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The San Juan County Marine Resources Committee (MRC) is a citizen advisory committee dedicated to the protection and restoration of marine resources in the San Juan Islands.
The MRC receives funding and support through the Northwest Straits Commission (NWSC).
MRC members, selected by the San Juan County Council, represent local government, tribal government, and the scientific, economic, recreational and conservation communities.
Marine Stewardship Area
In partnership with the Northwest Straits Commission, the Nature Conservancy,
the Surfrider Foundation and other partners, the MRC has engaged citizens, scientists,
conservationists, business community leaders, and managers in completing an
action plan for the San Juan
County Marine Stewardship Area (MSA).
The MRC's Science Subcommittee has recently developed a
monitoring plan for the Marine Stewardship Area along with a
database and maps which identify existing local and regional
monitoring programs that provide information about the health of the MSA.
The maps show the
location of monitoring sites, the
organizations that are conducting monitoring, location of efforts to
monitor
conservation targets and threats from the MSA Plan. The
references for the monitoring plan and monitoring inventory are
included.
County Council adopted the Marine Stewardship Area Plan
The MRC hosted community workshops on the
four ferry served islands during the spring of 2007 to obtain public input for the Marine
Stewardship Area Plan. The MRC summarized
citizens comments in a report and have created an
overview
of the MSA planning and public review processes which includes the top 6
protection strategies that citizens are most willing to support. The
San Juan County
Council adopted the Marine Stewardship Area Plan on July 17, 2007 which means that
they will consult the plan in their consideration of policies and as they
manage County operations.
2009 Work Plan
Each year, the MRC develops a work plan focused on the top protection
strategies in the San Juan Marine Stewardship Area Plan. The MRC presented its
2008 Annual Report and
2009 Work Plan to
the County Council in January for adoption. Focal areas for 2009
include working with our partners to support businesses that are helping to
foster a stewardship ethic in the
community and advancing our monitoring goals to improve adaptive management
of upland activities through local and regional coordination and
by engaging volunteers.
Stewardship Connections Newsletter and Caring for Our
Natural Resources Guide
The San Juan MRC, Lead Entity for Salmon Recovery, San Juan Initiative
and San Juan County work together to produce a newsletter on environmental
issues. If you're interested in receiving the newsletter by
email, contact us at the email address below. The
fall 2008 issue
of the newsletter focused on reducing toxins in our environment.
The MRC collaborated with several community partners to create a guide
that provides tips and resources on stewardship called
Caring
for Our Natural Resources. The guide was distributed to most
of the households in the San Juans in local newspapers.
Salmon Recovery Technical Workshop
The purpose of the workshop held on January 26, 2009 was to identify
preliminary findings that can help direct future salmon recovery actions
including protection, restoration and research. The workshop focused
on preliminary results from assessment projects in San Juan County that have
their first or second year of results. The
presentations highlighted information
about nearshore as well as freshwater systems in San Juan County and
provided information about important fish habitats documented to date in the
County.
MRC Meetings
The MRC meets on the first and third Wednesdays from 8:30 to 10:30 AM at
the Islanders Bank Annex Community Room in Friday Harbor. The public
is encouraged to attend the meetings. If you would like to be included
on our email distribution list to be informed of MRC issues and events,
please send us an email.
For more information, contact Mary Knackstedt, MRC Coordinator.
135 Rhone St * PO Box 947 Friday Harbor, WA 98250 | (360) 370-7592 | maryk@co.san-juan.wa.us | © 2007
SITE MAP
CURRENT PROJECTS: marine stewardship plan | salmon recovery funding board
PROGRAMS:
marine stewardship area | bottomfish recovery | transborder initiatives |
salmon recovery (lead entity) | forage fish ABOUT THE MRC:
nw straits commission benchmarks | gallery | meeting minutes |
resources | contact |
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