08/07/2007: "State Conservation Programs & The SJ Islands"

While San Juan County takes a look at signing a letter in support of making all of San Juan County an Aquatic Reserve, it may come as a surprise to learn that Cypress Island is the last largely undeveloped island in the “San Juan group”; even if it is located in Skagit County.

Commissioner of Public Lands Doug Sutherland announced that, for the first time, the public has the opportunity to nominate aquatic ecosystem sites as state aquatic reserves. The Washington State Department of Natural Resources (DNR) will work with groups or individuals to develop their reserve proposals for state-owned lands anywhere in the state.

There is more than one way to define the boundaries of something, so while Cypress Island may not be within our governmental boundaries, it is part of our geographic group, and DNR has announced that Cypress island has received some new protection status.

“Cypress is the largest undeveloped island in the San Juans. Today we put the final pieces in place as we ratify the comprehensive conservation plan for Cypress and its surrounding waters,” said Sutherland. “The nominations process we announced today opens the door to additional opportunities like this one throughout the state.” That may mean more additions to the programs from San Juan County

What are Aquatic reserves, and what does it mean to have one? State Aquatic Reserves are one part of DNR’s approach to help the health of the aquatic ecosystems that it manages. As trustee and steward of the 2.4 million acres of state aquatic lands, the Washington DNR manages the bedlands under Puget Sound, the coast, natural lakes, and navigable rivers — and many of Washington’s beaches. DNR manages these lands not only to facilitate navigation, commerce, and public access, but also to ensure protection for aquatic habitat. Aquatic lands include:

• About 68,000 acres of tidelands.
• 6,700 acres of harbor areas.
• All submerged marine lands below extreme low tide—that’s 3,400 square miles of bedlands under navigable waters.
• About 145,000 acres of submerged lands in freshwater.

In addition to the Aquatic Reserves program, DNR also has a Natural Area Preserve program. In Western Washington the preserves include five large coastal preserves supporting high quality wetlands, salt marshs, and forested buffers. Other habitats include mounded prairies, sphagnum bogs, natural forest remnants, and grassland balds. Preserves range 8 acres to 3500 acres in size.

And there is the Natural Resources Conservation Areas program, in which property is acquired through purchase or gift from willing landowners. The majority of the current NRCA sites were originally state school trust lands, identified for their unique special attributes, and transferred for conservation purposes with funds appropriated by the Legislature..

San Juan County already has a number of protected areas as a result of state programs, and there may soon be more of them.