San Juan County Marine Resources Committee: San Juan Island, Washington

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.