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Articles 301 - 330 of 2456

Full-Text Articles in Physical Sciences and Mathematics

Sedimentology And Citizen Science: Ecological Monitoring In Carpenter Creek, Kingston, Wa., Quinn Habedank Apr 2022

Sedimentology And Citizen Science: Ecological Monitoring In Carpenter Creek, Kingston, Wa., Quinn Habedank

Salish Sea Ecosystem Conference

Monitoring is a key component of any successful ecological restoration project. Being able to see how an ecosystem responds to restoration treatments is not only vital for planning out future restoration work, but also for more fully understanding how an ecosystem functions. The aim of this study was to examine the relationship between two culvert removals done in Carpenter Creek, a tidal creek feeding an estuarine wetland in North Kitsap, and the texture of the alluvial sediments bedded by the creek. To accomplish this task, we used the R programming language to analyze and visualize sediment texture data collected by …

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Cyst Mapping Of Alexandrium Catenella In Surface Sediments Of Puget Sound From 2013-2021, Dr. Cheryl Greengrove Apr 2022

Cyst Mapping Of Alexandrium Catenella In Surface Sediments Of Puget Sound From 2013-2021, Dr. Cheryl Greengrove

Salish Sea Ecosystem Conference

Alexandrium catenella is a dinoflagellate that produces saxitoxin, a powerful neurotoxin, known to bioaccumulate in filter-feeding shellfish. Mammals consuming these shellfish can experience paralytic shellfish poisoning, a severe toxin-induced illness. Alexandrium overwinters in seafloor sediments as a cyst, and in the spring and summer, when environmental conditions are right, these cysts germinate and become vegetative cells within the water column. Identification and enumeration of cysts is used to determine regions where there is a greater potential for these harmful algae to bloom. Since 2013, the University of Washington Tacoma has received sediment from the Department of Ecology’s Puget Sound Marine …

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The Presence Of Alexandrium Catenella Harmful Algal Bloom Cysts In Port Gardner, Wa In 2019, Caitlyn Mcfarland, Julie Masura, Cheryl Greengrove Apr 2022

The Presence Of Alexandrium Catenella Harmful Algal Bloom Cysts In Port Gardner, Wa In 2019, Caitlyn Mcfarland, Julie Masura, Cheryl Greengrove

Salish Sea Ecosystem Conference

Harmful algal blooms occur seasonally throughout the Salish Sea. By using yearly acquired data, cyst concentration maps can help to predict the likelihood of harmful algal blooms occuring the following year. Alexandrium catenella is one of the monitored toxin-producing dinoflagellate species that potentially cause outbreaks of paralytic shellfish toxins which can contaminate filter-feeding shellfish in Puget Sound. In 2019, Washington’s Department of Ecology’s Puget Sound Marine Monitoring Group collected sediment samples throughout Puget Sound, including a comprehensive collection of sediment samples in Port Gardner, an inlet of Possession Sound not previously studied for harmful algal blooms. These samples were sent …

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Monitoring Overwintering Shorebird Use Of Agricultural And Intertidal Habitats In The Fraser River Delta Key Biodiversity Area, James Casey, Amie Macdonald, Myles Lamont Apr 2022

Monitoring Overwintering Shorebird Use Of Agricultural And Intertidal Habitats In The Fraser River Delta Key Biodiversity Area, James Casey, Amie Macdonald, Myles Lamont

Salish Sea Ecosystem Conference

Due in part to the abundance and diversity of migratory birds it supports the Fraser River Delta is a globally and regionally significant estuary. Globally the number of birds in the delta triggers Key Biodiversity Area criteria D1 associated with Species Aggregations. Three species of shorebirds, Dunlin, Western Sandpiper and Black-bellied Plover meet this criteria in the delta. Because of the abundance of Western Sandpiper and Dunlin the delta is also a Western Hemisphere Shorebird Reserve Network Site of Hemispheric Importance. In combination, these designations ensure the conservation of the Fraser River Delta is a priority within Pacific Flyway scale …

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Delineating And Monitoring Bluff Toe Positions From Boat-Based Lidar To Quantify Morphology Change At Edgewater Beach, Wa, Phd, Pe George Kaminsky, Heather Weiner, Hannah Drummond Apr 2022

Delineating And Monitoring Bluff Toe Positions From Boat-Based Lidar To Quantify Morphology Change At Edgewater Beach, Wa, Phd, Pe George Kaminsky, Heather Weiner, Hannah Drummond

Salish Sea Ecosystem Conference

The Washington State Department of Ecology Coastal Monitoring & Analysis Program (CMAP) has performed a total of four boat-based lidar surveys of a shoreline restoration project at Edgewater Beach in South Puget Sound where approximately 800 feet of shoreline armor was removed in 2016 from the base of a historic feeder bluff. Surveys were conducted in 2015 approximately one year before the restoration, 2017 approximately one year after the restoration, and additional surveys in 2019 and 2021. Boat-based lidar data were collected along the entire length of the drift cell to generate digital elevation models to determine beach morphology change …

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How Will Climate Change Affect Estuarine Nursery Quality? Findings From A Spatially Explicit Bioenergetics Model In The Nisqually River Delta, Dr. Melanie Davis Apr 2022

How Will Climate Change Affect Estuarine Nursery Quality? Findings From A Spatially Explicit Bioenergetics Model In The Nisqually River Delta, Dr. Melanie Davis

Salish Sea Ecosystem Conference

Estuaries support the reproduction, growth, and survival of Pacific salmon by providing a diverse portfolio of unique habitats with varying physical and biological features. Global climate change is expected to have profound effects on estuarine nursery quality through increasing water temperatures, rising sea levels, and changes in riverine hydrology. We used a spatially explicit bioenergetics model to assess how different climate change and management scenarios might affect juvenile salmon growth relative to present day conditions in the Nisqually River Delta, Washington. The model indicated that reductions in the extent and accessibility of prey-rich habitats such as emergent salt marshes and …

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Effects Of Hypoxia And Acidification On The Swimming Behavior Of Calanus Pacificus: Lethal And Sublethal Responses To Stressors, Amy Wyeth Apr 2022

Effects Of Hypoxia And Acidification On The Swimming Behavior Of Calanus Pacificus: Lethal And Sublethal Responses To Stressors, Amy Wyeth

Salish Sea Ecosystem Conference

Hypoxia and acidification are chemical stressors that are increasing in duration and extent in many coastal waters, including regions of the Salish Sea. Copepods, which play major roles in marine food webs and biogeochemical cycling, increasingly encounter water columns with these chemical stressors located at depth. Many copepods undergo diel vertical migration (DMV), swimming downwards during the day to avoid visual predation and upwards at night to feed on phytoplankton near the surface. Understanding behavioral responses of copepods to coastal stressors—particularly whether they avoid stressful conditions but potentially increase predation risk by altering DMV behavior—is important to anticipate impacts of …

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Estuary Acidification: A Five-Year Perspective On Ph In Possession Sound, Washington, Alexa Haucke Apr 2022

Estuary Acidification: A Five-Year Perspective On Ph In Possession Sound, Washington, Alexa Haucke

Salish Sea Ecosystem Conference

pH is the primary factor in ocean acidification. It is influenced by water chemistry, biological aspects, seasonal changes, and human activity. Low pH (acidic conditions) can contribute to hypoxia, coral bleaching, and other dangerous conditions for the ecosystem. In this study, the effects of ocean acidification in Possession Sound were examined over a five-year period, with the context of seasonal plankton blooms and changes in river discharge. This was accomplished using a YSI EXO Sonde periodically deployed nearshore in Mukilteo, Washington, USA used in partnership with Ocean Research College Academy. This site, being within the Snohomish River Estuary, is affected …

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Variations In Ph And Nutrients In Relation To Snohomish River Discharge In Possession Sound, Emma Lesueur Apr 2022

Variations In Ph And Nutrients In Relation To Snohomish River Discharge In Possession Sound, Emma Lesueur

Salish Sea Ecosystem Conference

Nutrients support the lifecycles of marine organisms, making them an important factor in the health of an estuary. To maintain a hospitable environment in an estuary, the pH is required to stay within the range of 7.5-8.5. Certain nutrients have strong correlations to pH, such as silicon, whose production is driven by acidic rainwater. Rainwater is one of the key elements that drives the discharge of the Snohomish River. In this research, nutrient concentrations were gathered at the mouth of the Snohomish River, at the Port of Everett within Possession Sound. These levels were compared to pH and river discharge …

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Reconstructing The Ecological History And Past Environments Of Native Olympia Oysters To Inform Their Conservation And Restoration In The Salish Sea, Dr. Julieta Martinelli Apr 2022

Reconstructing The Ecological History And Past Environments Of Native Olympia Oysters To Inform Their Conservation And Restoration In The Salish Sea, Dr. Julieta Martinelli

Salish Sea Ecosystem Conference

Historical baselines inform restoration efforts, allowing us to interpret long-term changes in marine ecosystems prior to anthropogenic activities. In Washington State, restoration of native oysters (Ostrea lurida) is limited by shifting baselines and the lack of information on Olympia oyster populations before they collapsed in the late 1800s. Our project seeks to answer three main questions: (i) What was the water temperature and salinity in environments where historical native oysters thrived in the past? To answer this question we will use oxygen isotopes, Ba/Ca ratios and radiocarbon dating. (ii) How does the abundance of trace metals found in past Olympia …

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Exploring Temporal Patterns In Temperature And Current Speed At The Mouth Of The Snohomish River, Sergei Avetisyan Apr 2022

Exploring Temporal Patterns In Temperature And Current Speed At The Mouth Of The Snohomish River, Sergei Avetisyan

Salish Sea Ecosystem Conference

Oceanic temperatures and currents are the primary driving factors of almost every physical phenomenon on Earth and understanding them is key to studying almost every other aspect of Earth science. Possession Sound, a fjord-type estuary system in the Salish Sea, is home not only to incredible biodiversity but also to some very complex current systems and thermoclines. A particularly intriguing part of the Possession Sound fjord system is the extreme stratification of the halocline in certain areas. One such area can be found at the mouth of the Snohomish River, where cold freshwater from ice melts flows into warmer seawater, …

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Genetic Risk Assessment Model For Native Shellfish Aquaculture, Natalie Lowell Apr 2022

Genetic Risk Assessment Model For Native Shellfish Aquaculture, Natalie Lowell

Salish Sea Ecosystem Conference

The shellfish aquaculture industry is growing, and shellfish growers have begun to cultivate native shellfish to prevent introduction of non-native species. However, cultivation of native species poses genetic risks to wild populations if farmed and wild animals interbreed. Available simulation models for assessing genetic risks of aquaculture are not well suited for shellfish life history or the complexities associated with spatial management and are often limited to one or two of at least three types of genetic risks, preventing assessment of trade-offs among risks and emergent interactions among genetic processes. We developed an open-source, individual-based simulation model for conducting genetic …

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A 13-Year Temporal And Spatial Analysis Of Nutrient Levels In Possession Sound And Their Seasonal Relationship With River Discharge, Sheamin Kim Apr 2022

A 13-Year Temporal And Spatial Analysis Of Nutrient Levels In Possession Sound And Their Seasonal Relationship With River Discharge, Sheamin Kim

Salish Sea Ecosystem Conference

Nutrient levels in an estuarine environment vary widely over geography and various input source points. They are important in understanding the overall health of an ecosystem due to their impact on primary production. The combined effects of seasonal changes, tidal patterns, and local manmade nutrient sources can cause nutrient levels in an estuary to vary. Unnaturally high nutrient levels can affect other water chemistry variables, and contribute to events such as harmful algal blooms, hypoxia, and ocean acidification. This study presents 13 years of nutrient data and analysis from three different sites in Possession Sound. Each site was analyzed for …

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Restoration Implementation Planning For Salish Sea Stream Mouths Impacted By The Railroad, Paul Schlenger Apr 2022

Restoration Implementation Planning For Salish Sea Stream Mouths Impacted By The Railroad, Paul Schlenger

Salish Sea Ecosystem Conference

The railroad is a prominent stressor on long stretches of shoreline in the Washington portion of the Salish Sea. It runs along 52 miles of the shoreline, while another 21 miles of railroad is within 200 feet of the shoreline. In many places, the railroad forms a barrier between the coastal watershed and the shoreline preventing the delivery of water, sediment, wood, and organic matter to the nearshore. This results in large-scale degradation of the habitat quality of the nearshore environment, which is important habitat for several trophic levels of the Salish Sea food web. Building upon a science-based prioritization …

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Long-Term Water Quality Monitoring Trends And Drivers Of Change In Marine And Fresh Waters Of The Swinomish Reservation, Wa, Shannon Stewart, Nicole Casper Apr 2022

Long-Term Water Quality Monitoring Trends And Drivers Of Change In Marine And Fresh Waters Of The Swinomish Reservation, Wa, Shannon Stewart, Nicole Casper

Salish Sea Ecosystem Conference

The Swinomish Indian Tribal Community is a federally-recognized Indian Tribe and political successor in interest to certain tribes and bands that signed the 1855 Treaty of Point Elliot, which among other things reserved fishing, hunting, and gathering rights and established the Swinomish Reservation on Fidalgo Island in Skagit County, Washington. Fish and fish habitat are crucial to the cultural, spiritual, subsistence, and commercial activities of the Swinomish Tribe. Surface water quality monitoring of marine and fresh waterbodies on and surrounding the Swinomish Reservation began in 1997. Over time, additional monitoring sites have been added to provide a thorough understanding of …

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Salinity Variance Mixing In The Salish Sea Is Controlled By River Flow, Erin Broatch, Dr. Parker Maccready Apr 2022

Salinity Variance Mixing In The Salish Sea Is Controlled By River Flow, Erin Broatch, Dr. Parker Maccready

Salish Sea Ecosystem Conference

A salinity variance framework is used to study mixing in the Salish Sea, a large fjordal estuary. Output from a realistic numerical model is used to create salinity variance budgets for individual basins within the Salish Sea for 2017-2019. The salinity variance budgets quantify the mixing in each basin and diagnose the numerical mixing, which is found to contribute about one-third of the total mixing in the model. Whidbey Basin has the most intense mixing, due to its shallow depth and large river flow. Unlike in most other estuarine systems previously studied using the salinity variance method, mixing in the …

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Eelgrass Correlation To Pseudo-Nitzschia Population, Kyle Peterson Apr 2022

Eelgrass Correlation To Pseudo-Nitzschia Population, Kyle Peterson

Salish Sea Ecosystem Conference

Within an ecosystem, eelgrass beds are critical for many species, filtering runoff, protecting from shore erosion, and storing or absorbing excess nutrients and greenhouse gases. Eelgrass is also a nursery or home for many aquatic species. Because of this, eelgrass is the center of much research due to its pinnacle role within the aquatic ecosystem. Within Possession Sound, eelgrass’s relationship to phytoplankton such as Pseudo-nitzschia, a potentially toxic phytoplankton, is of particular interest. This study utilized six years of data from 2015 to 2021 collected from four sites within Possession Sound. The presence of eelgrass beds and their relative size …

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An Assessment Of Blue Carbon Sources And Potential In The Nisqually Estuary Using Biomarkers And Compound-Specific Isotopes Of Marsh Plants, Eelgrass, And Sediment, Dr. Renee Takesue Apr 2022

An Assessment Of Blue Carbon Sources And Potential In The Nisqually Estuary Using Biomarkers And Compound-Specific Isotopes Of Marsh Plants, Eelgrass, And Sediment, Dr. Renee Takesue

Salish Sea Ecosystem Conference

The potential of vegetated coastal ecosystems to sequester significant organic carbon (Blue Carbon) has gained much attention as a climate mitigation strategy. Organic carbon buried in coastal sediment is produced both in situ and externally, and knowledge about sources is essential for Blue Carbon assessments and for ecosystem restoration and management. The goals of this study are to develop and utilize a suite of organic carbon source signatures for Salish Sea Blue Carbon ecosystems. Source signatures integrate information from traditional stable carbon and nitrogen isotope ratios (d13CTOC, d15NTOC), traditional biomarkers (n-alkanes, sterols), and biomarker-specific stable isotopes (CSIA: d13Cn-alk, d13Csterol) in …

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Oceanographic Properties And Effects Of Deep Renewals In The Strait Of Georgia, Mina Masoud Apr 2022

Oceanographic Properties And Effects Of Deep Renewals In The Strait Of Georgia, Mina Masoud

Salish Sea Ecosystem Conference

The most dramatic (albeit largelyy unseen) aspect of the Strait of Georgia's circulation is its deep-water renewal. Waters below about 200m are replaced only during summer, but within the summer season only in short pulses a few days long each month. These deep water renewal events are associated with intrusions of dense Pacific Ocean waters into the Strait of Georgia through the narrow Juan de Fuca Strait during summer coastal upwelling periods. These events cause fluctuations in oceanographic properties of the Strait of Georgia, such as salinity, dissolved oxygen, temperature and nutrients, and result in large increases in turbidity near …

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Water Currents And Their Effect On Possession Sound, Nadia Brainerd Apr 2022

Water Currents And Their Effect On Possession Sound, Nadia Brainerd

Salish Sea Ecosystem Conference

In any marine ecosystem, water currents are an important factor in both the biological and physical movements of a body of water. The focus of this study is the Possession Sound estuary in the Salish Sea which lies in an interesting area that is affected both by discharge from the Snohomish River and surrounding streams, as well as incoming ocean currents from the Pacific Ocean. In Possession Sound the currents can affect everything from the regular boat traffic through the area to the transportation of debris and other natural or harmful substances in the water. An Acoustic Doppler Current Profiler …

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Transboundary Programs To Quiet The Seas: Successes, Challenges, And The Road Ahead, Krista Trounce, Rachel Aronson, Dr. Julie Watson, Sonja Henneman, Grace Ferrara, Alanna Frayne, Isabel Deutsch, Donna Sandstrom Apr 2022

Transboundary Programs To Quiet The Seas: Successes, Challenges, And The Road Ahead, Krista Trounce, Rachel Aronson, Dr. Julie Watson, Sonja Henneman, Grace Ferrara, Alanna Frayne, Isabel Deutsch, Donna Sandstrom

Salish Sea Ecosystem Conference

Of all the threats facing the southern residents, reducing noise and disturbance is one area where we have made tangible progress around the Salish Sea. Public processes have led to new programs and policies - successes we can build on, and learn from. This panel will provide a transboundary perspective on programs that been implemented to manage and monitor vessel impacts by sector (i.e., large ships, small vessels), and identify high priority gaps or needs. For each program, panelists will discuss: 1.) What are the successes, so far? What are the challenges, and where are the gaps? 2.) How does …

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Salish Sea Education In Public Schools Breaks Barriers To Science, Traditional Knowledge, And A Culture Of Evidence-Based Decision-Making. How Can We Elevate Access?, Mira Lutz Castle, Dr. Bert Weber, Leonard Merriman, Sally Hanft, Ardi Kveven, Elizabeth Schmitz, Anna Booker, Rosie Cayou James Apr 2022

Salish Sea Education In Public Schools Breaks Barriers To Science, Traditional Knowledge, And A Culture Of Evidence-Based Decision-Making. How Can We Elevate Access?, Mira Lutz Castle, Dr. Bert Weber, Leonard Merriman, Sally Hanft, Ardi Kveven, Elizabeth Schmitz, Anna Booker, Rosie Cayou James

Salish Sea Ecosystem Conference

If we want adult citizens who consider they are uphill from the ocean when voting and in their daily decisions, our children need opportunities to know, connect with, and help protect the Salish Sea, their home. If we want wildlife recognition to surpass brand recognition and outside playtime to surpass screen time for our children, we need estuary education growth on an exponential scale. Educating students about the watershed and sea we share is integral to any far-seeing strategic plan for recovery and fulfilling the solemn promises of our treaties. Salish Sea science in public and tribal schools reaches every …

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Maplewood Marine Restoration Project - Panel Session, Charlotte Olson, Vanessa Koo, Lindsey Ogston, Hillary Hyland, Cora Den Hartigh, Jemma Scoble, Neil Snowball, Ravi Chatterji, Cynthia Durance Apr 2022

Maplewood Marine Restoration Project - Panel Session, Charlotte Olson, Vanessa Koo, Lindsey Ogston, Hillary Hyland, Cora Den Hartigh, Jemma Scoble, Neil Snowball, Ravi Chatterji, Cynthia Durance

Salish Sea Ecosystem Conference

The Vancouver Fraser Port Authority’s Habitat Enhancement Program (HEP) administers the largest habitat bank in Canada, through an agreement with Fisheries and Oceans Canada. This initiative is intended to provide a balance between a healthy environment and future development projects that maybe required for port operations. The program is aligned with the port authority’s vision to be the world’s most sustainable port and is focused on creating, restoring and enhancing fish and wildlife habitat. Building on the success of past projects within Burrard Inlet, in 2019, the port authority and Tsleil-Waututh Nation (TWN) entered into a ten-year agreement to formalize …

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Sea Urchin Populations In The Salish Sea: Recent Findings Regarding Invertebrates That Support A Prized Fishery And Play An Important Role In Nearshore Ecosystems., Helen Berry, Dr. Daniel Okamoto, Dr. Ole Shelton, Taylor Frierson, Cynthia Catton Apr 2022

Sea Urchin Populations In The Salish Sea: Recent Findings Regarding Invertebrates That Support A Prized Fishery And Play An Important Role In Nearshore Ecosystems., Helen Berry, Dr. Daniel Okamoto, Dr. Ole Shelton, Taylor Frierson, Cynthia Catton

Salish Sea Ecosystem Conference

Major changes in urchin populations have been reported in recent years around the world, coupled with profound cascading effects on nearshore ecosystems. Extreme climatic events are postulated to be a common driver, along with changes in populations of predators such as sea otters and sea stars. This panel brings together ecologists from British Columbia and Washington to highlight recent results on spatial patterns and temporal trends in sea urchin populations in the Salish Sea and the exposed coast. Findings suggest differences among locations in both species abundances and ecological interactions. Topics include: abundances of individual species, locations with large aggregations, …

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Modeling The Effects Of Projected Climate Warming On Stream Temperatures In The Stillaguamish River Basin, Emily Smoot Apr 2022

Modeling The Effects Of Projected Climate Warming On Stream Temperatures In The Stillaguamish River Basin, Emily Smoot

Salish Sea Ecosystem Conference

The Stillaguamish River watershed is a snow-and-rain mixed basin in northwestern Washington, with snowmelt being important for sustaining spring and summer streamflow and buffering stream-temperatures. Elevations in the 1700 sq-km Stillaguamish basin reach roughly 2000 m that sustain a historical snowpack above about 1000 m. Previous basin-specific modeling projected that snowpack will retreat to higher elevations and summer stream temperatures will increase, reaching both embryo lethality (16 °C) and adult lethality (22 °C) by 2075 in the North and South Forks in the Stillaguamish River. Stream temperature increases are of significant concern because of the threatened Chinook salmon population, which …

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Hatchery Release Strategy Effects On Production Outcomes For Chinook And Coho, Sam James Apr 2022

Hatchery Release Strategy Effects On Production Outcomes For Chinook And Coho, Sam James

Salish Sea Ecosystem Conference

Salmon hatcheries face the challenging task of developing release strategies that attempt to maximize survival and minimize risk to wild populations. Release strategies refer to the size at release, timing of release, nature of release (i.e. forced or volitional), number of releases, release location, and the use of acclimation facilities prior to release. We led an extensive review of hatchery release strategies and how they can be used as a management tool to influence production outcomes (i.e. survival, catch, and return ages). The review consisted of three components: 1) a systematic review of the literature from BC and the western …

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Utilizing New Pit Tag Technology To Assess Juvenile Chinook Migration Patterns, Residence Time, And Survival In The Lower Green River., Chris Gregersen Apr 2022

Utilizing New Pit Tag Technology To Assess Juvenile Chinook Migration Patterns, Residence Time, And Survival In The Lower Green River., Chris Gregersen

Salish Sea Ecosystem Conference

The highly altered lower Green river subbasin has been the focus of intense salmon habitat planning and restoration efforts since the listing of Puget Sound Chinook in 1999. Monitoring juvenile chinook migration and life history dynamics has been critical for tailoring habitat restoration in the Green River. In the lower Green subbasin, however, juvenile salmon population monitoring using screw traps has proven to be difficult due to low gradient and water velocities. Meanwhile, traditional monitoring methods (e.g., electrofishing and seining) cannot accurately quantify residence time or survival rates. Given the large financial investments of habitat restoration in the lower Green, …

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Assessing Futures Of Two Cowichan River Pacific Salmon Species, Chinook And Coho, Using Scenario Analysis For Cumulative Effects Assessment, Dr. Arman Ospan, Johannes J. Feddema, Andrea Locke Apr 2022

Assessing Futures Of Two Cowichan River Pacific Salmon Species, Chinook And Coho, Using Scenario Analysis For Cumulative Effects Assessment, Dr. Arman Ospan, Johannes J. Feddema, Andrea Locke

Salish Sea Ecosystem Conference

We assessed futures of the Cowichan River’s anadromous Chinook and Coho salmon populations using a proposed methodology for Cumulative Effects Assessment. First, we examined linkages between salmon survival and effect drivers; we built quantitative models to predict changes in salmon survival in response to changes in effect drivers; created scenarios of divergent futures for each effect driver; and, by applying the models, projected salmon survival for each scenario. We conducted assessment for both early freshwater and marine environments. In fresh water, we focused on two main factors: streamflow and stream temperature, and two main drivers: land use and climate change. …

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Modeling The Effects Of Climate Change On Peak Flows In The Nooksack River, North Cascades, Wa, Evan Paul Apr 2022

Modeling The Effects Of Climate Change On Peak Flows In The Nooksack River, North Cascades, Wa, Evan Paul

Salish Sea Ecosystem Conference

The Nooksack River in northwest Washington State provides freshwater for agriculture and industrial use and serves as a vital habitat for endangered salmon, a resource that is of cultural and economic importance to the Nooksack Indian Tribe. Historically, peak streamflows in the 2300 sq-km Nooksack basin are driven by rainfall in the fall and early winter. Global climate models (GCMs) project an increase in air temperatures for the Salish Sea region, and previous modeling within the Nooksack basin projects a reduction in snowpack extent through the 21st century and an increase in winter streamflow magnitude. As more landscape becomes exposed …

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Floodplains By Design: Introductory Guidance And Resources For The Integration Of Climate Information In Floodplain Management, Tess Wrobleski Apr 2022

Floodplains By Design: Introductory Guidance And Resources For The Integration Of Climate Information In Floodplain Management, Tess Wrobleski

Salish Sea Ecosystem Conference

The adaptive co-management of a complex, socio-ecological system such as floodplains often requires a strategic and coordinated approach for achieving climate resilience. At the same time, the collaborative nature of Integrated Floodplain Management often involves a broad range of actors with varying perspectives on adaptation who must work within their own organizational mandates, regulatory domains and decision-making frameworks. Through an assessment of existing literature, this work draws on best practices to develop Introductory Guidance for effective climate adaptation in Integrated Floodplain Management. The goal of this guidance document is to provide floodplain practitioners in Pierce, Snohomish, and Whatcom counties with …

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