Snoqualmie Stewardship Program
The Snoqualmie Stewardship Program works to maintain the economic viability of farms and forestland in the
Snoqualmie Valley while helping landowners restore fish and wildlife habitat.
 Although located just outside of the densely populated Seattle metropolitan area, Washington State's Snoqualmie Valley
is still a rural agricultural landscape with significant ecological features and wildlife habitat. The
Snoqualmie River contains some of the healthiest salmon runs in Washington State. In the early 1980's,
for example, the river and its many tributaries produced more coho salmon than the entire west coast of Oregon.
By 2001, however, the Snoqualmie was designated as one of America's "10 most endangered rivers" by American Rivers.
The 15,000 acres of farmland in the valley is both an important local food resource and vital to maintaining the
open rural landscape which is part of our region's quality of life.
The Snoqualmie Stewardship Program consists of the following activities:
- Facilitating collaboration among organizations and agencies to service landowners with conservation needs
- Serving as liaison between landowners and available resources
- Implementing habitat restoration projects that open fish habitat, plant native trees, restore wetlands, and protect farmland
- Promoting new incentive-based tools to encourage sustainable land use and environmental restoration
- Educating stakeholders on sustainable practices and new innovative approaches to protecting the environment as well as working forests and farms
- Ensuring our projects are coordinated with regional and local watershed planning, and salmon recovery efforts and monitoring results are shared for adaptive management
Stewardship Program Accomplishments
Since 2002, Stewardship Partners has achieved the following results:
- Established 22 restoration projects which have restored nine miles of stream bank, opened 6 miles of salmon habitat, restored two acre of wetlands, enhanced connection to off-channel rearing habitat, and created bank protection for eroding farmland
- Developed the Snoqualmie Salmon-Safe Program to recognize and market farms that utilize best management practices for protecting water quality and fish and wildlife habitat
- Educated a broad cross-section of people on the environmental issues and opportunities associated with farms and other land uses in the Snoqualmie Valley through attending workshops, conferences, and other events, distributing information, and conducting the Environmental Discovery Program (EDP), a hands on learning program for Elementary School classes throughout the area
Snoqualmie Valley Restoration Crew
Washington Conservation Corps
crew. Click here to Meet the Crew.
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| Snoqualmie Watershed Facts |
| • | The Snoqualmie Watershed encompasses 677 square miles - 433,000 acres |
| • | The river meanders more than 43 miles from the Snoqualmie Falls to the confluence with the Skykomish River |
| • | The watershed supports wild runs of coho, chinook, pink, chum and steelhead |
| • | Land use in the Snoqualmie Watershed: 17,000 acres agriculture, 333,000 acres forest, 69,000 acres rural residential and 14,000 acres urban |
| • | Tributaries to the Snoqualmie River produce as many adult coho salmon as all Oregon Coast streams |
| • | Population of the four Snoqualmie Valley cities has grown by 66 percent over the past 10 years |
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