Island Local Integrating Organization

The Island Local Integrating Organization (ILIO) includes all of Island County, also known as Water Resources Inventory Area (WRIA) 6. The ILIO builds upon existing committees and watershed groups that are collectively responsible for actions related to the implementation of watershed-focused programs and projects in Island County. 

Island County territory, not as a political boundary, but as part of a functioning element of Puget Sound, has a long tradition of utilizing the strength of our citizens and volunteer groups to support recovery efforts. The intention of the ILIO is to build upon these existing structures and others within the Island Watershed to continue to support the work of those organizations. The Island Local Integrating Organization coordinates processes within to best identify and focus on work moving forward. The ILIO is not meant to change the authority of existing organizations nor to take over the decision-making for any entity. 

Executive Committee

This committee makes all decisions of the ILIO and sets strategic policy direction, establishes priorities and funding concepts. 

Technical Committee

This committee provides recommendations on strategic direction, priority setting, funding concepts and other issues within WRIA 6 of interest to the Executive Committee. This process furthers the performance management systems of Island County and other ILIO members. 

Near-Term Actions

Very heavy pressure served as the basis for establishing the ILIO Near-Term Actions (NTA). NTAs are trackable and measurable activities and initiatives intended to take place within a two-year window. They are essential components in the successful implementation of the Puget Sound Action Agenda. Near-term actions can be large- or small-scale, region-wide or locally specific, and are tracked via the Action Agenda Report Card. Federal, state and local partners can utilize the ILIO NTA list to clearly identify ecosystem recovery priorities in the Island watershed over the next two years. 

NTA development workshops provided a framework for meaningful conversations that challenged assumptions and forced members to think critically about each proposed NTA. The ILIO Technical Committee used the regional criteria for NTAs and also established five additional selection criteria for evaluating candidate NTAs against each other to determine actions which would be most beneficial: political feasibility, implement ability, ecosystem outcomes, boldness/innovativeness, and number of pressures the action addresses and how well it addresses them. Thirteen NTAs were submitted to an external review committee for comments and suggestions to address the strength of the actions using the selection criteria. Two actions were removed and one was divided into two for a final list of 12 NTAs for Executive Committee review and approval.  

The 2011 Island Profile listed 78 general strategic actions for ecosystem recovery. Developing prioritized near-term actions in place of that list fostered a clearer connection to regional ecosystem recovery goals and has set up the Island watershed with a strategic plan for addressing high-priority pressures in the next two years with a list of twelve specific ecosystem recovery near-term actions with trackable performance measures. 

Many projects and programs were identified as important to the Island's ecosystem recovery efforts during prioritization workshops, but did not meet the NTA selection criteria. These efforts, including effective ongoing projects/programs, projects/programs not being ready for funding in the next two years, and/or projects that did not have clearly defined ecosystem outcomes. ILIO will continue to develop priority projects/programs that did not make the near-term action list and apply for applicable funding to move them forward in the upcoming years: 

• Projects in the three-year Salmon Recovery Plan;
• Nutrient treatment/management projects;
• Storm water treatment/management projects; and
• Oil spill response readiness in the Island watershed.

The ILIO prioritized pressures and NTA list reflect the best thinking to date, but we expect to continuously hold discussions and reevaluate priorities based on new regional and local data and on the watershed project/program implementation schedule.