Wednesday, May 27, LEG Ranking Meeting 9:30 a.m. at the Elwha Heritage Center

Meeting date: Wednesday, May 27, 2026

Page Contents

Meeting Focus

The May 27, 2026 Lead Entity Group meeting materials include anticipated 2026 grant funding information and a Puget Sound riparian stewardship pilot proposal.

The anticipated total funding allocation is $3,054,926.
The total project funding request for all four projects is $13,236,122.
The proposal asks Lead Entities to provide feedback on four possible funding alternatives for a riparian stewardship pilot.
Feedback is requested by the end of May 2026.

Related background: The May 12, 2026 Technical Review Group Scoring Meeting has its own post and should remain separate from this May 27 meeting-materials page.

Abbreviations Used on This Page

LE: Lead Entity
LEG: Lead Entity Group
NOPLE: North Olympic Peninsula Lead Entity for Salmon
PSAR: Puget Sound Acquisition and Restoration
PSRL: Puget Sound Riparian Systems Lead
RCO: Recreation and Conservation Office
SRFB: Salmon Recovery Funding Board
WCC: Washington Conservation Corps
WRIA: Water Resource Inventory Area

Anticipated 2026 Grant Funding for Allocation

Approximate Funding Allocations Anticipated

Approximate anticipated funding allocations for 2026
Funding source	Anticipated amount
SRFB Regular	$647,109
SRFB Riparian	$0
PSAR 2025	$2,407,817
Total anticipated funding allocation	$3,054,926

Note: The Salmon Recovery Funding Board will decide in August whether to ask the Washington State Legislature for more riparian funding.

Allocation transfers to be paid back to SRFB or PSAR: None

Project Funding Requests

Funding requests for the four ranked projects
Project	Funding request
Dungeness Riparian Forest Conservation	$10,953,000
Elwha River Restoration Design	$750,000
Dungeness Nature Center Lower Wood Design	$550,000
Little River Acquisition	$983,122
Total project funding request for all four projects	$13,236,122

Second, third, and fourth ranked project ask: $2,283,122

Remaining anticipated funding after the second, third, and fourth ranked project ask: $771,804

Funding Notes and Timeline

SRFB funding is based on an anticipated $18 million grant round, with meetings in June, August, and September.
PSAR funding is subject to a decision by the Washington State Legislature as part of the 2027 Capital Budget.
The PSAR Large Cap ranked list is expected July 2, with final ranking shared with project sponsors.
On July 30, the Puget Sound Salmon Recovery Council is expected to forward the ranked list to the Leadership Council.
The final ranked list decision is expected August 11.

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Puget Sound Riparian Stewardship Pilot Proposal

Source document title: Proposal to the Watershed Leads for Puget Sound

Source document date: April 2026

Intent of This Document

The following draft proposal is intended to solicit feedback from the Watershed Leads on the design of a novel pilot initiative that the Puget Sound Riparian Systems Lead, a partnership of the Washington State Departments of Ecology, Conservation Commission, and Bonneville Environmental Foundation, is considering funding. Funding for this pilot comes through a cooperative agreement with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency that supports riparian protection and restoration in the Puget Sound Basin. Funding for this pilot, if selected, is approximately $2 million.

This draft proposal outlines the goals and objectives that the Puget Sound Riparian Systems Lead has established for the pilot should it be selected for funding. It describes two distinct phases that may, in some combination, provide the structure for meeting those objectives, the funding alternatives that are constructed around those phases, the funding and resource implications of those alternatives, and the scale of the opportunity that may be provided, including the number of participating Lead Entities, if selected.

The Puget Sound Riparian Systems Lead requests feedback on the relative priority of investing in the planning framework versus crew deployment as it determines which alternative will further the pilot objectives and make the case for long-term resources for ongoing site stewardship. The Puget Sound Riparian Systems Lead will incorporate this feedback into its decisions on whether and how to invest in this pilot and will communicate its intent by the end of June 2026.

Feedback Requested from Lead Entities

The following questions are provided to the Watershed Lead Coordinators for each Lead Entity in Puget Sound as an opportunity to provide feedback on pilot investment design and decisions.

Instructions

Each Lead Entity Coordinator that wants their watershed to provide input on the pilot should initiate their own internal process to solicit feedback from key partners and project sponsors within their watershed.
Feedback should come through the Lead Entity Coordinator and represent or synthesize the perspectives of the partners who provide feedback.
Feedback from individual sponsors is not requested for this process.
Conflicting viewpoints will be difficult to incorporate, so some form of consensus feedback is desired.
Lead Entity Coordinators must email responses by the end of May 2026 for feedback to be considered. Earlier responses are preferred.

Feedback Questions

What is your Lead Entity’s preferred funding alternative, A through D, and why? Are there additional considerations about this alternative that could improve your Lead Entity’s ability to participate effectively?
Provide feedback on any of the four alternatives on how they may or may not be the most effective pilot design to achieve the long-term objectives stated below around achieving sustainable, predictable resources for ongoing stewardship and maintenance of existing restoration sites.
For each funding alternative, provide some indication of your Lead Entity’s willingness to participate. If you have already identified a local sponsor to receive capacity funding that may be provided, indicate this as well. This is not intended to be a commitment.
Specifically for Phase 1 participation, provide a funding total or range that could fully resource the planning effort and produce a high-quality inventory of sites and a Riparian Stewardship Plan in your Lead Entity. Comments on resource needs for Phase 1 are also welcome.

Stewardship Support Pilot for Streamside Landowners

The following describes a draft proposal to the Watershed Leads, also known as Lead Entities, for Puget Sound. If broadly supported, the proposal would initiate a pilot program intended to establish the foundation of a durable, long-term funding and implementation strategy for stewardship of streamside riparian areas. This pilot would initially be funded by the Puget Sound Riparian Systems Lead cooperative agreement with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, with the goal of achieving financial support from the state and other sources.

Problem Statement

State, federal, tribal, and local investments in riparian restoration and protection have occurred for decades. New funding, such as the Climate Commitment Act, has emphasized the importance of these areas for achieving salmon recovery objectives, water quality standards, and tribal treaty rights obligations.

Riparian plantings are a key element of many restoration projects. While initial site establishment and maintenance are generally funded to some degree by state and federal grant programs, there is a lack of adequate public financial support for sustained stewardship of these areas to achieve the long-term function necessary to meet recovery goals.

Private landowners are often faced with the long-term burden of managing these areas without adequate support. This can create a disincentive to participate in voluntary restoration of riparian areas, because invasive species management, herbivory, plant mortality, and other factors are challenging for landowners to manage and often financially burdensome. To achieve the salmon recovery goals that riparian restoration and protection support, these areas need to be grown and stewarded at scale, with the financial resources needed to get crews on the landscape.

Pilot Objectives

The objectives of this pilot are to work collaboratively with Salmon Recovery Lead Entities to establish a riparian stewardship framework that will be the basis for funding crews to implement priority stewardship actions in riparian areas that have been established by publicly funded sources. This pilot effort will be the basis for a program design that can attract long-term support. If successful, the pilot will inform decision packages put forward by Ecology through the biennial budgetary process. This framework may also be useful for attracting other funding sources, such as those administered through the Recreation and Conservation Office.

The pilot will test the following concepts:

An inventory of riparian planting projects at the watershed scale can quantify and characterize the need for ongoing stewardship investments that are critical to salmon recovery goals and provide a compelling argument for long-term investments by the state and other sources to implement priority maintenance and stewardship activities.
An integrated watershed-scale stewardship plan developed by Lead Entities will bring increased focus, partner coordination, and efficiencies to riparian restoration efforts that are most important to salmon recovery priorities. Prioritized plans for resource allocation are attractive to funders.
The current paradigm for funding stewardship and maintenance largely relies on local sponsors pursuing grants to fund crew capacity, whether through private crews or WCC. The pilot will explore whether building implementation capacity through direct funding of WCC crew capacity from Ecology can achieve administrative and fiscal efficiencies, remove some of the crew sponsorship burdens typically borne by a local organization, and build long-term, sustained, and predictable capacity to implement priority maintenance activities on publicly funded riparian plantings.

Pilot Phases

The following outlines two phases that represent the incremental steps the Puget Sound Riparian Systems Lead may offer, in some combination, for funding and technical support to develop a riparian stewardship plan, become eligible for crew capacity, and manage crew deployment coordination.

Phase 1: Establish a Riparian Stewardship Plan

Phase 1 will use the Lead Entity network of partners to populate a database with an inventory of riparian planting sites that can quantify and briefly characterize the long-term stewardship and maintenance needs across each WRIA. These sites will then be organized and prioritized based on Lead Entity criteria that align with their individual salmon recovery plan objectives. The result will be an integrated watershed-scale Riparian Stewardship Plan across key local partners and project sponsors.

This plan will be the basis, under all but Alternative D, for future crew and resource allocations through this pilot process and future funding secured by state and other sources to support the long-term stewardship needs of riparian areas.

Task 1: Riparian Planting Inventory

Site eligibility: This task is intended to cast a broad net of potential sites that could be prioritized for long-term stewardship and maintenance support. Eligibility in this phase is to be determined by the Lead Entity based on local priorities. Existing plantings can be the result of, or associated with, any publicly funded restoration project or action. These can also include CREP plantings, active leases or expired leases, current or near-term planting projects being actively worked on, and mitigation sites. Site eligibility for Phase 2 funding will be determined by Ecology in coordination with Lead Entity partners enrolled in Phase 1.

Required deliverables:

Inventory of planting sites with site characteristics described in Attachment 1, tabulated in an Ecology-managed database.
Memo describing the process used, partners engaged, and quality control measures applied to develop the inventory.

Task 2: Watershed-Scale Riparian Stewardship Plan

Required deliverable: A Stewardship Plan following a template to be developed in collaboration with Lead Entities participating in Phase 1 and Puget Sound Riparian Systems Lead partners. The Stewardship Plan will organize the inventory of sites across the watershed with an overlay of important streams and watersheds as identified in the local Salmon Recovery Chapter. The plan will describe the process and criteria by which the Lead Entity will prioritize and sequence future project portfolio development when crew time is made available.

Phase 2: Stewardship Portfolio Development and Crew Deployment

Phase 2 will entail the development of a detailed portfolio of riparian sites with the attributes and information described in Attachment 2. Final required attributes will be established in coordination with Lead Entities participating in Phases 1 and 2. Portfolio development will come with the offer of specific crew capacity and will need, at a minimum, to match the timing of WCC crew availability offered during this pilot. Applicants will be encouraged to create a longer-term portfolio at some level of detail to be prepared for additional resources as they become available.

Task 1: Two- to Ten-Year Portfolio of Priority Projects Eligible for WCC Crew Capacity

Required deliverables:

Summary memo outlining the process used.
Portfolio of sites with data as outlined in Attachment 2.

Resources provided:

Requests for local capacity funding for portfolio development will be considered depending on which alternative is selected.
WCC Individual Placement staff may support coordination among local partners and crew leaders to align capacity with individual site treatment needs.
Technical support from Ecology may include site visit participation, drone surveys, and cultural resources review.

Task 2: Crew Allocation and Management

Depending on which funding alternative is selected, crew availability will be determined for each Lead Entity to meet as many of the needs established in the site portfolio developed under Task 1 as allowed. Local sponsors will need to support crew logistics and site deployment with assistance from Ecology and WCC crew leaders.

Required deliverable:

Summary of site-level outcomes and metrics.

Resources provided:

Technical assistance and logistical support from Ecology to get crews where they need to be. Typical sponsor responsibilities to manage crews on site will remain.
Additional funding for a local coordinator to support crew placement and deployment may be considered if this is preferred over Ecology technical support, or in combination with Ecology technical support.

Conceptual Model Described in Text

The original proposal included a conceptual model illustrating the WCC Stewardship Pilot. The model describes a full-cycle scenario moving from Phase 1a to Phase 1b to Phase 2, with increasing detail required as the program moves toward Phase 2.

Text description of the WCC Stewardship Pilot conceptual model
Phase	Main deliverable	Ecology resources	Local resources
Phase 1a	Inventory	Capacity grants, data collection tool, and data quality support	Network partners and desktop-level data input
Phase 1b	Riparian Stewardship Plan	Mapping support, establishment of a Riparian Stewardship Plan template, and technical review of the Riparian Stewardship Plan	Development of shared priorities based on the watershed salmon recovery chapter, a long-term management approach at reach scales, and a partner management structure
Phase 2	Two- to ten-year portfolio	WCC allocation, sponsor collection of Level 2 data, Ecology approval of portfolio for eligibility, and liaison with sponsors and WCC crew leaders	Local sponsors directing crews on site

Funding Alternatives Under Consideration

Total funding available across both phases for any of the four alternatives is $2 million. Grants issued under any of the following alternatives may be offered to any sponsor within the Lead Entity structure, but must meet the following criteria:

Endorsed specifically by the Lead Entity.
Able to receive grant funds. Private entities cannot apply but could be used through subcontracting.
Demonstrate the capacity to coordinate Lead Entity networks, convene partners, meet primary milestones, and produce defined deliverables.
Use grant application and reporting processes that will be streamlined to the greatest extent practicable.
For Phase 1 funding, joint applications across multiple Lead Entities will be considered if the approach results in a Stewardship Plan for each WRIA.
For multi-phased alternatives, only one sponsor within the Lead Entity will be contracted with to support capacity and planning needs. Multiple awards will not be issued.

Alternative A: Maximize Phase 1 Investment

Alternative A would establish a streamlined grant round to provide capacity funding to the Lead Entities to participate in Phase 1 only. The entire $2 million would be made available to Lead Entities that can meet the selection criteria described above. A maximum award would be set at the time of application to ensure that every Lead Entity could participate if they meet the criteria. If funding remains after application, it may be offered as additional resources to participating Lead Entities that demonstrate a need.

Maximum award offered: $142,850

Approximate timeline:

Grant opening in August 2026
Grant closing in September 2029

Considerations:

Can offer a base level of funding to most Lead Entities that wish to participate.
More likely to provide the ability to quantify and characterize stewardship needs at a regional scale.
Does not test the crew deployment elements of the pilot.
Does not lead to short-term on-the-ground results.

Alternative B: Semi-Competitive Process to Allocate Phase 2 Funds and WCC Crew Time Based on Successful Completion of Phase 1

Alternative B would invest a baseline amount of Phase 1 funding, to be informed by feedback received on the proposal, less than the amount described in Alternative A. The amount offered for Phase 1 would be scaled to meet the interest expressed by Lead Entities in participating, with the goal of providing some planning capacity funding to most Lead Entities that pursue it, as long as they meet the basic criteria described above.

Under this alternative, Ecology would hold in reserve enough funding for up to three full WCC crew year equivalents and some Phase 2 local capacity needs to coordinate portfolio development and crew deployment, at approximately $400,000 per crew year, across a select number of Lead Entities. Phase 2 funding would be made available through a streamlined competitive process among Phase 1 participants. Criteria would favor readiness to proceed, the quality of the Riparian Stewardship Plan developed under Phase 1, the degree of local partner coordination, the plan and capacity to complete additional due diligence described in Attachment 2, and the ability to meet WCC crew sponsorship requirements for the timeframe identified to implement stewardship activities.

Maximum award offered for Phase 1:

To be determined based on feedback requested from Lead Entities.
Range between $55,000 and $85,000, depending on how much funding is held for WCC crews.

Approximate timeline:

Grant opening in August 2026
Competition to participate in Phase 2 approximately December 2027
Crew deployment from October 2028 through September 2029
Grant closing in September 2029

Considerations:

Makes some funding available more broadly for Phase 1 across most Lead Entities that wish to participate and may be able to adequately quantify and communicate the regional need for these resources.
May not adequately fund all Lead Entities for Phase 1.
Provides learning opportunities from the Phase 2 process in select areas.
Selection of areas for Phase 2 crew capacity may favor existing well-resourced Lead Entities that can meet the aggressive milestones necessary to be competitive for this resource.

Alternative C: Full-Cycle Competitive Solicitation

Alternative C would establish a rigorous competitive grant solicitation for Lead Entities to apply for both Phase 1 and Phase 2 funding. This would result in a select number of watersheds participating with more adequate resources to meet the local capacity needs to produce the Phase 1 Stewardship Plan, with assurance of WCC crew time available during the final year of the award.

Maximum award: Between three and four watersheds would be selected. Up to $200,000 would be allowed for Phase 1, with remaining funds allocated to WCC crew deployment.

Approximate timeline:

Grant opening in August 2026
Crew deployment from October 2028 through September 2029
Grant closing in September 2029

Considerations:

The selection process would weigh readiness to proceed with established partner networks in place to successfully produce a high-quality Riparian Stewardship Plan in a timely manner.
The most competitive applicants will demonstrate an existing framework that can readily establish the inventory of eligible sites under Phase 1.
Competitive Lead Entities will endorse a local sponsor that has the experience, capacity, and readiness to support portfolio development and crew deployment for Phase 2.
Provides more assurance to Lead Entity partners and project sponsors that crew time will be available at the end of planning.
May demonstrate how to most effectively resource the full cycle of local capacity needs to develop and implement watershed-based stewardship plans that can be replicated with additional resources regionally or statewide.
May not build, in the short term, as much ability to communicate and characterize regional stewardship needs and advocate for additional resources.

Alternative D: WCC Crew Deployment Only

Alternative D would only fund WCC crew deployment under Phase 2. Selection of participants in Phase 2 would be through a competitive process and would only fund work in a select number of watersheds. Criteria for awards would prioritize Lead Entities with an existing Riparian Stewardship Framework. Selection of participants would favor Lead Entities with sites largely identified and a demonstration that site access and due diligence information, described in Attachment 2, is available to successfully coordinate crew deployment across multiple sponsors. Some funding to support local capacity needs to manage crew deployment would be made available in addition to the WCC crew resources.

Maximum award: To be determined. Approximately four to five watersheds would be selected.

Approximate timeline:

Grant opening in August 2026
Early crew deployment for ready-to-go areas as early as October 2027
Final Phase 2 portfolio completed by December 2027
Final crew deployment from October 2028 through September 2029
Grant closing in September 2029

Considerations:

Fewer Lead Entities are likely to be able to participate.
Does not provide the ability to quantify and characterize long-term stewardship needs regionally.
Will not demonstrate a long-term planning framework from which to build the case for future funding.
Will test whether efficiencies can be achieved through more direct funding of WCC crews through Ecology and local coordination.
Will test whether Lead Entities can coordinate local sponsors to focus on salmon recovery priorities with WCC crew capacity under the current planning framework.

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Attachment 1: Phase 1 Draft Inventory Minimum Data Requirements

These draft minimum data requirements will be refined in collaboration with Lead Entity partners engaged in the Phase 1 process.

Phase 1 draft inventory minimum data requirements
Category	Subcategory	Data name	Short description	Desktop or site visit	Phase 1 required?	Notes or comments on feasibility and level of effort
Site Characteristics	Eligibility Category	Eligibility Category	Select from list of how this meets criteria	Desktop	Yes	Can also consider broader eligibility pool, such as active CREP sites, than what may or may not be supported with this WCC effort.
Site Characteristics	Eligibility Category	Property Ownership	Select from list of property ownership types	Desktop	Yes	Private, public, tribal, etc.
Site Characteristics	Location	Address	Property address	Desktop	Yes
Site Characteristics	Location	Parcel numbers	Relevant parcel numbers	Desktop	Yes
Site Characteristics	Location	Restoration footprint	GIS polygons of management areas	Desktop	Yes
Site Characteristics	Location	Stream or river code	Identifiable river code from NHD or other source	Desktop	Yes
Site Characteristics	Restored Area Attributes	Linear stream length within restored area	Distance of total stream lengths within restored area	Desktop	Yes
Site Characteristics	Restored Area Attributes	Restored Acreage	Area of restored riparian acreage	Desktop	Yes
Site Characteristics	Restored Area Attributes	Minimum riparian width	Minimum distance from stream edge to outer edge of restored area	Desktop	Yes
Site Characteristics	Restored Area Attributes	Maximum riparian width	Maximum distance from stream edge to outer edge of restored area	Desktop	Yes
Site Characteristics	Restored Area Attributes	Average riparian width	Approximate average riparian width	Desktop	Yes
Site Characteristics	Restored Area Attributes	Year of initial planting	Year when first restored through voluntary landowner action	Desktop	Yes
Site Characteristics	Restored Area Attributes	Riparian Composition	General description of species composition and age	Desktop or site visit	Yes
Site Characteristics	Restored Area Attributes	Previous maintenance treatments performed	Description of other efforts to maintain the site and whether they are ongoing	Desktop	Option
Site Characteristics	Restored Area Attributes	Ongoing Stewardship Challenges	Brief description of needs related to site establishment, herbivory, watering, and invasive species	Desktop or site visit	Option	Could be a dropdown menu to briefly categorize the challenge, with an additional area for descriptive notes.
Site Characteristics	Restored Area Attributes	Site adjacency	Description of nearby restoration activities on other sites	Desktop or site visit	Option
Site Characteristics	Restored Area Attributes	Invasives Work	Ongoing coordination with any invasive species eradication described	Desktop	Option

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Attachment 2: Phase 2 Draft Minimum Data Requirements

These draft minimum data requirements will be refined in collaboration with Phase 1 and Phase 2 Lead Entity partners to meet portfolio development and crew deployment needs.

Phase 2 draft minimum data requirements
Category	Subcategory	Data name	Short description	Desktop or site visit	Phase 2 required?	Notes or comments on feasibility and level of effort
Site logistics	Due Diligence	Primary sponsor	Lead project sponsor with current landowner relationship	Desktop	Yes
Site logistics	Due Diligence	Access Agreements	Landowner agreements or easements that assure access for a given field season	Desktop	Yes
Site logistics	Due Diligence	Site-specific maintenance plans	Already exist? Document location. Or need to create?	Desktop	Yes
Site logistics	Due Diligence	Permits	Permits in place for any work that would be performed?	Desktop	Yes
Site logistics	Due Diligence	Cultural Resources	Verify current cultural resources status and document location	Desktop	Yes
Stewardship Activities proposed	Invasive Species	Invasive Species	Description and quantification of at least two-year needs	Desktop and/or site visit	Yes	Needs to be investigated at a level of detail that is serviceable for estimating crew needs and timing.
Stewardship Activities proposed	Invasive Species	Invasive species capacity needs	Estimate of crew hours	Desktop	Yes
Stewardship Activities proposed	Invasive Species	Invasive Species Seasonality	Months or season the work can be performed	Desktop	Yes
Stewardship Activities proposed	Site Establishment	Site Establishment	Description and quantification of whether and what type of site establishment needs exist, such as watering or herbivory	Desktop and/or site visit	Yes	Needs to be investigated at a level of detail that is serviceable for estimating crew needs and timing.
Stewardship Activities proposed	Site Establishment	Site Establishment capacity needs	Estimate of crew hours	Desktop	Yes
Stewardship Activities proposed	Site Establishment	Site Establishment Seasonality	Months or season work can be performed	Desktop	Yes
Stewardship Activities proposed	Vegetation Maintenance	Vegetation Maintenance	Description and quantification of vegetation maintenance needs, such as thinning, underplanting, or replanting	Desktop and/or site visit	Yes	Needs to be investigated at a level of detail that is serviceable for estimating crew needs and timing.
Stewardship Activities proposed	Vegetation Maintenance	Vegetation Maintenance capacity needs	Estimate of crew hours	Desktop	Yes
Stewardship Activities proposed	Vegetation Maintenance	Vegetation Maintenance Seasonality	Months or season work can be performed	Desktop	Yes

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