Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons^™

Climate Assemblies: Lessons Learned And Results From Around The World And Washington State, Laura Berry, John Cambalik, Ed Chadd, Michael Chang, Derek Hoshiko, Brandon Letsinger

Salish Sea Ecosystem Conference

Citizens’ assemblies are an increasingly widespread form of democratic engagement and solution-finding. Assemblies convened specifically to address the climate crisis have taken place around the world, including in Australia, Great Britain, Belgium, Poland, and France. France’s recent “Convention Citoyenne Pour Le Climat,” focused on reducing carbon emissions, led President Macron to pledge to adopt and fund 146 out of 149 policy recommendations. The Washington Climate Assembly (WA Climate Assembly) was initiated and funded by a group of volunteers, organized as People’s Voice on Climate. The nation’s first citizens’ assembly on this critical issue, the WA Climate Assembly brought together 77 …

Opening Plenary, Scott Redman, Ginny Broadhurst, Cecilia Gobin, Patti Gobin, Christianne Wilhelmson, Dr. Kathryn L. Sobocinski, Dr. Isobel Pearsall

Salish Sea Ecosystem Conference

Welcome from Conference Organizers Scott Redman, Executive Chair Cecilia Gobin, Program Co-Chair Julie Watson, Program Co-Chair Fran Wilshusen, Program Co-Chair Christianne Wilhelmson, Program Co-Chair Ginny Broadhurst, Salish Sea Institute Coast Salish Welcome Cecilia Gobin, Northwest Indian Fisheries Commission Coast Salish Perspectives on the Last 150 years Patti Gobin, Tulalip Tribes Patti Gobin has over 25 years of Community Development experience with the Tulalip Tribes. Presently, she is with the Natural Resource Treaty Rights office working with state, local and federal agencies regarding those issues that impact the life ways of the Tulalip Tribes. In addition to her years of experience, …

Mapping The Impact Of A Trailway System On The Amount Of Trash Present Within Two Watersheds Of Lynchburg City, Virginia, Lillian Smith

Student Scholar Showcase

Transportation of trash debris within water systems is a prominent occurrence which has been linked to natural and artificial processes such as wind, rain, and littering. Recreational areas, such as activities along greenway trails, have been determined to be a source of debris found in waterways. This study examines whether the presence of an established recreational trail system limits trash accumulation in the entirety of a watershed. Trash data collected at Blackwater Creek, which contains an established trail system, was compared to trash data collected at Fishing Creek, containing a non-established trail system, to answer this hypothesis. A distance of …

Strategizing For Workplace Culture: Developing And Introducing A Diversity, Equity, And Inclusion Road Map, Melissa Watkinson

Salish Sea Ecosystem Conference

Organizations are familiar with developing a strategic plan to focus their work on achieving their mission and vision. A diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) road map, aligned with organizational values of DEI, is a strategic plan that defines DEI in your work: where you are starting, where you want to end up, and how you are going to get there. Washington Sea Grant (WSG) has developed a 10-year road map that includes 13 ambitious, but achievable goals that are aligned with tangible strategies and expected outcomes. The road map goals range in specificity; examples include “WSG is welcome and inclusive” …

Puget Sound Vital Sign Revision: Objectives For Puget Sound Recovery And Protection, Ron Thom

Salish Sea Ecosystem Conference

Since the mid-1980’s, there have been focused federal, state and local efforts to restore the Puget Sound ecosystem. Beginning in 2008 the Puget Sound Partnership (PSP) has produced Action Agendas that describe comprehensive recovery programs and, since 2011, have identified a set of Vital Signs and indicators. As of 2018, PSP identified 25 Vital Signs (VS) with 52 affiliated indicators. The PSP is now undertaking a collaborative effort to revise the VS and indicators to address known concerns and to situate them in a framework of other types of progress measures. Revised VS and indicators will characterize biophysical condition and …

Stronger Together: The Cross-Cultural Coalition To Stop Fossil Fuel Exports In The Salish Sea, Margaret Allen

Salish Sea Ecosystem Conference

A commonly observed paradox in conservation is that restriction of people’s access to nature and natural resources may protect ecosystem health, but sometimes decreases the wellbeing of local people and can invite conflict and reduce people’s willingness to protect resources. At a middle ground between complete protection and unrestricted commercial use is ecosystem-based management (EBM), which strives to maximize the overall wellbeing of both people and ecosystems. An important domain of human wellbeing to track for the purposes of EBM is resource access, or the ability to gain and maintain uses and benefits of the natural environment. Access does not …

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 …

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 …

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 …

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 …

Landscape Limnology: Nutrient Fluxes & Biotic Stability In Complex Mountain Watersheds, Wayne A. Wurtsbaugh, Michelle Kang, Dave M. Epstein

Watershed Sciences Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Extreme Eutrophication And Cyanotoxin Levels In Farmington Bay, A Polluted Embayment Of The Great Salt Lake, Utah, Wayne A. Wurtsbaugh, Amy M. Marcarelli, Gregory Boyer

Watershed Sciences Faculty Publications

The Great Salt Lake of Utah is surrounded on its eastern and southern shores by 1.4 million people, with projections of 5 million by 2050. Agricultural, industrial and particularly secondary-treated domestic wastes from this population flow primarily into Farmington Bay, a 280 km2 shallow "estuary" with a mean depth near 0.5 m. Fish are rare but bird use is extensive and massive mortalities of waterfowl and shorebirds have occurred in the bay. Phosphorus loading rates of >2 g m-2yr-1 cause hypereutrophic conditions: Secchi depths are usually 0.6 mg/L, mean Chl. a is 179 ug/L and the combined trophic state index …

Eutrophication In Farmington Bay And Its Potential Impacts On Wildlife, Wayne A. Wurtsbaugh

Watershed Sciences Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Landscape Patterns Of Streams & Lakes In Montane Watersheds Determine Water Temperatures & Nutrient Transport: Watershed Analyses And N Tracer Experiments, Wayne A. Wurtsbaugh, J. Garrett, G. Burkart, W. Fleenor, K. Nydick, R. Hall, Michelle A. Baker

Watershed Sciences Faculty Publications

In glaciated mountains, lakes are interspersed through watersheds and connected by streams. Although lakes or streams are frequently studied as individual water bodies, studying them as integrated functional units provides considerable insight on temperature patterns, nutrient transport and other functions. In the Sawtooth Mountains (Idaho), inter-lake distance averages 2.8 km. In summer, lakes are solar collectors, and warm outflow streams as much as 10 C, thus increasing metabolic rates. These streams seldom cool to equilibrium temperatures before encountering another lake, where the waters tend to overflow and mix into the epilimnion. With overflow, N-15 tracer experiments demonstrated that water and …

Nitrogen Transport Through Linked Stream-Lake Systems Measured With N Tracer, Wayne A. Wurtsbaugh, Koren Nydick, Michelle A. Baker, Bob Hall

Watershed Sciences Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Topo-Morphometric Analysis Of Lake-Stream Interactions In Alpine Watersheds, Wayne A. Wurtsbaugh, Michelle A. Baker

Watershed Sciences Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.