Pierce Today

WASHINGTON, D.C. – On May 4, 2023, U.S. Representatives Derek Kilmer (WA-06) and Marilyn Strickland (WA-10), Co-Chairs of the Puget Sound Recovery Caucus, helped launch the first meeting of the Puget Sound Federal Leadership Task Force. Reps. Kilmer and Strickland were instrumental in fighting for legislation creating the task force to be included in the FY2023 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) and amending the Clean Water Act to create a Puget Sound Recovery National Program Office in Washington State.

“Puget Sound recovery matters to our region's environmental and economic future, to our efforts to recover salmon populations, and to Tribal treaty rights,” said Rep. Kilmer. “Federal funding is a vitally important piece of the solution. And so is coordination. We need all boats in the water rowing in the same direction. That’s why I’m proud of the progress we are making. It will help make a real difference in the effort to restore and protect Puget Sound. I’ll keep at it!”

“Ensuring the future of the Puget Sound has been a top priority of mine since my first day in Congress,” said Rep. Strickland. “Today's Task Force launch is a monumental moment for the Puget Sound that will address Tribal treaty rights and encourage the necessary agency collaboration to protect and preserve one of the nation's great marine ecosystems.”

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), and Western Washington Tribes kicked off the first meeting of the task force, which will coordinate the federal government’s efforts to restore Puget Sound and address Tribal treaty rights. During the inaugural gathering of the federal task force, the agencies approved the five-year federal action plan for Puget Sound. By design, the federal action plan draws from the state’s plan for Puget Sound recovery, the Action Agenda.

Chaired by EPA, the Corps of Engineers, and NOAA, the task force includes 15 federal agencies that play a role in protecting Puget Sound and are directed to coordinate and collaborate with the Tribal Management Conference and a newly formed State Advisory Committee. The agencies are charged with incorporating Tribal treaty rights in their strategies for Puget Sound restoration, as highlighted in the Treaty Rights at Risk document created by the Northwest Indian Fisheries Commission which outlined the federal government’s responsibilities to address habitat loss as noted in the 1974 Boldt Decision.

Original source can be found here.