recommendations:
* Address water quality and high flow impacts from creeks and shoreline development through NPDES permit updates (including low impact development techniques), on-site stormwater detention for new and redeveloped projects, and control of point sources that discharge directly into the lakes. Encourage low impact development through regulations, incentives, education/training, and demonstration projects throughout subarea.
* Protect and restore water quality and other ecological functions in tributaries to reduce effects of urbanization and reduce conditions which encourage cutthroat. Protect and restore forest cover, riparian buffers, wetlands, and creek mouths by revising and enforcing critical areas ordinances and Shoreline Master Programs, incentives, and flexible development tools.
* Promote through design competitions and media coverage the use of “rain gardens” and other low impact development practices that mimic natural hydrology. Combine a home/garden tour or “Street of Dreams” type event featuring these landscape /engineering treatments
* Enhance small creek mouths in Lake Washington Segment 1: enhance Mouth of Kennydale Creek in Gene Coulon Park; enhance mouth and lower reaches of Johns Creek. Encourage participation of citizen-based stewardship efforts in these restoration projects (such as Stream Teams).

LAKE UNION, Ship Canal and Locks RECOMMENDATIONS
High water temperatures impede juvenile Chinook outmigration during summer in Ship Canal and lead to increased activity by predators (primarily bass). Options to reduce water temperatures in Ship Canal should be evaluated. In addition, adult migration is affected by high temperatures and low dissolved oxygen at the Locks.
Basinwide recommendations (entire subarea is located within Urban Growth Area):
* Continue to work on improving conditions at the Locks to improve juvenile Chinook outmigration. Actions could include:
- Add/replace strobe lights to locks to deter smolts and prevent entrainment.
- Improve estuary conditions upstream of Locks: Modify the salt water barrier to let salt water in through the Locks to cool water above Locks or move the salt water drain upstream to the west end of the Fremont Cut.
- Locks Natural Estuary: Construct a more natural, fairly wide and long channel at the Locks facility that would allow fish to move back and forth between warmer lake outflow and cooler tidal water, and allow tidal change to inundate areas designed into the channel where fish could find refuge to hold and choose their preferred salinity.
- Take advantage of enormous outreach potential at the Locks by working with the Corp of Engineers to expand or enhance educational displays. Include information about ongoing and proposed WRIA 8 conservation efforts being both taken at the Locks and throughout the watershed, as well as actions that citizens can take to improve salmon habitat at home.

Additional investigations are needed to determine habitat characteristics that could provide Chinook with refuge from predators in Ship Canal, including impacts of docks. Riparian vegetation should be restored to provide cover for juvenile migrants.
Basinwide recommendations:
* Explore ways to reduce predation in Portage Bay, Lake Union and Ship Canal. Conduct pilot projects to reduce predator habitat (such as reducing number of docks or removing in-water structures) or increase refuge for juvenile Chinook and apply lessons learned to future actions regarding docks and riparian vegetation.
* Coordinate with local businesses to sponsor a shoreline revegetation campaign, incorporating environmental stewardship as part of redevelopment occurring within Ship Canal area. Extend message (and sponsorship) through signage along shore, in-store promotions (at business’s discretion), and media recognition.

Estuary and Nearshore RECOMMENDATIONS (Starts WEST OF LOCKS)
Protect remaining feeder bluff(s) that supply sediment and support littoral habitat creation. Undertake sediment source study to establish where feeder bluffs were prior to railroad and quantify rates of erosion. Based on study results, work with known feeder bluff locations to open up slide prone areas so that slides make it into nearshore, or start a beach nourishment program.
Basinwide recommendations (entire subarea is located within Urban Growth Area):
* Bluffs on Magnolia and Discovery Park in Seattle are only ones in WRIA 8 that are not armored by the railroad and have some unarmored locations (publicly and privately owned). Prohibit bulkheads or any other form of armoring and development at these locations through Seattle’s critical areas ordinance and Shoreline Master Program.
* Support King County-funded sediment source study to: 1) establish where feeder bluffs were prior to the railroad, and 2) qualitatively assess rates of erosion and sediment contribution of those bluffs. Expect study completion by 3/05. Based on study results:
* Map those bluffs that are most critical to protect (to preserve future opportunities to restore them to natural function), and protect them from future development through critical areas ordinance and/or Shoreline Master Program updates or acquisition. Note that steep slopes that are already developed need to be protected from erosion as a health and safety issue.
* Do pilot projects to open up certain slide prone areas (e.g., by building trestles under railroad), so that slides make it into the nearshore and/or investigate appropriateness of a beach nourishment program. The experimental nature of a beach nourishment program requires a comprehensive and robust adaptive management and monitoring system.
- Create an education campaign for property owners along bluff as well as general public: Have you fed your beach today? Define feeder bluffs, challenge the notion that all erosion is a bad thing.

Reduce bank hardening, especially in areas where armoring falls within tidal zone and/or separates a sediment source from nearshore environment, to restore natural shoreline accretion and depletion processes and support littoral habitat creation. Protect and restore Marine Riparian Vegetation (MRV), to maintain overhanging cover and terrestrial inputs for juvenile Chinook and their prey.
Basinwide recommendations:
* Protect remaining nearshore vegetation (on low or high bluffs) through regulation and/or acquisition. Regulatory tools to protect vegetation and prevent further development on and near top of bluffs, include: steep slope ordinances, bald eagle protection ordinances, critical areas ordinances, and clearing ordinances.
* Offer incentives to encourage bulkhead removal and revegetation along shoreline, including: allow regulatory flexibility during redevelopment, provide expertise (e.g., templates for shoreline planting plan, bulkhead design); expedite permitting at local, state and federal levels.
* For areas with existing residential, commercial, and industrial development west of the railroad (e.g. Nakeeta Beach, Point Wells, Richmond Beach):
- Prohibit new development, at least in areas designated as conservancy.
- During redevelopment, reduce overall impacts to nearshore, e.g., limit additional riprap to that required to protect structures, require riparian revegetation, avoid construction in intertidal zone, use smallest feasible footprint for structures, redevelop industrial sites into less intensive uses.
- Promote pilot projects to better understand impacts of bank hardening in estuary and nearshore. As site specific projects are pursued “to remove structures, fill, and bulkheads” through fee simple purchase of parcels, address any regulatory or programmatic actions in order to expedite these projects.
* Commodore Park and Wolf Creek Restoration: Explore feasibility of habitat restoration at Commodore Park, located immediately downstream of the Hiram M. Chittenden Locks on the south bank. Armored seawall should be removed and restored to a gentler vegetated slope. Project could be combined with daylighting of Wolf Creek to create a pocket estuary downstream of the locks.
* Offer shoreline property owners a series of shoreline design workshops on: shoreline planting design/ noxious weed management; slope stabilization and erosion control using vegetation; natural yard care; porous paving options; alternatives to vertical wall bulkheads; salmon friendly dock design; and environmentally friendly methods of maintaining boats, docks, and decks. Offer professional workshops to marine contractors and design professionals on more environmentally friendly shoreline design.

Reduce the number and coverage of overwater structures (e.g., docks, piers) as a way to reduce segmentation of the shoreline and the effects on both habitat forming processes and juvenile Chinook behavior.
Basinwide recommendations:
* Prohibit new residential overwater structures. For new public facilities (e.g., ferry docks), incorporate salmon-friendly design features and mitigate for unavoidable impacts. Retrofit existing overwater structures with salmon friendly design features. Where applicant meets guidelines for marine overwater structures, offer expedited local/state/federal permitting (similar to concept being promoted for Lake Washington overwater structures by NOAA Fisheries and other agencies).
* Remove overwater structures and pilings when possible; increase interpretive signage and media exposure at areas where structures are removed such as at Edmonds parks. Offer incentives to build community docks to replace individual docks in Salmon Bay.
* Expand outreach about value of eelgrass beds as juvenile source of food and habitat – and the negative effects that docks, overwater structures, and bulkheads have on the eelgrass. Encourage combined docks or more salmon friendly designs that impede less sediment and let more light into water; involve community and youth in eelgrass replantings and monitoring studies.

Reconnect and enhance small stream mouths to create pocket estuaries for smaller juvenile Chinook; for WRIA 8 fish, pocket estuaries may have most benefit near the Locks by providing an increased estuary area. Reconnect backshore areas (e.g., marshes, wetlands) to contribute to shoreline habitat diversity and terrestrial inputs. More information is needed about marine nearshore habitat processes and connections to juvenile Chinook salmon habitat, and how railroad design could be altered to restore access to pocket estuaries and backshore areas.
Basinwide recommendations:
* Protect stream mouths and wetlands from further degradation through Shoreline Master Programs and critical areas ordinances. Once stream mouths and wetlands are restored, protect from impacts from development through buffer requirements and stormwater management programs.
* Implement pilot projects to replace culverts with open bottom culverts or bridges/trestles wherever possible to allow for sand and gravel, large woody debris, and terrestrial inputs to contribute to the nearshore.
o Big Gulch Culvert Replacement: Replacement of the undersized culvert under the railroad with a trestle system to restore system connectivity and improve sediment transport into the nearshore.
o Implement projects to reconnect backshore areas, including:
o Willow Creek Daylighting: Daylighting creek through existing fuel pier (using box culverts) will improve connectivity with Willow Creek Marsh. Proposed mitigation project for nearby "Edmonds Crossing" development.
- Woodway Tidal Lagoon North: Potential culvert improvement project at an inter-tidal lagoon and mud flat where railroad was built offshore south of Willow Creek.
- Deer Creek Culvert Replacement: Enhance the connectivity of Deer Creek and the associated estuarine wetland with the nearshore by replacing two concrete culverts with an oversized culvert or a trestle bridge. Potential Sound Transit mitigation project.
- Combine above restoration efforts with increased interpretive signage and video documentation for airing on government cable TV; make copies available to neighborhood and stewardship associations and encourage their participation in hands-on projects.
- Work with real estate community to help promote value of creek mouths to both property owners, environment, and shoreline community; encourage property owners to help restore them. Enlist help of neighborhood stewardship associations and Seattle Public Utility’s Creek Stewardship program.

Protect sediment and water quality, especially near commercial and industrial areas (e.g., fuel spills, discharge of pollutants, etc.).
Basinwide recommendations:
* Address stormwater impacts (water quality and flows) throughout sub-area and from development near tops of bluffs, by: revising Phase 1 and 2 NPDES permits, requiring or encouraging low impact development, retrofitting existing developments using natural drainage systems (e.g., SEAStreets).
* Determine extent to which residential structures along nearshore are on septic systems; determine if these systems are operating properly and if not require that they be fixed. Require that septic systems be inspected at time of sale.
* Discourage or prohibit any further filling and dredging in nearshore except for essential public facilities, and where associated with shoreline restoration projects.
* Promote boater/sea plane education campaign in order to improve and protect water quality compromised by fuel or toxic compounds from boat repairs, boat and sea plane maintenance. Carry out through signage at marinas, sea plane docks, boat yards, as well as messaging sent with boat/plane license registration.
* Educate and support businesses, property management companies, and homeowners associations on stormwater best management practices, specifically related to parking lot cleaning, storm drain maintenance and road cleaning.
* Train groundskeepers and property management companies about water polluting effects of landscape practices. Employ the “pride in workmanship” strategy, by placing signs that list who maintains the landscapes and parking lots along shorelines and the maintenance practices that they employ.

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Copyright © 2003-2011 Preservation Association of Devils Lake (PADL).
All rights reserved.

PO. Box 36
Lincoln City, OR 97367
PADLsteward@wcn.net