Expanding our Regional Boundaries by Alison Studley SFEG is proud to announce that our region is growing! To better coordinate with natural ecosystem connections and the statewide Regional Fisheries Enhancement Group Program, SFEG has expanded its boundaries to include the watersheds of both the San Juan Islands and Northern Whidbey Island. This expansion adds to our already significant salmon recovery region encompassing the Skagit River and Samish Bay watersheds. WELCOME Islanders! We are excited about this expansion and its potential for new projects and partnerships. It is only natural for SFEG to take on the challenge of this expanded region, since the island watersheds impact the marine and shoreline areas on which Skagit salmon depend. In fact, both federal and state government agencies overseeing salmon recovery have encouraged inter-watershed cooperation as a way to implement restoration strategies for threatened and endangered salmon runs.

Our region's role is challenging and important for the statewide recovery of salmon. The Skagit watershed is the largest Puget Sound drainage and supports the largest wild runs of chinook salmon, pink salmon, and bull trout in Puget Sound. Our newly expanded region will offer unique restoration opportunities for these salmon populations that do not exist in the other more heavily urbanized Puget Sound watersheds. We have worked closely with the communities of the Skagit and Samish watersheds to develop high priority restoration projects over the past decade. We have started to reach out within our new region and already have a potential project with a landowner on Orcas Island, but we still have much to learn. We greatly look forward to understanding more about the restoration priorities of the island watersheds and working with island communities to develop high priority projects. Please contact us at 360-336-0172 if we can be of any assistance. See link on home page for a boundary map of the 14 RFEGs.