Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons^™

Evaluation Of A Sequential Pond System For Detention And Treatment Of Runoff At Skypark, Santa's Village, Elizabeth Caporuscio

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

Understanding the extent to which human activities impact surface water resources has become increasingly important as both human population growth and related landscape changes impact water quality and quantity across varying geographical scales. Skypark, Santa’s Village is a 233.76-acre tourism-based outdoor recreation area located in Skyforest, California residing within the San Bernardino National Forest. The park is situated at Hooks Creek, the headwaters of the Mojave River Watershed, and is characterized by a diverse landscape that includes forest cover and human development, including impervious surfaces, a restored meadow, and recreational trails. In 2016, Hencks Meadow was considered degraded by human …

Past, Present, And Future Water Quality In Lake Union/Ship Canal, Elliott Bay, And The Duwamish Estuary And The Benefits Of Combined Sewer Overflow Control And Other Projects, Jim Simmonds

Salish Sea Ecosystem Conference

To help protect regional water quality, in 2012 King County initiated a study to review the impacts of combined sewer overflows (CSOs) and other sources of pollution to inform the region of the benefits of CSO control. King County’s Water Quality Assessment and Monitoring Study (Study) explored water quality in Lake Union/Ship Canal, Elliott Bay, and the Duwamish Estuary, where the County is planning projects to reduce the frequency of CSOs to an average of one untreated overflow per site per year over a 20-year moving average. Reducing CSO frequency to this degree is known as CSO “control” and is …

Nitrogen Inventory In The Nooksack-Fraser Transboundary Watershed, Jiajia Lin, Jana Compton, Jill Baron, Chris Clark, Donna Schwede, Shabtai Bittman, David Hooper, Barb Carey, Peter Homann, Hanna Winter, Peter Kiffney, Nichole Embertson, Heather Mackay, Robert Black, Gary Bahr

Salish Sea Ecosystem Conference

The Nooksack-Fraser transboundary area (2639 km2) is home to communities with a strong base in farming, fisheries and outdoor recreation. Water quality issues impact parts of this area, where sewage effluent and animal waste are potential sources of both fecal coliform bacteria (FCB) and nitrogen (N) in the environment. Excessive nitrogen loading can lead to eutrophication in coastal areas, and nitrate contamination of groundwater. The Nooksack-Fraser Transboundary Nitrogen (NFT-N) project was developed to determine the sources and fates of N in the watershed using data on energy use, transportation, fertilization, wastewater treatment plants, livestock operations, wildlife and more. This project …

Impact Of Septic Systems In Drayton Harbor Water Quality, Jennifer Hayden

Salish Sea Ecosystem Conference

Septic systems are personal wastewater treatment systems for rural properties. Over 3,000 septic systems exist in the Drayton Harbor watershed. Septic systems that are not maintained properly can create problems for homeowners, negatively impact water quality, and pose a public health threat. Whatcom County Health Department (WCHD) began implementing a septic system operation and maintenance (O&M) program in 2008 in the Drayton Harbor watershed when most of Drayton Harbor was classified as Prohibited for shellfish harvesting due to elevated fecal coliform bacteria levels. The local health officer’s designation of Drayton Harbor as a Marine Recovery Area in 2008 allowed WCHD …

Nooksack Tribe Collaborative Teaming To Address Shellfish Harvest Closures In Drayton Harbor, Oliver Grah, Jezra Beaulieu

Salish Sea Ecosystem Conference

The Nooksack Indian Tribe reservation is located at the foot of the North Cascades Mountains, near Deming, WA, and approximately 13 miles east of Bellingham and the Salish Sea. Drayton Harbor is part of the Salish Sea and is the Tribe’s traditional shellfish gathering area. Drayton Harbor is also an important shellfish gathering and production area for commercial and recreational uses. The Harbor has been under a TMDL for fecal coliform bacteria for more than 10 years for non-compliance with state water quality standards. Although re-opened to year-round harvest in late 2016, Drayton Harbor’s shellfish have been subjected to various …

Engaging The Community In Drayton Harbor's Comeback Story, Betsy Peabody

Salish Sea Ecosystem Conference

During the 1980 and 1990s, bacterial contamination in Drayton Harbor resulted in bay-wide closures of tribal, commercial and recreational shellfish harvest. In 2001, Puget Sound Restoration Fund partnered with local shellfish farmer extraordinaire Geoff Menzies to launch the Drayton Harbor Community Oyster Farm. With Geoff at the helm, the community farm invigorated a 20+ year community-wide effort to restore 810 acres of growing area to Approved harvest status in 2016. At the outset, seeding oysters in a bay prohibited to harvest, and involving volunteers in oyster farming, was a gamble. But the vision was that if people became immersed in …

Raising The Standards For Water Quality Objectives In Burrard Inlet: Interaction Between Public, Ecological And Cultural Values Through Indigenous-Provincial Collaboration, Anuradha Rao, Bridget Doyle, John Konovsky, Patrick Lilley

Salish Sea Ecosystem Conference

Water Quality Objectives (WQOs) in British Columbia set limits within which various parameters should remain to enable sensitive uses of water bodies. The current WQOs for Burrard Inlet are more than 25 years old and do not reflect current science, all pollutants of concern or a complete understanding of uses and values, for example uses of particular importance to First Nations. As part of its work to implement the Burrard Inlet Action Plan, Tsleil-Waututh Nation is leading an initiative with the Province of BC to update the Burrard Inlet WQOs. One goal in doing so is to ensure that ecological …

Changes To Washington State's Recreational Use Criteria And Implications For Surface Waters, Bryson Finch, Chad Brown

Salish Sea Ecosystem Conference

Washington State’s surface water quality standards set limits on pollution in lakes, rivers, and marine waters in order to protect beneficial uses, such as swimming and fishing. Washington State Department of Ecology has recently announced a rulemaking to update recreational use criteria (RUC). Recreational use criteria are intended to protect human health while enjoying water-related activities. Recreational use criteria are based on bacterial indicators rather than direct measurements of pathogens. Washington’s current bacterial indicator, fecal coliform, was removed from the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) recommendations in 1986. The EPA is now requiring states update their RUC to the new bacterial …

How Did Large Scale Climate Anomalies Impact 2015 Phytoplankton Blooms In Puget Sound?, Juhi Lafuente, Christopher Krembs, S. L. Albertson, Allison Brownlee, Julia Bos, Laura Hermanson, Mya Keyzers

Salish Sea Ecosystem Conference

The Washington State Department of Ecology has been routinely monitoring marine water quality throughout the Puget Sound since 1973. An established historic baseline from 1999 to 2008 allows us to examine how water quality varies year to year as a result of both natural and human influences. The recent large scale climate anomaly, the Blob, impacted this region when a mass of warm water entered Puget Sound in fall 2014. In conjunction with higher than normal air temperatures, patterns of estuarine circulation and stratification were regionally altered in Puget Sound. Changes to these physical patterns affect ecosystem functions starting at …

Long-Term Water Quality Trend Analysis In The Lone Tree Creek Watershed And Surrounding Marine Waters, Shannon Buckham, Nicole Casper

Salish Sea Ecosystem Conference

The Lone Tree Creek watershed is located on the Reservation of the Swinomish Indian Tribal Community (SITC) and is an important area both ecologically and culturally. Lone Tree Creek and the surrounding Skagit Bay nearshore environment provide important salmon and shellfish habitats, as well as recreation areas, and therefore have been the focus for ongoing research since 1997. Water quality parameters in the creek, lagoon, and two bay sites have been monitored since the late 1990s and early 2000s, and an additional pocket estuary site was added to monitoring efforts in 2007. This study used Mann-Kendall analysis to determine how …

Social And Economic Impacts Of A 2017 Oyster-Transmitted Norovirus Outbreak In Hammersley Inlet, Puget Sound, Marisa Nixon

Salish Sea Ecosystem Conference

Hammersley Inlet in Washington State is a highly productive growing area for oysters, with at least 34 different commercial shellfish growers operating in its tidelands. The oysters in Hammersley Inlet provide an important source of income, employment and recreation for surrounding Mason County. In early spring 2017, Hammersley Inlet was implicated in a shellfish-transmitted norovirus outbreak that resulted in growing area closures and recalls, significantly impacting small, local shellfish farmers. From its initial illness investigation, Washington State Department of Health (DOH) was unable to identify a point pollution source responsible for the outbreak, and some shellfish producing parcels remained closed …

Water Quality Effects Of Fish Habitat Restoration At Lone Tree Creek, Nicole Casper, Shannon M. Buckham

Salish Sea Ecosystem Conference

Lone Tree Creek is located on the Swinomish Indian Tribal Community (SITC) Reservation. The creek’s watershed includes pocket estuary habitat, discharges over shellfish beds, an important resource for the Swinomish People, and flows into northern Skagit Bay. In 2006, extensive creek restoration replaced culverts, restored tidal influence to the pocket estuary, and planted riparian buffers, successfully restoring rearing habitat for juvenile Chinook salmon. Beyond fish habitat benefits, SITC wanted to assess long-term restoration effects on creek water quality and its associated pocket estuary, lagoon and bay. Water quality monitoring for conventional parameters and bacteria spanned 1997-2016 (10 years pre- and …

Factors Influencing Farmers Adoption Of Best Management Practices: A Review And Synthesis, Tingting Liu, Randall J.F. Bruins, Matthew T. Heberling

School of Natural Resources: Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Watershed Management Tools: Hazardous Site Case History, Reference Stream Analysis, And Gis Analysis Of Fire Risk, Patrick Doyle

Graduate Student Portfolios, Professional Papers, and Capstone Projects

My portfolio explores some tools that are used to protect or assess watershed health and the experiences and lessons I learned during my time in the Environmental Studies program. The first piece in my portfolio is a case study that looks at the history of pollution ad cleanup of the kraft pulp mill along the Clark Fork River. In my study, I look closely at the EPA’s investigation of the site and the community’s reaction to the findings. In my second piece, I describe my field and lab experience working for the Montana Department of Environmental Quality. During this time, …

Annual Report 2018, Casco Bay Estuary Partnership

Publications

CBEP has been collaborating for over 25 years with a multitude of partners working hard to protect Casco Bay. 2018 brought us new and exciting collaborations.

The Casco Bay Nutrient Council, convened by CBEP, met for almost two years and produced a report that laid a path forward for all partners to tackle nutrient pollution.

CBEP worked closely with the EPA to establish the Casco Bay Monitoring Network, made up of over 20 member organizations, aimed at coordinating and upgrading monitoring in the Bay. The Network is currently updating the Casco Bay Monitoring Plan.

CBEP is an active participant in …