We’re excited to launch and announce our new Shore Friendly Pierce program! Program staff, including our new Shorelines Program Manager, Mary Krauszer, are already out doing site visits and ready to start providing technical assistance to shoreline property owners.
So reach out and let us know if you’re interested in making your property Shore Friendly!
In 1999, the Pierce Conservation District
reacted to the Endangered Species Act
listing of local salmon populations by
undertaking a countywide inventory of
fish passage blockages, secured funding
to repair some of these blockages,
acquired key properties along salmon rich
South Prairie Creek, and stepped up
riparian restoration efforts. Last year, as
the plight of the Southern Resident Killer
Whales became more dire, the District
spearheaded a Puget Sound-wide call to
action for those concerned about this
iconic population of marine mammals.
Now a statewide event, Orca Recovery
Day continues to educate and inspire
citizens to support actions and policies to
bring our killer whales back to health.
Mixed in with the emotion and sense
of purpose around salmon and
orca recovery efforts is a growing
understanding of the critical role
nearshore environments play, and
how much of this landscape has been
compromised by human activity.
Shoreline development, like the addition
of hard armor bulkheads, interrupts
nearshore processes that allow for the
formation of critical habitat areas like
eel grass beds, pocket beaches, and
estuaries. These habitats are necessary
nurseries for juvenile salmon as well as
the forage fish that make up the bottom
of the food chain. Healthy nearshore
environments are as critical to salmon
recovery – and therefore Orca recovery
– as the freshwater rivers and streams
where salmon spawn and hatch.
Pierce Conservation District is proud
to announce the launch of the Shore
Friendly Pierce

program to address the
restoration and protection of our local
shorelines. With funding through the WA
Department of Fish & Wildlife’s Estuary
and Salmon Restoration Program,
the District is developing the Shore
Friendly program in cooperation with
the Thurston and Mason CD’s for an
approach that coordinates messaging,
outreach, and development of shoreline
recovery projects.
The Shore Friendly Pierce program is designed
to provide marine shoreline landowners with technical assistance on
a spectrum of natural resource concerns, from using native plants for
erosion control, to healthy tree pruning to provide view corridors.
Ultimately, the goal of the Shore Friendly program is to utilize soft shore
techniques in lieu of hard armored bulkheads in an effort to return natural
process to the nearshore environment, aid in salmon and orca recovery
efforts, and improve landowners’ enjoyment of their shorelines.
Interested in learning more about Shore Friendly Pierce? Would you like to request a shoreline site visit? Contact our new Shorelines Program Manager, Mary Krauszer, at maryk@piercecd.org or (253) 845-9770 ext. 113.