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Habitat Restoration in the Commencement Bay Nearshore & Tidelands Area

Habitat Restoration in the Commencement Bay Nearshore & Tidelands Area. Citizens for a Healthy Bay (CHB). Founded in 1990 to provide community oversight into the superfund remedial action. Over 900 members representing the commencement bay community and south Puget sound.

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Habitat Restoration in the Commencement Bay Nearshore & Tidelands Area

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  1. Habitat Restoration in the Commencement Bay Nearshore & Tidelands Area

  2. Citizens for a Healthy Bay (CHB) • Founded in 1990 to provide community oversight into the superfund remedial action. • Over 900 members representing the commencement bay community and south Puget sound. • Works cooperatively with all stakeholders: • Communities, neighborhoods and other public stakeholders. • Potentially responsible parties. • Economic development and other business interests. • Local, regional, state and federal agencies.

  3. Commencement Bay Circa 1994

  4. Commencement Bay Circa 1894

  5. Historical Landscape Structure • Extensive tidal freshwater floodplain of a meandering Puyallup river accompanied by extensive off-channel sloughs and wetlands. • Prograding delta with numerous distributary braided channels. • Well- developed system of dendritic channels in an emergent marsh zone.

  6. Historical Landscape Structure • Extensive estuarine transition zone between upland habitats and emergent marsh zones. • Broad, expansive mudflat habitat. • Extensive system of cross-delta migration corridors. • Regular inputs of wood, cobble and sand from adjacent hillslopes.

  7. Current Landscape Structure • Less that 1% of historical estuarine habitat - disconnected and isolated • No cross delta migration • Puyallup river channeled • Steep armored banks

  8. Commencement Bay Habitat Restoration Efforts • Superfund • Natural resource damage assessment (NRDA) • Endangered species act (ESA) • Landscape scale restoration vision • Watershed restoration

  9. Superfund • 4 Tacoma domes of contaminated sediment • Metals, PCBs, dioxins, PAHs, organics • Nearshore and tidelands a biological desert • Commitment to combine cleanup with habit restoration

  10. Natural Resource Damage Assessment • Goal is to restore coastal and ocean resources that have been injured by releases of oil or hazardous substances and to obtain compensation for the public for their losses.

  11. Watershed Restoration • Recovery efforts must also address Commencement Bay as the saltwater estuary of the Puyallup River. • Mixing zone between salt and fresh waters • Exceptionally high productivity • Estuarine – 800 – 3500 grams/m2/year • Tropical forest – 1000 – 3500 grams/m2/year • Area where most plankton production takes place • Cornerstone of healthy marine ecosystem

  12. 1999 - Endangered Species Act (ESA) • Puget sound Chinook and bull trout • Superfund vs. ESA • Engaged more entities – city, county, region,

  13. Commencement Bay Restoration Vision • Emphasis on baywide restoration through an ecosystem or landscape approach rather than creating isolated fragments of habitats • Mudflat and salt marsh restoration • Foundation for the future

  14. Commencement Bay Restoration Sites

  15. YOWKWALA • Enhance intertidal area for juvenile salmonid migration. • Maintain marsh vegetation. • Protect the site for natural resources.

  16. SKOOKUM WULGE BEACH • Design and construct intertidal habitat enhancements, • Capture high quality, year-round freshwater runoff from uplands and incorporate it into an intertidal marsh, • Restore subtidal areas to productive benthic habitats where impacted by wood debris from log storage operations,

  17. Squally Beach • Establish backwater ponds • Create interstices for invertebrates and juvenile salmonids • Establish areas for salt marsh vegetation • Protect the site for natural resources

  18. Sqaully Beach

  19. Mowich • Enhance fish habitat for juvenile salmonids • Establish backwater pools • Establish areas for salt marsh vegetation • Protect the site for natural resources

  20. Middle Waterway • Enhance intertidal area for juvenile salmonid migration. • Establish marsh vegetation. • Possible fresh water connection channel to/from Puyallup River

  21. Upcoming Projects • Hylebos marsh • Olympic view • Sha-dax • St. Paul • Swan Creek • Tahoma salt marsh

  22. Overview • Baywide restoration • Ecosystem/landscape approach • Provide corridors and connections • Salt marsh and off channel habitats • A work in progress for the future

  23. What Can You Do? • CHB provides many hands-on opportunities to get involved in habitat restoration • Planting • Site maintenance • Site stewardship • Site monitoring

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