Obtaining State Agency Participation on Your Local Planning Unit

Background

The Watershed Planning Act of 1998 (ESHB 2514 – Section 2) requires state agencies with regulatory or other interests in a watershed management planning area to assist in the local planning effort, within their resource limitations. The initiating governments must consult with the Governor’s Office to determine the number of state agency representatives and their roles in the planning process.

Consultation should be in the form of a letter addressed to the Governor. Your letter can come from the lead agency or from a representative of the initiating governments. The letter should identify the initiating governments involved and establish the author’s authority to speak for the initiating governments. The letter should also indicate whether tribal governments with reservation lands in the planning area have been invited and whether they are participating as initiating governments or on the planning unit.

The consultation letter should state as clearly as possible the nature and extent of state agency participation that you envision the planning unit will desire in the planning process. Initiating governments could, for example, request that one agency represent the state in the planning process, indicate which agencies you anticipate the planning unit will request, or request participation from the Department of Ecology and any other state agencies that can commit to participation on the planning unit. Because planning units are free to invite anyone to participate in watershed planning, it is understood that the planning unit may request changes in state agency participation in the future.

Please send the letter to the following address:
The Honorable Christine Gregorie, Governor
Office of the Governor
P.O. Box 40002
Olympia, WA 98504-0002

The following people should receive copies of the letter:
Bob Nichols, Office of the Governor, P.O. Box 43113, Olympia, WA 58904
Joe Stohr, Department of Ecology, P.O. Box 47600, Olympia, WA 98504

The Governor’s office will forward your letter to the Department of Ecology, which was named the lead agency in the legislation. The Department of Ecology will contact the 12 other state resource agencies to inform them of your request and consult with those agencies to determine their participation in your watershed if appropriate. If requested and if they have the ability the agencies will identify a person to represent them on your watershed planning unit. Based on the response received from other agencies, Ecology will provide you with a list of representatives from various agencies and indicate the level at which they will be able to participate in the planning process.

Coordination among agencies and planning units will present new challenges to state agencies. The Watershed Planning Act of 1998 allows state agencies to organize both to:
1) ensure that agencies are represented during the planning process, whether or not they are able to sit at the planning table, and
2) to coordinate efforts to provide assistance to the planning units.

Twelve state natural resource agencies have agreed, in a joint memorandum of understanding, on a process to support planning units.

As mentioned previously, the Governor’s Office will appoint an agency to serve as lead for each watershed planning area. Based on available resources, it is presumed that Ecology will play this role in a majority of the watersheds. The lead agency has responsibilities to both the other state agencies involved and to the planning units. The lead will represent state agencies absent from the planning unit table.

The lead will also convene a caucus of state resource agencies for each planning unit to review planning progress and to ensure that state agencies coordinate their efforts to support planning. Members of the caucus will be identified by their respective agencies. Planning units and initiating governments will be notified of the members of the local state agency caucus as soon as Ecology has established representation.

The state agency lead will also be the primary liaison between the state agencies and the planning unit. Based on guidance from the state agency caucus the lead will coordinate interagency actions with the planning unit. This includes such activities as negotiating processes for reviewing plans or other materials from the planning unit and determining agencies’ ability and scheduling technical assistance to the planning unit. The lead will also keep the planning unit informed about agency decisions, policies, and projects that affect, or may be of interest to, the planning unit. Alternatively, the lead will keep state agencies informed of planning unit progress, especially as it relates to interests or obligations of the agencies.

Bill Zachmann, Ecology's Watershed Coordinator, (360) 407-6548.

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Last Update: April 22, 2008
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