Learn about the new COB Habitat Restoration Master Plan on Thursday, October3, 2013 from 6 PM to 8 PM, at an open house held at the Best Western Inn, 714 Lakeway Drive, in the Mount Baker Room.  Light refreshments will be served.

Please show up to learn about this proposal.  My primary concern is that the master plan is being promoted by the city as something more than it is, at least in its current form.  It is still in a rather preliminary stage of development.

As drafted, it is a conceptual, mathematical model of the functional value of habitat within different city habitat groups (wetlands, forest, meadows, riparian, nearshore/estuarine), although the Lake Whatcom watershed is inexplicably excluded from the master plan.  The master plan will be used to establish priority for city restoration projects, although it is not clear how it will mesh together the different habitat groups. My request to provide the public with a map overlay of the different habitat groups to more readily identify important habitat areas and connectivity corridors was ignored.    

I am more clear on what the master plan is not. It is not a wildlife management plan, or a biodiversity plan, or a comprehensive conservation plan, at least not yet, based on the work that has been completed and released to the public. It involves no on-site review and study of local species, it fails to address important species data gaps, and I remain unclear on how the master plan will protect habitat connectivity on a comprehensive city-wide scale. 

According to the city administration, the master plan will “preserve and restore a citywide fish and wildlife habitat network that would include corridors and reserve areas necessary to support and perpetuate representative species and habitat diversity.”   I certainly hope that the master plan will develop into something that is this comprehensive and protective.  Until then, perhaps the city should complete more of its master plan work before making promises regarding end-results.