Publication Summary

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Ecology adopted the 2003 Shoreline Management Act Guidelines as Part III of WAC 173-26, effective January 17, 2004. A significant feature of the Guidelines is the requirement that local governments include within their shoreline master program, a "real and meaningful" strategy to address restoration of shorelines. The new Guidelines specify how the policies in a shoreline master program must appropriately promote "restoration" of impaired shoreline ecological functions.

The guidelines recognize that development of an effective restoration strategy begins with appropriate consideration and analysis of existing shoreline ecological processes and functions. This analysis, which uses information collected during the shoreline inventory process, will reveal existing "degraded areas and impaired ecological functions" that present a shoreline "restoration opportunity". Once identified, these shorelines with restoration potential, must be prioritized, coordinated and matched with existing and needed restoration projects and programs in the community.

The restoration strategy should be a tool for raising awareness of local shoreline restoration needs and funding opportunities, and for coordinating both regulatory and nonregulatory local, state and federal programs and public and private restoration efforts