Resource Library
Our library contains a collection of materials from projects and meetings brought to you by the Northwest Straits Commission and the seven Marine Resources Committees. Please contact Commission staff if you are unable to find what you are looking for online.
Enter keywords to search below. Results will include resources that contain any, but not necessarily all, of the keywords.
Boulevard Park Intertidal Monitoring Summary Report
Located in Bellingham, WA, Boulevard Park recently had a major change to its western shoreline on Bellingham Bay. Shoreline armoring was removed to reduce erosion, and a more natural gradual gradient beach was established. Monitoring was conducted on the beach prior to and following the changes in shoreline structure. The data collected is to be used as a baseline for detection of changes resulting from the modifications of the beach.
By: Whatcom County Public Works
Published:
Benchmark: Marine Habitat
Location: Whatcom County
Length: 78
Port Susan Marine Stewardship Area Armor Removal Assessment Report for Snohomish County MRC
Snohomish County completed a shore armor removal assessment conducted by Coastal Geologic Services to examine the east side of the Port Susan Marine Stewardship Area. The intent of the project is to identify specific areas of shoreline where armor removal could successfully be executed. A successful removal process is defined by not compromising existing infrastructure, and identifying area where the removal would most effectively restore natural physical processes to benefit the nearshore ecosystem. The study area includes 382 areas across 8.3 miles of shoreline.
By: Andrea MacLennan, Jim Johannessen, Branden
Published:
Benchmark: Marine Habitat
Location: Snohomish County
Length: 57
Sequim Bay Olympia Oyster Project Brochure
This is an informative brochure of the ongoing restoration effort for Olympia oysters in Sequim Bay.
By: Clallam MRC
Published:
Benchmark: Marine Species
Location: Clallam County
Length: 2
Public Speaker Series Summary Report for Whatcom MRC
This report is a summary of the Public Speaker Series held in Whatcom County in 2014-2015. The report includes summaries of each presentation, as well as the presentation material itself. Goals of the speaker series is to increase public knowledge of water related issues, generate awareness and encourage restoration, and to enhance coordination efforts.
By: Whatcom County Public Works-Natural Resources
Published:
Benchmark: Education and Outreach
Location: Whatcom County
Length: 57
Clallam MRC Final Marine Debris Cleanup Report
This report is a summary of Clallam MRC marine debris cleanup efforts in 2014-2015. Some of the highlighted events include the Earth Day cleanup, the International Coastal Cleanup, and the Ediz Hook beach cleanup.
By: Clallam MRC
Published:
Benchmark: All
Location: Clallam County
Length: 9
Effectiveness of Phytoremediation for Removing Contaminates from Water
This report presents the findings of 5 different studies analyzing the effectiveness of phytoremediation with removing harmful contaminants from storm water effluent at a community sewer treatment plant.
By: Dr. Joe Hillers, Dr. Lou Licht
Published:
Benchmark: Marine Water Quality
Location: Island County
Length: 23
Juvenile Salmon & Nearshore Fish Use in Shallow Intertidal Habitat Associated with Cornet Bay
Following a major shoreline restoration effort in Cornet Bay, juvenile salmon and forage fish monitoring has been conducted annually to characterize the fish population responding the improved habitat. Following the removal 65.1 tons of creosote bulkhead and 79.8 tons of contaminated fill, a healthier, more function marine environment was established to help benefit the small fish that inhabit and migrate through the area. 2015 marked the seventh year of monitoring in Cornet Bay, and the third year since the restoration project.
By: Advanced Environmental Solutions
Published:
Benchmark: Marine Species
Location: Island County
Length: 33
Forage Fish Spawn Surveys, Cornet Bay Beach Restoration Project Site
This report presents observation summaries of shoreline at Deception Pass State Park during the summer for 2015, three years after the shoreline restoration project was completed in the area. Forage fish spawning was the focus of the report, specifically to see how the fish are responding to the environment following the modification of the shoreline in 2012. Beach sediment was collected to be analyzed for the presence of forage fish eggs.
By: Daniel E. Penttila
Published:
Benchmark: Marine Species
Location: Island County
Length: 10
Skagit County Nearshore Restoration Monitoring Report
This is a comprehensive report of monitoring multiple nearshore sites within Fidalgo Bay, Bowman Bay, and Shannon Point. There are 4 outlined objectives for the monitoring program at these sites: 1) Train volunteers in habitat monitoring data collection; 2) asses changes from pre-project to post-project; 3) to fill in status and trends data gaps; 4) make recommendations for future projects based on monitoring results.
By: Northwest Straits Marine Conservation Foundation
Published:
Benchmark: Marine Habitat
Location: Skagit County
Length: 68
Salish Sea Stewards & Beach Naturalist Programs volunteer Training & Coordination
This report is a summary of the Skagit MRC Salish Sea Stewards & Beach Naturalist programs volunteer training and coordination. Both of these programs were coordinated as part of the Coastal Volunteer Partnership at Padilla Bay, a collaborative program aimed at increasing citizens abilities to protect and restore natural resources along Skagit County shorelines.
By: Catherine Buchalski
Published:
Benchmark: All
Location: Skagit County
Length: 153
Island County MRC Aerial and Underwater Videography Assessments of Eelgrass in Island County
This is a report of a eelgrass beds monitoring project in Island County from June 2014 through August 2015. The goal of the project was to measure the largest eelgrass beds in the region, ones which are susceptible to environmental degradation due to human activity. Monitoring of the beds was carried out via underwater videography as well as aerial photography during low tides. The three core sites showed to have stable eelgrass beds in comparison to previous years.
By: Gregg M. Ridder
Published:
Benchmark: Marine Habitat
Location: Island County
Length: 38
Bowman Bay Nearshore Restoration: Project Background, Scope, and Objectives
This report presents the details of the proposed removal of 1,300 cubic yards of rock riprap, stretching over 540 feet of shoreline at the Bowman Bay Day Use Area of Deception Pass State Park in Skagit County.
The intended result of the removal is to restore nearshore natural processes, specifically to promote a natural beach gradient to match that of the adjacent unarmored shoreline.
By: Northwest Straits Marine Conservation
Published:
Benchmark: Marine Habitat
Location: Skagit County
Length: 4
Pinto Abalone Recovery Project
This report presents the details of the pinto abalone recovery project, a long term joint effort with state and federal agencies, NGOs, universities, and tribes. The main goal of the project is to generate genetically diverse, disease free, hatchery raised larval and juvenile pinto abalone for supplementation and restoration of wild stocks.
By: Josh Bouma- Puget Sound Restoration Fund
Published:
Benchmark: Marine Species
Location: Skagit County
Length: 9
Island County MRC 2015 Annual Report
This is Island County MRC's Annual Report for 2015.
By: Anna Toledo
Published:
Benchmark: All
Location: Island County
Length: 10
Intertidal Biota Monitoring at Boulevard Park
In order to assess the success the 2013 restoration project at Boulevard Park, Whatcom MRC conducted intertidal surveys examining beach slope, substrate, and diversity of intertidal organisms. In addition, these surveys helped provide a baseline for monitoring ecologic function at the park. Four different sites were assessed at four tidal elevations (+6', +4', +1', and -1'). Findings showed that the intertidal plant and animal life varied annually, site to site, and even in each quadrant.
By: Wendy Steffensen
Published:
Benchmark: All
Location: Whatcom County
Length: 58
Bowman Bay Nearshore Restoration Project Design
This is a report on the specifications regarding the bulkhead removal and shoreline restoration/enhancement for Bowman Bay. Located at Deception Pass State Park, Bowman Bay serves as a pocket estuary that provides habitat to small salmonoid and other forage fish. The goal of the project is to restore the beachfront to a more natural setting through bulkhead removal, resulting in beach nourishment.
By: Coastal Geologic Services Inc., Skagit MRC
Published:
Benchmark: Marine Habitat
Location: Skagit County
Length: 16
Underwater Videography Procedure
This report shows the process of installing and operating an underwater videography system in a boat.
By: Island MRC
Published:
Benchmark: Sound Science
Location: Island County
Length: 12
Underwater Videography Task
This is a report on how to map and tract areas monitored via underwater videography.
By: Gregg Ridder
Published:
Benchmark: Sound Science
Location: Island County
Length: 43
QAPP Olympia Oyster Restoration in Sequim Bay
This Quality Assurance Project Plan outlines the restoration plan for the native Olympia oysters in Sequim Bay. These oysters once thrived in the Puget Sound, but over harvesting and pollution has decimated the population over the last 160 years. In recent years, efforts have increased to restore these native shellfish back to a viable population. This project in particular is working to restore 100 acres of Olympia oyster habitat in the Puget Sound area by 2020.
By: Victoria Cantelow, Clallam County MRC
Published:
Benchmark: Marine Species
Location: Clallam County
Length: 13
Monitoring Plan: Status and Trends in Fidalgo Bay and NW March's Point Beach Nourishment Project
This report presents the monitoring plan for the Northwest March's Point Beach Nourishment Project. The plan was developed to ascertain the effectiveness of the beach nourishment project, and to learn about the effects of shoreline development, modifications, and restoration efforts.
By: Northwest Straits Marine Conservation Foundation
Published:
Benchmark: Marine Habitat
Location: Skagit County
Length: 127
Pinto Abalone Restoration Monitoring Plan
This is a report of the Pinto Abalone Monitoring Plan, Protocols and Abbreviated QAPP. Pinto abalone are in great decline and since 2009, outplanting of genetically diverse hatchery abalone have been used to restore populations in the wild. A important part of the restoration effort is continued monitoring of the abalone to determine is the project is working, and gather information about adaptive management strategies. In collaboration with the Puget Sound Restoration Fund, the Skagit MRC will monitor the shellfish growth, density, and survival rate.
By: Puget Sound Restoration Fund
Published:
Benchmark: Marine Species
Location: Skagit County
Length: 7
Intertidal Biota Monitoring in the Cherry Point & Fidalgo Bay Aquatic Reserves
This report is the Quality Assurance Project Plan for Intertidal Biota Monitoring in the Cherry Point and Fidalgo Bay Washington Department of Natural Resources Aquatic Reserves. This study analyses the intertidal shoreline on these two reserves, observing the diversity, distribution, and abundance of species. Monitoring results are to be used as a baseline for noticing changes, then determining if these changes are beneficial or detrimental, and natural or human induced.
By: Washington Department of Natural Resources
Published:
Benchmark: Marine Species
Location:
Length: 33
Port Townsend Waterfront Video Eelgrass Survey Map
This is a map from the Port Townsend waterfront video Eelgrass survey.
By: National Geographic Society
Published:
Benchmark: Marine Species
Location: Jefferson County
Length: 1
Northwest Straits Annual Report 2014
The annual report for the Northwest Straits Commission for the year 2014.
By: Northwest Straits Commission
Published:
Benchmark: All
Location: Northwest Straits
Length: 18
San Juan MRC 2015 Marine Managers Workshop: Increased Vessel Traffic
In March 2015, people living and working around the San Juan and Gulf Islands gathered to discuss implications the inevitable increasing volume of vessel traffic will have on ecosystem management in the region. The workshop focused on three concepts: understanding risk from marine vessel traffic, reasonable responses for marine managers, and strategizing potential actions to address vessel traffic risks.
By: San Juan MRC
Published:
Benchmark: All
Location: San Juan County
Length: 25