The low elevation coastal floodplains of Puget Sound are among the region’s most valuable natural assets. They host rich farmland, key habitat and ecosystems, valuable human developments and are the ancestral homelands and cultural center for Puget Sound tribes. Partly due to these many and varied interests, floodplain ecosystems are under stress from multiple directions and salmon runs continue to decline.

Climate change is another pressure that will exacerbate many of the existing issues affecting Puget Sound watersheds. For many rivers, rising temperatures and changes in precipitation patterns are already resulting in increased water levels in winter and decreased water levels in summer. It is likely these changes will accelerate in the future. These hydrologic changes will have consequences on the economic, cultural and natural resources supported by floodplains.

Floodplain stakeholders are increasingly moving toward integrated approaches to floodplain management that satisfy the multiple objectives of diverse groups with floodplain interests in Puget Sound watersheds. The long-term success of these efforts will be shaped in part by climate change and the ability to integrate climate change impacts into decisions. Through a series of interviews, this project seeks to better understand how climate change could affect current floodplain management planning priorities and activities.

We identified individuals involved in watershed planning in the Stillaguamish and Puyallup watersheds. These watersheds were selected based on opportunities available for short- and mid-term planning, momentum of integrated planning in the region, generalizability of their issues to other watersheds and the potential of this project to add value to local efforts.

To get a range of perspectives, we solicited participation from federal, state, local and tribal governments, as well as the private and nonprofit sectors. We had a total of 32 participants representing almost two dozen different groups. We first gave the participants a summary of projected climate change impacts in their watersheds. Then, using open-ended questions, we interviewed them about current watershed issues, how climate change impacts have or may impact their work, collaboration between groups and visions of a climate resilient future.

The authors would like to thank the 32 people in the Stillaguamish and Puyallup watersheds who offered their time to participate in this project.

Integrating Climate Resilience in Flood Risk Management: We worked with the Washington State Silver Jackets – an interagency group that includes FEMA, the Army Corps, and several state and federal agencies charged with managing flood risk – to explore how they and their member agencies can better integrate climate change impacts into flood risk management in Washington State.