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ABOUT US
"To preserve and enhance the Dungeness River Watershed Planning Area through an ecosystem approach to restoring its physical and biological health."
The Dungeness River Management Team (DRMT) is a partnership of individuals and stakeholders who are working together to develop and
pursue implementation of locally based, long-term solutions to
Dungeness Watershed management issues.
The Team has operated since the late 1980s, with active participation from residents and other partners and stakeholders in coordinating locally based, long-term solutions to water quantity, water quality, flood control, forest management, salmon recovery and other critical watershed issues.
Because the Dungeness basin represents the east side of Watershed Resources Area 18 (WRIA 18), one of 16 basins in the state listed as critical for low flows, the DRMT also serves as the East WRIA 18 watershed council, promoting flow restoration and wise water use.
The DRMT has been nationally
recognized for cooperative
resolution of these issues, and
it functions as an important,
ongoing forum for communication,
coordination and information
sharing. The Team meets
openly each month to discuss
these issues, listen to public
concerns, and cooperatively
exchange ideas about watershed
management.
Check out our
30th Anniversary
newsletter (published
September 2018) for more
information!
The DRMT's adopted Geographic Focus Area includes the Dungeness Watershed and those waters influenced by it through the irrigation system.
This includes the Bagley Creek sub-basin (on the west) to the west edge of Sequim Bay (on the east), and includes the Dungeness and Gray Wolf Rivers, Siebert, McDonald, Matriotti,
Meadowbrook, Cooper, Cassalery, Gierin, Bell and Johnson Creeks and their tributaries. At the same time, the DRMT has also focused on restoration strategies for the Sequim Bay Watershed,
and in 2001 the Team officially acknowledged
Sequim Bay and its drainages as
part of the DRMT's Geographic Focus Area.
View a map of the DRMT Geographic Focus Area
Dungeness Railroad Bridge (River Mile 5.7)
The original Dungeness River Management Team was formed in 1988 to foster communication among diverse groups interested in the
Dungeness Watershed. Specifically, the Team set out to define problems, establish goals and gather and exchange information for better
management of the Dungeness and its resources. These efforts eventually helped produce Clallam County's Dungeness River Comprehensive Flood Control Management Plan
(Updated in 2009),
and later, the Dungeness River Area Watershed Management Plan (1993).
Over the years further discussion and planning by local residents about flood control, floodplain and riparian development,
logging practices, preservation of agricultural lands, and related natural resource issues resulted in the
Dungeness-Quilcene Water Resources Management Plan (1994),
a regional water quantity plan known by the community as "the DQ Plan." This key plan was part of a pilot project that used locally driven and
consensus-based decision-making to provide recommendations about in-stream flow management, groundwater, water conservation, education and other issues.
One of the highlights for the Dungeness area during the DQ process included negotiations between the Jamestown S'Klallam Tribe and the Dungeness River Agricultural Water Users Association that resulted
in an agreement between the Water Users and Ecology that the Water Users would not take more than half of the flow in the Dungeness River during the irrigation season (half for the fish and half for the people).
Other significant recommendations from the DQ Plan were implemented in the years that followed, including a trust water rights agreement, improvements to the efficiency of the irrigation system, the development of a habitat restoration
plan by a technical team, and continuation of a watershed council to provide more coordinated and integrated natural resource planning for the Dungeness River Watershed area.
In response to the latter recommendation, the Dungeness River Management Team was reactivated in 1995 through a joint resolution between Clallam County and the Jamestown S'Klallam Tribe. Its purpose as defined in the resolution was to: "exchange information on technical studies, issues, and projects occurring in the Dungeness Watershed; pursue implementation of the
Dungeness River Comprehensive Flood Control Management Plan (1990),
Dungeness River Area Watershed Management Plan (1993), and the
DQ Water Resources Management Plan (1994); coordinate the use of staff, funding and other resources among agencies and representatives; and promote public education on watershed processes and activities." The Team also functions as the watershed council for East Water Resources Area 18 (WRIA 18) and reviews project proposals for salmon restoration projects in WRIA 18 (and portions of WRIA 17).
Operating procedures were developed in 1996 (updated
as needed), a mission statement and goals were revised and adopted in 2002
(updated in 2018), and an official DRMT logo was created in 2009.
Dungeness River Management Team
(Photo taken July 2018)
Voting Members (*Executive
Committe members in italics)
Organization |
Member |
Alternate |
*City of Sequim |
Ann Soule |
TBD |
*Clallam County |
Cathy Lear |
Rebecca Paradis |
Dungeness Beach
Association |
TBD |
N/A |
Dungeness River
Audubon Center |
Powell Jones |
Jenna Ziogas |
*Olympic Peninsula
Audubon Society |
Robert Phreaner |
Lance Vail |
*Jamestown
S'Klallam Tribe |
Hansi Hals |
Shawn Hines |
North Olympic Land
Trust |
Mike Auger |
Michele Canale |
Protect the
Peninsula's Future |
Tony Corrado |
Judy Larson |
Riverside
Property Owners /
Estuary Tidelands |
Matt Heins |
N/A |
*Riverside Property
Owners / River Miles
0-3.2.5 |
Robert Beebe |
James Beebe |
*Sequim-Dungeness
Water Users
Association |
Ben Smith |
Gary Smith |
Sports Fisheries |
Don Hatler |
N/A |
Washington
Department of
Ecology |
Mike Gallagher |
TBD |
Washington
Department of Fish
and Wildlife |
Danielle Zitomer |
Chris Waldbillig |
Advisory Members
U.S. Forest Service |
Dana Butler |
Marc McHenry |
Clallam Conservation
District |
Kim Williams |
N/A |
Dungeness National
Wildlife Refuge / USFWS |
Lorenz Sollmann |
N/A |
Clallam County PUD #1 |
Tom Martin |
TBD |
The original 1988 resolution forming the DRMT requested representatives from the following organizations:
- Property Owners
- Irrigation Districts and Companies
- Dungeness Flood Control Advisory Board
- Sportsman's Group
- Washington State Department of Fisheries
- U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service
- U.S. Soil Conservation Services
- Washington State Deptartment of Ecology
- Point-No-Point Treaty Council
- Clallam County
The May 1995 joint resolution between the Jamestown S'Klallam Tribe and the Board of Clallam County
Commissioners that revised and reactivated the DRMT requested representation on the Team as follows:
- Clallam County
- Jamestown S'Klallam Tribe
- Property Owners
- Dungeness River Agricultural Water Users Association
- Sports Fishers
- Washington Department of Fish & Wildlife
- Washington State Department of Ecology
- U.S. Fish & Wildlife
- U.S. Forest Service
- Clallam County Planning Commission
- Clallam County Critical Areas Committee
- Watershed/Dungeness-Quilcene Planning
The December 1995 MOU between the Jamestown S'Klallam Tribe and the Board of Clallam County Commissioners
added the City of Sequim to the member organizations, and incorporated alternates for each representative.
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