December 3-4, 2015 - LCDC Salem <br />Agenda Item 4, Attachment H <br />Goal 5 Products for Wetlands and Waterways <br />In keeping with the above policy and findings, DSL recognizes the established Statewide <br />Planning Goal 5 procedures as vital to promote the protection, conservation and best use of <br />this State's wetland and water resources. The Goal 5 related products important in advanced <br />planning for wetlands and waters (Goal 5 products) are: <br />• The Local Wetland Inventory (LWI) with the associated functional assessment protocol, <br />• Locally Significant Wetland (LSW) determination, and <br />• The Riparian Corridor Inventory. <br />The integration of these inventory and assessment findings earlier in the Urban Growth <br />Boundary (UGB) planning process gives planners and the public tools to evaluate the UGB <br />study area for serviceability and impracticability. This leads to more accurate, appropriate, and <br />informed development plans. The inventory process includes public outreach that allows <br />further opportunity to increase resident awareness of, and input into local growth plans. <br />The LWI and associated products support planning at many levels. Advanced planning of <br />appropriate locations for possible mitigation opportunities allows for increased wetland function <br />where it may be of most value within UGBs. Additionally, early planning for strategic mitigation <br />locations increases the likelihood that appropriate mitigation may be available to compensate <br />for development in wetlands. This may increase capacity and surety in the permit process, <br />allowing future development to proceed more easily. Planned mitigation opportunities within a <br />UGB may also decrease pressure to locate mitigation on farmland. <br />When locations appropriately coincide, existing wetlands and mitigation wetlands may be <br />incorporated to expand Greenway areas. This increases the safety and aesthetics of <br />pedestrian, recreation and transportation corridors. The Goal 5 wetlands and waters products <br />also assist planning for sustainability. For example, these products may assist in locating <br />appropriate areas to reduce flood risk through increasing wetland capacity. Similarly, water <br />quality may be improved through strategic restoration, mitigation or buffer locations, or by <br />maintaining existing high functioning or special wetlands. <br />DSL also supports the completion of Goal 5 products because, while Counties have carried out <br />Goal 5 compliance work, the inventory used to identify the location of wetlands, the National <br />Wetland Inventory (NWI), has certain limitations that make it a blunt instrument for planning <br />and permitting applications. For example, the NWI does not map farmed wetlands, and <br />because of the scale of the work many wetlands are absent from the inventory. There is also <br />no assessment of wetland functions and values associated with the NWI, and therefore a <br />determination of significance cannot be made per 141-086-0300 through 141-086-0350. <br />Currently, the main triggers for Goal 5 work are when cities enter periodic review (Division 25 <br />as amended by H133282) and, to a lesser extent, during UGB expansion (Division 24 and via <br />H132254, Division 38). DSL recognizes the benefits to wetlands and waters of this state when <br />local governments undertake the creation and adoption of Goal 5 products. <br />