In 2008, the Environmental Protection Agency awarded King County a grant to improve environmental conditions in Raging River and Patterson Creek watersheds. This project, renamed Stewardship in Action, or SIA, had the following goals:

• Assist landowners by providing customized education, technical assistance and incentives to engage in Best Management Practices that would restore or enhance portions of their properties.
• Create “critical mass” by providing assistance to a large number of connected properties.
• Create a sustainable model that would outlast the life of the project and that could be replicated within other watersheds and by other municipalities.
• Evaluate and document the effectiveness of this highly focused, non-traditional approach to landowner empowered stewardship.

Some accomplishments included:

• 128 parcels were visited and provided with stewardship technical assistance.
• 79 parcels (62% of those visited) containing 683 acres completed known stewardship activities within the grant period.
• 48 different landowners used SiA provided cost share assistance to complete their projects

Primary project partners (external links)

• Environmental Protection Agency, Pacific Northwest, Region 10
• King Conservation District
• Snoqualmie Watershed Forum

Download report here:

• Highly Focused Stewardship Assistance in the Snoqualmie: A Model for Rural Watersheds (1.5 Mb Acrobat pdf)

For more information about the Highly Focused Stewardship in the Snoqualmie River, please contact Greg Rabourn, Community Stewardship Specialist, WLR Watershed Stewardship Unit.

Related information

• Northwest yard and garden
• Native plants
• Environmental stewardship
• The Dirt: Hands-on volunteer opportunities
• Snoqualmie - Skykomish Watershed

Related agencies

• Dept. of Natural Resources and Parks
• Water and Land Resources Division