Commitments under the Cedar River HCP

The Cedar River Habitat Conservation Plan includes commitments by the city of Seattle to addressing three primary areas: forests, fish and flows. Funding for this $89 million plan comes from water rates revenue to Seattle Public Utilities. The commitments of the HCP are outlined below.

Forests

• Eliminate timber harvest for commercial purposes, effectively creating a watershed ecological reserve that includes all forest outside the few developed areas and that will provide long-term, comprehensive protection of the watershed ecosystem
• Commit approximately $26.8 million to restore fish and wildlife habitats in the watershed that have been degraded by past activities, such as logging and road construction
• Commit to removing approximately 38% of the forest roads within the watershed by the end of HCP year 20; use restoration thinning, planting, and similar approaches to restore the natural ecological functions and processes in watershed forests that create and maintain habitats for at-risk species
• Design and conduct projects to restore habitat in streams and streamside areas and to improve water quality over the long term
• Provide more than $6 million to design and conduct comprehensive research and monitoring studies that will provide the information needed to improve our ability to achieve the conservation objectives of the HCP over the long term

Fish

• Provide $38.2 million specifically to protect and restore habitats and populations of anadromous fish currently blocked from entry into the municipal watershed by the Landsburg Diversion Dam
• Construct fish ladders, protective screens on the water intake, and other improvements for the safe passage of Chinook, coho, steelhead, and other native fish species over the Landsburg Diversion Dam
• Construct a new sockeye hatchery capable of producing up to 34 million fry, replacing the existing interim hatchery facility at Landsburg
• Continue to operate the interim sockeye hatchery at Landsburg as mitigation until the replacement hatchery is built
• Provide $5.5 million for habitat restoration downstream of the Landsburg Diversion Dam for all anadromous fish species
• Provide $4.2 million for a comprehensive program of research, monitoring, and adaptive management for salmon and steelhead
• Create the Cedar River Anadromous Fish Committee, comprised of agencies signatory to the Landsburg Mitigation Agreement and other stakeholders, which will advise the City regarding implementation of anadromous fish mitigation

Flows

• Guarantee river flows in the Cedar River that include binding minimum (base) and supplemental flows to provide better habitat conditions than current, non-binding minimum flows
• Limit rates of decrease in river levels (down-ramping) to minimize the risk of stranding fish in shallow areas
• Guarantee flows in the "bypass reach" between the Masonry Dam and the Cedar Falls Hydroelectric Plant
• Move the measurement (compliance) point for flows from Renton, at the mouth of the Cedar River, to Landsburg to provide more protected and natural habitat conditions for fish in the lower river
• In addition to the habitat and species restoration commitments for Forest and Fish, provide a total of about $8.2 million specifically to protect and restore habitats and populations of anadromous fish affected by the City's water supply operations
• Provide $2.1 million for improvements at the Ballard Locks to increase survival of young fish moving out into salt water, $1.7 million for conservation messages related to protecting fish, and $0.7 million to modify hydroelectric facilities for fish protection
• Evaluate the potential permanent use of "dead storage" in Chester More Lake reservoir (water below the elevation of gravity out-flow) for improved instream flows and water supply
• Create the Cedar River Instream Flow Commission, comprised of agencies signatory to the Instream Flow Agreement, which will assist the City in carrying out its responsibilities for managing the Cedar River for fish and people
• Commit $4.7 million for research, monitoring, and adaptive management related to management of the water supply and river flows in the Cedar River.

Source: City of Seattle