Unless the context clearly requires otherwise, the definitions in this section apply throughout this chapter.

(1) “Action agenda” means the comprehensive schedule of projects, programs, and other activities designed to achieve a healthy Puget Sound ecosystem that is authorized and further described in RCW 90.71.300 and 90.71.310.

(2) “Action area” means the geographic areas delineated as provided in RCW 90.71.260.

(3) “Benchmarks” means measurable interim milestones or achievements established to demonstrate progress towards a goal, objective, or outcome.

(4) “Board” means the ecosystem coordination board.

(5) “Council” means the leadership council.

(6) “Environmental indicator” means a physical, biological, or chemical measurement, statistic, or value that provides a proximate gauge, or evidence of, the state or condition of Puget Sound.

(7) “Implementation strategies” means the strategies incorporated on a quadrennial basis in the action agenda developed under RCW 90.71.310.

(8) “Nearshore” means the area beginning at the crest of coastal bluffs and extending seaward through the marine photics zone, and to the head of tide in coastal rivers and streams. “Nearshore” also means both shoreline and estuaries.

(9) “Panel” means the Puget Sound science panel.

(10) “Partnership” means the Puget Sound partnership.

(11) “Puget Sound” means Puget Sound and related inland marine waters, including all salt waters of the state of Washington inside the international boundary line between Washington and British Columbia, and lying east of the junction of the Pacific Ocean and the Strait of Juan de Fuca, and the rivers and streams draining to Puget Sound as mapped by water resource inventory areas 1 through 19 in WAC 173-500-040 as it exists on July 1, 2007.

(12) “Puget Sound partner” means an entity that has been recognized by the partnership, as provided in RCW 90.71.340, as having consistently achieved outstanding progress in implementing the 2020 action agenda.

(13) “Watershed groups” means all groups sponsoring or administering watershed programs, including but not limited to local governments, private sector entities, watershed planning units, watershed councils, shellfish protection areas, regional fishery enhancement groups, marine resources committees including those working with the Northwest straits commission, nearshore groups, and watershed lead entities.

(14) “Watershed programs” means and includes all watershed-level plans, programs, projects, and activities that relate to or may contribute to the protection or restoration of Puget Sound waters. Such programs include jurisdiction-wide programs regardless of whether more than one watershed is addressed.