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SWAP Revision Summer 2024 Survey

SWAP Revision Summer 2024 Survey

Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW) is revising the Washington State Wildlife Action Plan (SWAP), which is a conservation plan for fish, wildlife, plants, and the habitats they depend on. This revision is due to US Fish and Wildlife Service on October 1, 2025.  This project group will include three (3) surveys:  a Summer 2024 survey for scoping, an Early 2025 survey to help us pull together the plan pieces, and a final Summer 2025 survey to review the draft plan. 

The SWAP outlines important biodiversity conservation actions related to the WDFW Strategic Plan, to recover and sustain fish and wildlife, and develop conservation partnerships.  For more than 20 years, SWAPs across the nation have framed conservation priorities for states, guided funding and spending, and communicated conservation needs. For this revision, WDFW is providing several webinars for our Commission, Tribes, state and federal agencies, conservation organizations, and the public.

This survey is open until November 15, 2024. With this survey, we welcome your help to shape and improve this version of the plan.  Thank you for taking time to provide your thoughts about what we should consider in this revision. We estimate that this survey will take about 20 minutes. You can scroll down through the survey to get a feel for the questions before providing any responses.  Your responses will be anonymous unless you choose to add your name and email contact information.  Please also take our anonymous demographic survey (separate) using the link at the end, also by November 15, 2024. 

Need more information before or while you take the surveys?  You may want to open these links for handy information while you work through the survey:

For some good background on State Wildlife Action Plans and the Washington revision, you can click these links to watch our SWAP revision presentation to the WDFW Commission on August 9, 2024  and/or watch the first public SWAP webinar recorded by TVW.   A searchable transcript is available at the TVW link. 

Thank you to the following people for the images in the banner: northern leopard frogs by Washington State University; Taylor's checkerspot butterfly by Aaron Barna of US Fish and Wildlife Service; Pacific fisher by Jason Ransom of National Parks Service; Anna's Hummingbird by Jim Cummins; and Steelhead in the Teanaway River by Zach Mays of Yakama Nation Fisheries. 

Who do you represent today when you take this survey? Please select one.

Public, community member
Tribe
Federal government
State government
Local government
Non-profit, non-governmental, or community organization
Industry organization
University or College Faculty or Staff
Private business
Other
Closed to responses

Please tell us which Tribe, agency, organization, or university/college you are representing.
If you selected "private business" in the first question, please tell us what type in this comment - some examples might be private timber, mining, consulting, ranching, farming, guide, tourism, development, arts, ....
If you selected "Public, Community member" you may tell us which community.

Closed for Comments

Ecoregions are large landscapes where land and water systems are similar. These are big units that help us organize and share natural resources information and plan conservation actions. Washington has nine (9) ecoregions. Please look at this map of numbered ecoregions of Washington. From the list, select one or more of the ecoregions you most care about. In the next comment, please tell us why conservation in those ecoregions is important to you.

This is a map of Washington state s nine ecoregions numbered and with a legend
1. Blue Mountains (southeastern lower right corner of Washington, color is darker blue)
2. South Cascades (middle south Washington Cascade Range, to the Columbia River border with Oregon, color is dark gray/purple)
3. Coast Range (western Washington including the Pacific Coast and mouth of the Columbia River, but not including the Olympic Mountains, color is orange)
4. Columbia Plateau (also called the Columbia Basin, east central Washington sharing a middle border with Idaho, color is bright yellow)
5. Eastern Cascades Slopes and Foothills (between the South Cascades and the Columbia Plateau, touching the Columbia River border with Oregon, color is pale gray)
6. North Cascades and Olympic Mountains (upper middle of the state, sharing the border with Canada, includes the North Cascade Range and an 'island' of mountains of the Olympic Peninsula, color is pink)
7. Northern Rockies (northeastern upper right corner of Washington, sharing a border with Canada and Idaho, color is olive green)
8. Puget Lowland (surrounding Puget Sound from the north state border with Canada to Columbia River border with Oregon, color is pale blue)
9. Willamette Valley (small portion of south central Washington next to the Columbia River border shared with Oregon, just below the South Cascades on the map, color is bright green)
Closed to responses

Tell us why you chose the ecoregion(s) in the previous question. Please include the number and/or name of the ecoregion and tell us what you think is special or significant about it. Why is it important to you?
We are interested in these responses to help us better communicate new conservation information and understand needs of people who care about conservation in these specific areas.

Closed for Comments

In the plan, we will need to select threats or issues that negatively affect species, habitats, and systems. These are also called "stressors." Please choose (check boxes) up to five (5) issues that - in your opinion - are the most impactful issues or stressors negatively affecting species and/or habitat conservation in Washington state.

Suggestion: scroll through the whole list to get a feel for it before making your selections. You will be asked about your selections in the next question. A version of this list comes from the Conservation Measures Partnership (CMP, more information at https://www.conservationmeasures.org/about-cmp). CMP provides international standards in conservation practice. This list is in alphabetical order and this order does not imply any priority.

Agriculture - farming, orchards, vineyards
Aquaculture - shellfish production, water pen 'farms', hatcheries
Climate change - chemical - such as ocean acidification, atmospheric carbon dioxide changing plant growth, freshwater acidity, harmful algal blooms
Climate change - ecosystem changes - such as sea level rise, sand dune encroachment, more successful invasive species
Climate change - rainfall or snowfall changes in timing and amounts, drought, flooding
Climate change - severe weather such as thunderstorms, ice storms, storm amplified tides and beach erosion
Climate change - temperature - such as "heat domes", longer or more intense warm seasons and heat, warmer or shorter winters, ocean temperature changes
Development - residential or commercial
Fish, Wildlife, or Plant Diseases
Geologic events - such as volcanic eruptions, earthquakes, tsunami, avalanche, landslides
Hunting, Fishing, or Foraging
Hydropower and dam operations
Invasive species
Lack of Habitat Connectivity
Military operations and training
Mining and quarrying
Oil and gas drilling and production operations
Outdoor recreation facilities - trails, boat ramps, wildland access
Pollution - wastewater discharge, toxic runoff, litter, airborne pollution, light or noise pollution
Ranching
Solar or Wind Energy - development, production
Timber harvest or production
Transportation - roads and railways, shipping lanes, flight paths
Utility and Service lines - such as electrical, water, wastewater, fuel - transmission, distribution
Water management - surface or groundwater
Wildfire
Closed to responses

Based on the five (5) issues you selected in the previous question, which one concerns you the most and why? Please provide examples if you can.

Closed for Comments

Do you feel any issues are missing from the long list above? If yes, please briefly tell us what's missing and provide an example or two.

Closed for Comments

WDFW defines Priority Habitats that are used to inform conservation and land use decisions:
> aspen stands
> eastside steppe and shrubsteppe
> herbaceous balds
> inland dunes
> juniper savannah
> old growth - mature forest
> Oregon white oak woodlands
> riparian
> westside prairies
> freshwater wetlands - fresh deepwater
> instream
> coastal nearshore, open coast nearshore, Puget Sound nearshore, and
> certain features like caves, cliffs, snags and logs, and talus slopes/fields.
Are there land or water habitats that you think are at risk or of high conservation concern that are missing from this list? Which ones? Please share examples and/or citations if possible.

Closed for Comments

WDFW will be revising the Species of Greatest Conservation Need list. Do you know of any species on the 2015 list that should be removed in the 2025 Plan - which ones and why?
Please provide citation(s) or information in this comment to support your suggestion, if possible.
You may leave a comment at swap2025@publicinput.com if you have data you would like to share or would like to be contacted about this.

Closed for Comments

WDFW will be revising the Species of Greatest Conservation Need list. Do you know of species that should be added as Species of Greatest Conservation Need in the revised plan?
Please provide citation(s) or information in this comment to support your suggestion.
You may leave a comment at swap2025@publicinput.com if you have data you would like to share or would like to be contacted about this.

Closed for Comments

What specific conservation plans, working groups, or other organized conservation efforts do you know about that are making good progress and/or engaging others on tough conservation questions? Please provide citation(s) or link(s) if you have them.

Closed for Comments

I or my agency/organization/group use the current SWAP (2015) to ... (choose all that apply)

I'm unfamiliar with the SWAP
I/we don't use the SWAP - skip to next
Prioritize conservation projects
Comment or consult on external projects, proposals, or permits
Write grant applications
Evaluate proposals for funding
Write species or habitat plans - management, recovery, restoration
Look up information - species, habitats, threats, conservation issues
Answer questions from the public or partners
Create lesson plans or presentations
Other
Closed to responses

Please tell us about changes you would like to see in the State Wildlife Action Plan revision, especially suggestions that could help more people use it and/or make it a more valuable guide for conservation in Washington.

Closed for Comments

Please select the County where you live from this list below. We hope to get good representation from across Washington state and will be using this information to guide more outreach.

Adams
Asotin
Benton
Chelan
Clallam
Clark
Columbia
Cowlitz
Douglas
Ferry
Franklin
Garfield
Grant
Grays Harbor
Island
Jefferson
King
Kitsap
Kittitas
Klickitat
Lewis
Lincoln
Mason
Okanogan
Pacific
Pend Oreille
Pierce
San Juan
Skagit
Skamania
Snohomish
Spokane
Stevens
Thurston
Wahkiakum
Walla Walla
Whatcom
Whitman
Yakima
Oregon
Idaho
Other - United States
Other - Canada
Other - International NOT Canada
Closed to responses