Everyone around Puget Sound talks about salmon. But what can we do locally to ensure the survival of this Pacific Northwest icon?

A five-year effort to develop answers to that question concluded recently with the recommendation of a 10-year plan for saving salmon habitat in the Green/Duwamish and Central Puget Sound Watershed, which covers most of South King County.

The highest-priority projects across the watershed - 56 restoration and protection projects - are estimated to cost $198-$291 million over the next ten years.

Funding is expected to come largely from federal and state grants for salmon recovery.

The watershed plan is part of a Puget Sound-wide effort to recover Chinook salmon, which are protected under the federal Endangered Species Act.

The Salmon Habitat Plan calls for 77 on-the-ground habitat restoration projects.

These include levee setbacks, reconnecting side channels to the mainstem of the Green River, adding spawning gravel to streams, placing large tree trunks in river channels to provide shelter for fish, creating shallow water habitat in the Duwamish estuary, improving stream estuaries (mouths) where they enter Puget Sound, and removing some bulkheads on Puget Sound shorelines.

Five of these projects would be located in Burien, Normandy Park and Des Moines.

Fifty seven projects are recommended to protect existing high-quality habitat.

Protection tools include land purchases, conservation easements, tax incentives and property-owner education.

Purchase of property or conservation easements would occur only if owners want to sell.

Policies to protect habitat and water quality address land use, stormwater management, incentives for good property stewardship and public education.

A citizen-stakeholder steering committee developed the recommendations in the habitat plan in 2004 and early 2005. A public comment period in March and April resulted in hundreds of comments that were used to revise the draft plan.

The final plan was reviewed late this summer by all watershed cities, including Burien, Normandy Park, SeaTac and Des Moines.

Member governments of the watershed forum approved the Habitat Plan unanimously.

The plan now will be forwarded to city councils and the King County Council for ratification. It will take effect when approved by a minimum of five local governments that represent at least 70 percent of the 630,000 people who live in the watershed.

While focused on the watershed ecosystem and the needs of fish, the plan is expected to yield substantial benefits for people.

This watershed provides "ecosystem services" worth $1.7-6.3 billion annually, including drinking water production and filtration, flood protection, natural stormwater management, storm protection, waste absorption, recreational opportunities, and aesthetic beauty.

For more information, visit www.govlink.org/watersheds/ or contact Dennis Clark at 206-296-1909, dennis.clark@metrokc.gov.