Sound and Just? Assessing Ecosystem Governance for Washington's Estuarine Recovery.

• In Event: Community-based and Practitioner Approaches to the Environment

Abstract

With Seattle at its heart, Washington State's Puget Sound is one of 28 significant ecosystems in the U.S. National Estuary Program (NEP). Established by Congress in 1987 and managed by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), national officials touted the NEP for its collaborative and place-based ecosystem management approach. Also described as an "effective, efficient, and adaptable" non-regulatory solution to estuarine degradation, Ecosystem Based Management (EBM) emerged as an antidote to command-and-control regulatory approaches. But after nearly two decades of collaborative governance, Puget Sound struggles persist. Wild salmon abundance continues to decline in the Puget Sound ecosystem. This trend threatens US treaty obligations to the 20 Northwest Indian tribes in Western Washington. Puget Sound estuarine recovery efforts were long overdue for a Common Pool Resource (CPR) governance diagnosis. We utilized the Institutional Analysis and Development (IAD) framework and polycentric concepts to examine the efficacy of Washington's estuarine recovery efforts. Utilizing a mixed-methods case study design with high resolution land cover change trends as a region wide ecological indicator, we revealed three key violations of CPR design principles likely contributing to recovery failures. First, Puget Sound salmon recovery and restoration uniformly relied on a collaborative governing strategy instead of developing diverse institutional rules. Second, fragmentation among four governing arenas impacting Puget Sound health thwarted effective coordination and progress. Third, Puget Sound Partnership’s (PSPs) land cover and development indicators provided unreliable and invalid measures of habitat loss versus gains. My analysis informed three prescriptions that may transform estuarine recovery for the Puget Sound into an effective and resilient governance system. First, recovery and restoration practitioners should utilize high resolution remote sensing data to assess ecological gains and losses at multiple scales. Second, salmon recovery and Net Ecological Gain could be incorporated into current planning practices and comprehensive plan updates. Third, Puget Sound stakeholders should recognize the value of hybrid policy strategies rather than relying solely on collaborative EBM for recovery efforts.

Author

• Troy D. Abel, Western Washington University
  Presenting Author