Ecosystem Recovery/ SJ-LIO

Cargo ship with whale

Working together to protect and restore the San Juan Islands’ ecosystem.

Recognizing that ecosystem recovery requires local actions to best motivate change, San Juan County and federally recognized local tribes in cooperation with a state agency called the Puget Sound Partnership (PSP) established a Local Integrating Organization (LIO).  San Juan County Resolution 23-2010 states that "San Juan County recognizes the value of its citizens and the good stewardship of the marine resources that comes from organized and coordinated actions in a priority that reflects the needs of the local people and the demand of local resources, together with the objective of implementing a strategy to restore and protect Puget Sound and Salish Sea" (What is the Salish Sea?).

ABOUT SAN JUAN LOCAL INTEGRATING ORGANIZATION

San Juan County's Action Agenda Oversight Group (AAOG), more commonly known and referred to as the San Juan Local Integrating Organization (SJ-LIO), is one of ten LIOs recognized by the PSP with the goal of “overseeing the restoration of environmental health of Puget Sound by 2020” under RCW 90.71.210.

The San Juan LIO brings together numerous existing committees, governmental and non-government organizations, county agencies, tribes, and local watershed groups that coordinate actions to protect and restore the San Juan Islands’ ecosystem. Together, representatives from these organizations set priorities, design local near-term actions, locate and coordinate funds to implement those actions. These actions then become a part of the PSP’s Action Agenda, which is essentially a “road map” to Puget Sound recovery.

  1. Who we are
  2. What we do
  3. How we do it

Accountability Oversight Committee

TBD (Chair – voting member) – San Juan County Council

Vacant (voting member) – Lummi Nation

Stan Walsh (voting member) – Swinomish Tribe

Patti Gobin (voting member) – Tulalip Tribes

TBD (ex-officio - non-voting) – Puget Sound Partnership Leadership Council


Implementation Committee

Sam Whitridge – San Juan County/WRIA 2 Lead Entity

Kendra Smith – San Juan County Environmental Stewardship Department

Frances Robertson - San Juan County Marine Program

Kyle Dodd – San Juan County Health & Community Services

Stan Walsh – Skagit River System Cooperative, Swinomish Tribe

Paul Andersson – San Juan Islands Conservation District

Megan Dethier – University of Washington Friday Harbor Laboratories

Kimbal Sundberg – Clean Water Advisory Committee

Adam Parrott – San Juan County Marine Resources Committee

Patti Gobin – Tulalip Tribes of Washington

Erin Licata - San Juan Stewardship Network

TBD – San Juan County Economic Development Council

TBD – San Juan Community Development and Planning Department