Have you ever wondered about salmon restoration in your backyard, your watershed? What’s going on, who’s doing the work, where the projects are located, and how you can get involved or coordinate with these efforts? Thanks to a joint effort by the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife and locally based Lead Entity watershed groups, such as the San Juan Lead Entity coordinated by Barbara Rosenkotter, searching for restoration projects in our watersheds is now just as easy as looking for a new home on the Internet or locating an address on MapQuest.

Through the website wdfw.wa.gov/grants/lead_entities/, the Lead Entity Program has developed a watershed and community-based approach. There are 27 Lead Entity organizations across Washington. The primary purpose of these organizations is to develop locally supported restoration projects that are based on sound science. They do this by facilitating a process that merges community priorities with science-based priorities, a process that has worked to maximize public investment in restoration actions.

Lead Entities want to convert the paper-based plans into living documents that can be easily shared with the community. By mapping projects, linking them to each other and recovery goals, and making it all available on the web, the Lead Entities are making salmon recovery more accessible.

The Habitat Work Schedule name comes from the list of habitat projects that each Lead Entity develops. Once the habitat list is prioritized and sequenced it becomes the Habitat Work Schedule. County residents can find the Habitat Work Schedule System, a web-based salmon habitat project mapping system at hws.ekosystem.us/.

For information on using the public portal

There are two types of access into the HWS System, the public portal and login ID. The public portal is open to anyone with access to the Internet. The public portal is where the public can search for projects using a map or can search for projects by key words. The public can zoom in and out of their watershed comparing project dots on the map to other locations in their watershed. When the user scrolls over a dot, a small icon pops up providing a summary of that particular project.

More detailed project information including project description, goals and objectives, species affected and project contact information can be found on the site.

The user can also learn about projects by clicking on specific Lead Entity watersheds. This provides a more detailed and specific view of projects, and provides a homepage for each Lead Entity. This part of the site is designed to help Lead Entities better communicate with their community and citizen groups.

The login portion of the Habitat Work Schedule System is for advanced users such as Lead Entities, project managers, and project sponsors who need to manage projects, query reports and conduct data entry. In addition to the features available in the public portal, the login users can manage project budgets, timelines, and tasks; upload and download maps and manipulate shapes on the maps; and generate advanced reports. Contact the Lead Entity in your watershed if you are interested in acquiring a login or go to the Lead Entity Directory on Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife’s webpage at IDwdfw.wa.gov/grants/lead_entities/leg_brochure_2008.pdf.

Lead Entity administrators set the security levels for all of the login users in their system ensuring sensitive project information is not shared with the public.

This is the first step towards a system that brings together all of the work in our watersheds and allows for other local organizations to post projects that can be shared with the public. A goal of the Habitat Work Schedule System is to reach out to these other organizations that often put projects on the ground. These organizations include but are not limited to: Regional Fish Enhancement Groups, Regional Recovery Organizations, Conservation Districts, and Land Trusts.

The Habitat Work Schedule (HWS) System is in its first year of implementation. The Lead Entity watersheds have been getting trained to use the system and have been actively inputting proposed and ongoing projects into the system. Currently, there are approximately 5,000 projects in the system. Beginning in July 2008, most of these 5,000 projects will be viewable by the public. In the coming year the Lead Entities will work towards having all restoration projects in the system (adding completed projects in addition to proposed and ongoing) to give a more complete picture of salmon recovery.

To learn about the salmon recovery and restoration work going on in your local watershed visit hws.ekosystem.us/ Habitat Work Schedule System website.

To inquire about specific questions for your watershed (including how to obtain a login ID), contact the Lead Enity Coordinator in your watershed using the new http://wdfw.wa.gov/grants/lead_entities/leg_brochure_2008.pdf.

For further information, contact Erik Neatherlin, Project Manager, 360-902-2559, neathean@dfw.wa.gov.