HCCC Vision: Humans Benefit from and Coexist Sustainably with a Healthy Hood Canal
Hood Canal Integrated Watershed Management Plan
The Hood Canal Coordinating Council (HCCC) and its partners are working with the broader community to create a strategic action plan that will set priorities to ensure a future in which the Hood Canal remains a special place. The Hood Canal Integrated Watershed Management Plan (IWMP) is an organizational concept for integrating existing plans and programs through a strategic planning framework in order to meet the stated goals. The ultimate purpose of the IWMP is to provide a set of prioritized actions and strategies to be implemented by and for the Hood Canal community.
This initial IWMP focuses on a specific set of strategies and actions designed to address some of the fundamental ecological and socioeconomic issues facing the Hood Canal Watershed. In need of immediate attention are the components of shellfish, salmon and forests. Shellfish are critical to the health and well-being of the Hood Canal community providing the foundation for Hood Canal’s tourism, recreation and commercial shellfishing economies. Excellent water quality to grow productive shellfish has been a mainstay of the Hood Canal ecology. Salmon also play an important role for Hood Canal providing commercial and recreational fisheries and a critical feature of the areas cultural heritage. Three species of Pacific Salmon are now listed under the Endangered Species Act and threaten the long-term stability of Hood Canal’s economic well-being. While most of the old growth forests of the region have been logged, forests remain a very important landscape for most of the Hood Canal region. Forests are also integral to the health and long-term well-being of Hood Canal communities. All three of these components will be given special attention in the IWMP.
View and download the most recent version of the IWMP
At the heart of the action plan is the Hood Canal Community…
Ultimately the IWMP needs to involve and be owned by the Hood Canal community. To this extent HCCC has also developed the complimentary document, Community Engagement Strategy. The primary goal of this strategy is to frame development and implementation of a specific plan to engage Hood Canal communities in work to support and improve the environmental and economic well-being of Hood Canal watershed.
View and download the Community Engagement Strategy
While coordinated by the HCCC, the comprehensive IWMP effort combines the hard work of scores of partners and thousands of citizens. We are committed to working with you as local residents to make this a plan that enables all of us to understand and participate in commonsense actions. From workshops to online updates and community actions, we want your input to shape this plan and your help putting it into action.
Together we can protect and restore Hood Canal!
For information about the HCCC programs click the following links:
Salmon Recovery
Aquatic Rehabilitation