Skagit County, WA Environmental Rules: Erosion Control (2026)

130 makes stabilization of exposed soils a continuous, year-round duty: sufficient materials, equipment, and labor must be readily available to stabilize and prevent erosion, and all exposed, disturbed soils must be stabilized before any forecasted rain event. Before land clearing begins, clearing limits, setbacks, buffers, and sensitive or critical areas such as steep slopes, wetlands, wellhead protection areas, and riparian corridors must be clearly marked in the field and inspected by County staff, or by the applicant's own critical areas consultant where appropriate. Wherever construction traffic crosses a paved road, the project must use best management practices such as a stabilized construction entrance to keep mud off the pavement; if sediment does reach the road, crews must clean it by the end of that day, removing it by shoveling or sweeping to a controlled sediment disposal area, and street washing is allowed only after that removal and only if no drainage system or wildlife habitat will be harmed.

Dewatering devices used on a construction site must discharge into a sediment trap or pond with adequate energy dissipation before water leaves the site. 32. These duties apply on top of, not instead of, the county's stormwater management manual.