The definitions in this section apply throughout this chapter unless the context clearly requires otherwise.

(1) “Bed” means the land below the ordinary high water lines of state waters. This definition does not include irrigation ditches, canals, stormwater runoff devices, or other artificial watercourses except where they exist in a natural watercourse that has been altered artificially.

(2) “Board” means the pollution control hearings board created in chapter 43.21B RCW.

(3) “Commission” means the state fish and wildlife commission.

(4) “Date of receipt” has the same meaning as defined in RCW 43.21B.001.

(5) “Department” means the department of fish and wildlife.

(6) “Director” means the director of the department of fish and wildlife.

(7) “Emergency” means an immediate threat to life, the public, property, or of environmental degradation.

(8) “Emergency permit” means a verbal hydraulic project approval or the written follow-up to the verbal approval issued to a person under RCW 77.55.021(12).

(9) “Expedited permit” means a hydraulic project approval issued to a person under RCW 77.55.021 (14) and (16).

(10) “Forest practices hydraulic project” means a hydraulic project that requires a forest practices application or notification under chapter 76.09 RCW.

(11) “Hydraulic project” means the construction or performance of work that will use, divert, obstruct, or change the natural flow or bed of any of the salt or fresh waters of the state.

(12) “Imminent danger” means a threat by weather, water flow, or other natural conditions that is likely to occur within sixty days of a request for a permit application.

(13) “Marina” means a public or private facility providing boat moorage space, fuel, or commercial services. Commercial services include but are not limited to overnight or live-aboard boating accommodations.

(14) “Marine terminal” means a public or private commercial wharf located in the navigable water of the state and used, or intended to be used, as a port or facility for the storing, handling, transferring, or transporting of goods to and from vessels.

(15) “Motorized or gravity siphon aquatic mining” means mining using any form of motorized equipment including, but not limited to, a motorized suction dredge or a gravity siphon suction dredge, for the purpose of extracting gold, silver, or other precious metals, that involves a discharge to waters of the state, but does not include metals mining and milling operations as defined in RCW 78.56.020.

(16) “Multiple site permit” means a hydraulic project approval issued to a person under RCW 77.55.021 for hydraulic projects occurring at more than one specific location and which includes site-specific requirements.

(17) “Ordinary high water line” means the mark on the shores of all water that will be found by examining the bed and banks and ascertaining where the presence and action of waters are so common and usual, and so long continued in ordinary years as to mark upon the soil or vegetation a character distinct from the abutting upland. Provided, that in any area where the ordinary high water line cannot be found, the ordinary high water line adjoining saltwater is the line of mean higher high water and the ordinary high water line adjoining fresh water is the elevation of the mean annual flood.

(18) “Pamphlet hydraulic project” means a hydraulic project for the removal or control of aquatic noxious weeds conducted under the aquatic plants and fish pamphlet authorized by RCW 77.55.081, or for mineral prospecting and mining conducted under the gold and fish pamphlet authorized by RCW 77.55.091.

(19) “Permit” means a hydraulic project approval permit issued under this chapter.

(20) “Permit modification” means a hydraulic project approval issued to a person under RCW 77.55.021 that extends, renews, or changes the conditions of a previously issued hydraulic project approval.

(21) “Sandbars” includes, but is not limited to, sand, gravel, rock, silt, and sediments.

(22) “Small scale prospecting and mining” means the use of only the following methods: Pans; nonmotorized sluice boxes; nonmotorized concentrators; and minirocker boxes for the discovery and recovery of minerals, but does not include metals mining and milling operations as defined in RCW 78.56.020.

(23) “Spartina,” “purple loosestrife,” and “aquatic noxious weeds” have the same meanings as defined in RCW 17.26.020.

(24) “Stream bank stabilization” means those projects that prevent or limit erosion, slippage, and mass wasting. These projects include, but are not limited to, bank resloping, log and debris relocation or removal, planting of woody vegetation, bank protection using rock or woody material or placement of jetties or groins, gravel removal, or erosion control.

(25) “Tide gate” means a one-way check valve that prevents the backflow of tidal water.

(26) “Waters of the state” and “state waters” means all salt and fresh waters waterward of the ordinary high water line and within the territorial boundary of the state.

Reviser’s note: The definitions in this section have been alphabetized pursuant to RCW 1.08.015(2)(k).

Findings—2020 c 10: See note following RCW 90.48.615.

Finding—Intent—2012 1st sp.s. c 1: “The legislature finds that significant opportunities exist to modify programs that provide for management and protection of the state’s natural resources, including the state’s forests, fish, and wildlife, in order to streamline regulatory processes and achieve program efficiencies while at the same time increasing the sustainability of program funding and maintaining current levels of natural resource protection. The legislature intends to update provisions relating to natural resource management and regulatory programs including the hydraulic project approval program, forest practices act, and state environmental policy act, in order to achieve these opportunities.” [ 2012 1st sp.s. c 1 § 1.]

Limitation—2012 1st sp.s. c 1: “Nothing in this act affects any rules, processes, or procedures of the department of fish and wildlife and the department of natural resources existing on July 10, 2012, that provide for regulatory integration of hydraulic projects and forest practices for projects in nonfish-bearing waters.” [ 2012 1st sp.s. c 1 § 216.]

Jurisdiction/authority of Indian tribe under act—2012 1st sp.s. c 1: “Nothing in this act affects the jurisdiction or other authority of a federally recognized Indian tribe within the boundary of its reservation or on other tribally owned lands.” [ 2012 1st sp.s. c 1 § 218.]

Intent—Effective dates—Application—Pending cases and rules—2010 c 210: See notes following RCW 43.21B.001.

Part headings not law—2005 c 146: “Part headings used in this act are not any part of the law.” [ 2005 c 146 § 1007.]