Life Sciences Commons^™

Creating A Culture Of Shoreline Stewardship In Puget Sound, Erica Bates, Robert C. Simmons

Salish Sea Ecosystem Conference

This poster will describe the results of the WSU Shore Stewards program over its 13 year history. The program recruits, educates, and engages shoreline property owners in home and landscape management activities that protect and improve shoreline functions and water quality. The program has regularly surveyed program participants to determine behavior changes as a result of the program, as well as undergone a comprehensive evaluation in 2014/2015, which will be highlighted in this poster. In 2015, WSU re-developed its peer reviewed program materials, which includes new website (shorestewards.wsu.edu), a revised “Guide for Shoreline Living,” and a DVD containing multiple videos …

Protecting Puget Sound From Csos By Retrofitting Urban Neighborhoods With Green Stormwater Infrastructure, Kathryn Gwilym Pe, John Phillips, Steve Burke Pe, Peg Staeheli Fasla

Salish Sea Ecosystem Conference

In 2009 King County Wastewater Treatment Division (KCWTD) selected green stormwater infrastructure (GSI) as the preferred alternative for controlling combined sewer overflows (CSO) for the 1100-acre Barton combined sewer system (CSS) basin in Seattle. In 2008 KCWTD reported that the basin had an average of four overflows per year that discharge a total of four million gallons into Puget Sound. In order to reduce the overflows to no more than one CSO event per year for Washington State’s Department of Ecology compliance, KCWTD retrofitted 15 residential streets with bioretention cells in order to intercept, treat and reduce the amount of …

A Nonparametric Statistical Approach To Analyzing Eelgrass Density Data, Traci L. Sanderson, Michelle Spani, Andrew Rippington

Salish Sea Ecosystem Conference

As part of continuing work in Port Gamble, WA a diver-based eelgrass survey was completed to support the application for a Hydraulic Project Approval (HPA), as required by the Washington State Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW) for in-water work. The survey was completed following interim guidelines established by WDFW in 2008, although to fit the guidelines to the specific project some methods were modified and approved by WDFW. Collecting statistically robust data proved to be difficult, as shoot density in the eelgrass bed was highly variable. In some areas the variance was so high that power calculations estimated the …

Telling Stories: Designing Effective Data Visualization And Climate Change Communication Tools, Ilon E. Logan, Carol Macilroy

Salish Sea Ecosystem Conference

As a scientific community, our understanding of the potential effects of a changing climate has increased dramatically over the past decade. We are integrating multiple models with increasing sophistication and projecting impacts at the local scale. But the results of our scientific data and analysis are only as good as their presentation to the public and other decision-makers. Telling the stories of our work using technology and thoughtful, accurate, and visually compelling graphics is paramount in today’s information-rich environment. MacIlroy Consulting, Inc. and Environmental Science Associates (ESA) collaborated to develop data visualization and communication tools for the Skagit Climate Science …

Assessing Habitat Compensation In The Lower Fraser River And Estuary, Megan A. Lievesley, Dan Stewart, Brad Mason, Rob Knight

Salish Sea Ecosystem Conference

Over the last century, wetland ecosystems along the Lower Fraser River (LFR) have been heavily impacted by foreshore development and industry. Wetlands along the LFR provide important ecosystem services and habitat for wildlife such as rearing grounds for fish and staging grounds for migratory birds. For 30 years, habitat compensation has been the accepted method for offsetting habitat degradation; however, due to a lack of follow-up research and consistent baseline data it is yet to be determined if compensation projects truly replicate habitat lost. This project, funded by the National Wetland Conservation Fund, aims to (1) review, assess, and determine …

Greening Real Estate Professionals: A Model For Landowner Engagement Through Effective Education For Brokers & Appraisers, Erica S. Guttman, Robert C. Simmons

Salish Sea Ecosystem Conference

Real estate brokers, appraisers, and developers are an essential audience for bridging communication with new landowners throughout the Salish Sea watershed. The majority of these professionals share concerns about protecting water quality, ensuring the health of theSalishSeafor recreation and economic vitality, and preventing activities that lead to anthropogenic-caused landslides, flooding and other disasters.

Since 1998, WSU Extension has managed a real estate school focused on "green" topics to engage real estate professionals in these issues critical to their clients and our region's water resources. In recent years, our focus has centered on the topics of Green Stormwater Infrastructure and Understanding …

A Framework To Assess Vulnerability Of Biological Components To Ship-Source Oil Spills In The Marine Environment, Kate Thornborough, Candice St. Germain, Lucie Hannah, Miriam O

Salish Sea Ecosystem Conference

A structured approach to identify biological components most affected by a ship-source oil spill has been developed utilising a suite of criteria to assess vulnerability. Our approach divides criteria into three categories: exposure, sensitivity, and recovery, each encompassing a number of criteria which are envisaged to be consistent and broad enough to be usable in any region in Canada. In support of this, we are working with biologists from other Canadian regions who are currently developing ship-source oil spill response plans (i.e. Pacific, Quebec and Maritimes) to test the usability of this approach in multiple marine environments. For the Pacific …

Variable Marsh Resilience To Stress Offers Clues To Climate Change Adaptive Management, Roger Nathan Fuller, Katrina L. Poppe, John M. Rybczyk, Eric Grossman, Chad Stellern

Salish Sea Ecosystem Conference

In Puget Sound’s Stillaguamish estuary, tidal marshes exhibit evidence of multiple stressors that affect their vulnerability and provide insight into adaptive management opportunities to enhance their resilience. Despite high accretion rates, some marsh areas have receded by 10m/yr since 1964. Sources of stress include overgrazing by snow geese, high soil salinities, insect attacks, and changes in flow and inundation patterns. These interact with winter vegetation structure, sediment composition, and wave exposure to result in spatially variable marsh resilience. Some marshes are receding quickly, some slowly, and others are minimally affected. In the context of climate change, with potentially substantial near-term …

Mapping On The Edge: Shoreline Mapping For Regulation And Voluntary Stewardship, Kate E. Emmings

Salish Sea Ecosystem Conference

Nothing generates conversations between landowners and local government like a map! Shoreline mapping is a crucial decision making tool for local governments and regulators. It provides information about appropriate location of shoreline infrastructure, such as docks, and informs landowners about the location of important natural transition areas between the land and the sea. Maps can also provide information that limits the activities of private landowners and as such can cause community conflict if they are inaccurate or unclear. Because mapping can be used to inform regulation, local governments often have different needs than scientists and NGOs, but there is no …

Armoring On Puget Sound: Progress Towards A Better Baseline, Hugh Shipman, Jennifer Burke, Randy E. Carman, Kurt L. Fresh

Salish Sea Ecosystem Conference

The construction of seawalls and similar structures along Puget Sound’s shoreline impacts geomorphic processes and ecological functions. The extent of shoreline armor has been adopted by the Puget Sound Partnership as a vital sign indicator, is used by local, state, and federal groups as a measure of ecosystem function, and has been employed as a tool for prioritizing restoration actions.

As a result, we recognized the importance of accurately characterizing the extent, character, and distribution of shoreline armor. The objectives of our project were to review existing data sources, assess methodologies, identify gaps in data quality or coverage, and to …

Resources For Marine Shoreline Design, Theresa Mitchell

Salish Sea Ecosystem Conference

Shoreline armoring and reducing the use of hard, structural approaches to protecting property is a hot topic across marine communities of North America. As we learn more about the importance of the marine and terrestrial interface (the nearshore zone), we also understand more about how our past practices of hard armoring shorelines can be problematic to the nearshore zone and the ecosystem goods and services it provides. Shifting property owners away from using common hard approaches to erosion protection is difficult to achieve without easy access to information on effective environmentally-friendly alternatives.

The Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife and …

From The Ivory Tower Through The Black Box: Engaging Effectively With Government To Turn Ideas Into Action, Gabriel Mastico

Salish Sea Ecosystem Conference

When researchers, communities, and/or environmental organizations propose new approaches to address ecological challenges, responsibility for implementing them often falls (in part) to practitioners working within government. Government employees face considerable challenges in synthesizing the available knowledge to support a recommendation for decision-makers to adopt a new approach. This presentation draws on an insider’s experience to help conservation researchers and practitioners understand the key challenges and opportunities that government employees face in navigating their organizations’ decision-making processes. It also suggests best practices to help proponents of new approaches frame conservation finance ideas in ways that resonate with local governments and their …

An Inventory Of Environmental Governance In The Salish Sea, Laurie D. Trautman

Salish Sea Ecosystem Conference

How is the natural environment of the Salish Sea governed? The fact that the Salish Sea is bifurcated by a national border has inhibited our ability to answer this question. Indeed, the Salish Sea involves not only two national governments, but also a multitude of both state and non-state actors, which exist across scales, and interact in different frameworks (i.e. First Nations/tribes often seek only to negotiate with federal, rather than state/provincial governments). Environmental governance in the Salish Sea also encompasses informal modes of interaction involving public and private interest groups, social movements and community stakeholders, in addition to traditional …

Synthesis Of Results From Twelve Puget Sound Regulatory Effectiveness And Incentive Investigations, Aimee Kinney, Tessa B. Francis, Jeff Rice

Salish Sea Ecosystem Conference

Between 2011 and 2014, the Puget Sound Marine and Nearshore Grant Program funded twelve projects relating to shoreline regulatory and incentive programs. Here we provide an overview of overarching themes that emerged from a review of the projects in aggregate. Despite the different approaches to problem identification, data collection, and analysis in these investigations, the conclusions reached and recommendations made are remarkably similar. Key findings and implications of our analysis relate to: (1) armoring compliance rates; (2) compliance monitoring methodologies; (3) local Shoreline Master Program (SMP) capacity limitations; (4) SMP implementation improvements; and (5) incentive programs to encourage the use …

Developing Locally-Driven (Shoreline) Monitoring Programs In The Salish Sea (And Beyond), David Sale

Salish Sea Ecosystem Conference

During the development of the Bainbridge Island Shoreline Monitoring Program (SMP), a volunteer group of scientists and engineers (Bainbridge Island Environmental Technical Advisory (ETAC)), provided the City of Bainbridge Island (COBI) City Council and staff with advice and recommendations on relevant shoreline science and the SMP. One of the recommendations was for COBI to adopt and initiate a locally–driven and -managed monitoring program to address both the effectiveness of the SMP over time, and uncertainties in knowledge of specific Bainbridge Island shoreline drivers and processes. The program would be designed to integrate past and current studies by COBI and other …

Reducing Uncertainties In Managing In British Columbia Waters: Applying An Adaptive Management Mindset On The South, Central And North Coasts, Erica Olson, Carol Murray, Natascia Tamburello

Salish Sea Ecosystem Conference

British Columbia’s vast coastline is characterized by ecologically rich, rugged, and remote regions where there are many uncertainties about the way that ecosystems function. This translates into a challenge for environmental managers, as it creates considerable uncertainty about which management actions will be most effective for achieving management goals and objectives. Adaptive management can offer a way forward by providing systematic, rigorous approach for designing and implementing management actions to maximize learning about critical uncertainties affecting decisions on environmental management policy and practice. It typically follows a six-step cycle focusing on the implementation and monitoring of management actions that are …

Assessment Of Nutrient, Metal, And Organic Contaminant Concentrations In Eelgrass (Zostera Marina L.) In Puget Sound, Wa (Usa), Jeff Gaeckle

Salish Sea Ecosystem Conference

Eelgrass (Zostera marina L.), the dominant seagrass in the Pacific Northwest region, is an ecologically important component of the marine nearshore throughout greater Puget Sound, WA. Eelgrass and other seagrasses are known to provide extensive ecosystem services worldwide, but are under threat from a suite of anthropogenic stressors, notably nutrient and sediment loading associated with coastal development and population growth. Loading sources span from atmospheric deposition to thousands of outfalls that range from small manmade or natural drainages to the largest permitted facilities in the country. Research has demonstrated seagrasses uptake nutrients, metals and organic contaminants with varied physiological …

Can Intimate Ecological Knowledge Evoke Spirituality?, Robin B. Clark

Salish Sea Ecosystem Conference

The Salish Sea Ecoregion lies within the Marine West Coast Forest Ecoregion (CEC) or the Pacific temperate rain forest (WWF) and others. The marine and upland forested ecosystems are some of the richest and most diverse on the planet. As a registered professional forester and ecologist, I use the biogeoclimatic ecosystem classifications of zones, subzones, site series and edaphic grids in my everyday work in the management of forested ecosystems. I see the forest is a mosaic of interconnectedness that displays with a variety of trees and plants the above and below ground moisture and nutrient regimes. My spirituality arises …

A Long-Term Phytoplankton Monitoring Program For Central Puget Sound Using Particle Imaging, Gabriela Hannach, Lyndsey M. Swanson

Salish Sea Ecosystem Conference

Puget Sound is a large and highly productive estuarine system that is vulnerable to climate change and anthropogenic impacts from a growing population. King County operates an exceptionally comprehensive, long-running monitoring program designed to assess water quality in the Puget Sound Central Basin. Data are collected year-round for a suite of physical, chemical, and biological parameters. Phyoplankton monitoring using traditional methods was added to the program in 2008 to address a significant biological data gap at the lower trophic level. Since acquisition of a FlowCAM particle imaging system in 2014 the program is generating a more extensive and robust dataset …

Environmentally Sound Energy For The Future, Genevra E L Harker-Klimes

Salish Sea Ecosystem Conference

One of the growing industries in coastal and ocean waters is marine renewable energy. To date, there have been very few deployments in US waters, but the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory’s Marine Sciences Laboratory is conducting research into the environmental impacts of such developments in order to enable the industry to grow. At one time, there were nine tidal projects being investigated within Puget Sound, and none of these has been taken forward. There were several reasons why these projects did not progress but one of the key factors was the cost of the environmental studies. Consequently, there is a …

Holding The Line, To Let Shorelines Move Naturally, Kyle Loring

Salish Sea Ecosystem Conference

This poster will identify mechanisms for limiting the impacts of residential development on the natural functions of marine shorelines.

First, it will share the results from two recent legal cases that successfully prevented the unnecessary bulkheading of a documented surf smelt spawning beach on San Juan Island. Friends of the San Juans appealed two local permit approvals to the Shoreline Hearings Board. The local permits authorized two-tiered armoring that extended nearly 20 total feet in height and would have removed most of the vegetation that shaded the beaches and supplied insects for juvenile Chinook salmon in an area identified as …

Skagit Climate Science Consortium: Using Local Polling To Provide Relevant Science, Carol B. Macilroy, Larry Wasserman

Salish Sea Ecosystem Conference

The Skagit Climate Science Consortium (SC²) and the Yale Project on Climate Change Communication partnered to conduct a public opinion poll in the spring of 2015 regarding Skagit County resident’s attitudes and perceptions regarding global warming. The effort, part of Yale’s renown 6 America’s Project, also is providing SC² critical information to help understand local concerns and beliefs about climate change in order to better provide relevant and timely climate science to a broader Skagit community. This presentation will provide an overview of SC²’s theory of change regarding the role of climate science in supporting …

Virtual Simulations Of Potential Vessel Discharges In Puget Sound And The Puget Sound No Discharge Zone, Teizeen Mohamedali, Mindy Roberts, Amy Jankowiak

Salish Sea Ecosystem Conference

The Washington State Department of Ecology (Ecology) evaluated the potential transport, dispersion and dilution of potential vessel sewer discharges within the draft proposed Puget Sound No Discharge Zone (NDZ). These model simulations included potential vessel sewer discharges at six locations in Puget Sound along major shipping routes. Results are presented as virtual animations of surface concentrations, allowing us to visualize the transport, circulation, and dilution of these discharges over the course of several days.

Ecology and Pacific Northwest National Laboratory jointly developed a three-dimensional hydrodynamic FVCOM (Finite Volume Coastal Ocean Model) computer model of the Salish Sea. This model is …

Volunteer-Assisted Monitoring Of A Significant Private Bulkhead Removal, Jeffrey Adams, Brenda Padgham, Jason David Toft, Kyra O'Neil, Kate Litle

Salish Sea Ecosystem Conference

Monitoring efforts to restore physical and biological functions along developed shorelines can take many forms and be influenced by monitoring goals, the scope and scale of the project, and available resources. The Powel project in Port Madison on Bainbridge Island, Washington, had regional significance because of its scale (removing 1544 lineal feet of armor), the diversity of types of armor and shoreline, and its private ownership, but it lacked the funding to support a broad, long-term monitoring program. Not willing to let the opportunity pass without some effort to gather as much appropriate information as possible about the impact and …

From Boat To Beach: Using Drift Cards To Improve Our Knowledge Of Ocean Currents, Areas At Risk And Oil Spill Trajectories., Andrew Rosenberger, Alexandra Woodsworth, Ross Dixon

Salish Sea Ecosystem Conference

In October 2013, Raincoast Conservation Foundation and Georgia Strait Alliance launched 1644 drift cards from 9 locations along the shipping route through the Salish Sea to Vancouver, British Columbia. Drift cards are 4x6” pieces of marine plywood painted bright yellow and numbered. Drift cards have historically been used to assess the way in which floating objects move in various contexts, including potential oil spills from underwater pipelines, marine park planning, sewage outflows and more. In this case, these drift cards were released in the context of Kinder Morgan’s plans to twin the Trans Mountain pipeline, which if approved would see …

Salmonid Early Response To Restored Freshwater Floodplain, Erin Morgan, Jeffery R. Cordell, Lauren Rich

Salish Sea Ecosystem Conference

Shortly after the construction of the Hansen Creek floodplain restoration project in 2010-2011, we conducted a pilot study of the initial use of the site by juvenile salmonids and the early development of invertebrate communities. We found that juvenile Coho salmon collected from the restored floodplain during periodic inundation events had higher instantaneous rations (a measure of feeding intensity) than Coho collected during regular monthly sampling in the creek channels. The floodplain site also had consistently higher insect abundances. Applying the data and lessons learned from the pilot study, we undertook a more comprehensive 13-month study of Hansen creek and …

Ultra-Diffuse Hydrothermal Venting Supports Fe-Oxidizing Bacteria And Massive Umber Deposition At 5000 M Off Hawaii, Katrina J. Edwards, B. T. Glazer, Olivier J. Rouxel, Wolfgang Bach, D. Emerson, Russ E. Davis, Brandy M. Toner, C. S. Chan, B. M. Tebo, Hubert Staudigel, Craig L. Moyer

Biology Faculty and Staff Publications

A novel hydrothermal field has been discovered at the base of Lōihi Seamount, Hawaii, at 5000 mbsl. Geochemical analyses demonstrate that ‘FeMO Deep’, while only 0.2 °C above ambient seawater temperature, derives from a distal, ultra-diffuse hydrothermal source. FeMO Deep is expressed as regional seafloor seepage of gelatinous iron- and silica-rich deposits, pooling between and over basalt pillows, in places over a meter thick. The system is capped by mm to cm thick hydrothermally derived iron-oxyhydroxide- and manganese-oxide-layered crusts. We use molecular analyses (16S rDNA-based) of extant communities combined with fluorescent in situ hybridizations to demonstrate that FeMO Deep deposits …