The Stormwater Action Monitoring (SAM) program is a collaborative monitoring program with western Washington municipal stormwater permittees and state agencies. The SAM program is based on recommendations from an independent stakeholder committee that outlined an overall strategy for a Stormwater Assessment and Monitoring Program for Puget Sound (SWAMPPS) and specific recommendations for municipal stormwater permit monitoring. One of the recommendations was the development and implementation of a regional status and trends monitoring program, incorporating a probabilistic survey design that would improve understanding of whether stormwater management programs are helping to achieve the larger goal of restoring the Puget Sound ecosystem. It was acknowledged that observed impacts and changes over time would reflect multiple stressors and the effect of multiple management actions and so that impacts or changes could not necessarily be traced back to specific causes.

During 2015, the first round of small Puget Lowland Ecoregion stream (PLES) status and trends sampling was conducted at over 100 small stream sites within and outside Urban Growth Areas (UGAs). This presentation at the first annual Stormwater Action Monitoring Symposium provided a summary of preliminary findings of the 2015 SAM PLES status and trends monitoring effort.