National Park Service U.S. Department of the Interior Natural Resources Program Center Assessment of Coastal Water Resources and Watershed Conditions at Olympic National Park, Washington Natural Resource Report NPS/NRPC/WRD/NRTR—2008/068 ON THE COVER Upper left, First Beach, Photograph by Kristen Keteles Upper right, Rialto Beach, Photograph by Kristen Keteles Lower left, Second Beach, Photograph by Kristen Keteles Lower right, Second Beach, Photograph by Kristen Keteles Assessment of Coastal Water Resources and Watershed Conditions at Olympic National Park, Washington Natural Resource Report NPS/NRPC/WRD/NRTR—2008/068 Dr. Terrie Klinger, Rachel M. Gregg, Kathleen Herrmann, Katrina Hoffman, Jessi Kershner, Jill Coyle, Dr. David Fluharty School of Marine Affairs University of Washington Seattle, WA 98105-6715 This report was prepared under Task Order J9W88040014 of the Pacific Northwest Cooperative Ecosystems Studies Unit (agreement CA9088A0008) April 2008 U.S. Department of the Interior National Park Service Natural Resources Program Center Fort Collins, CO i The Natural Resource Publication series addresses natural resource topics that are of interest and applicability to a broad readership in the National Park Service and to others in the management of natural resources, including the scientific community, the public, and the NPS conservation and environmental constituencies. Manuscripts are peer-reviewed to ensure that the information is scientifically credible, technically accurate, appropriately written for the intended audience, and is designed and published in a professional manner. The Natural Resources Technical Reports series is used to disseminate the peer-reviewed results of scientific studies in the physical, biological, and social sciences for both the advancement of science and the achievement of the National Park Service’s mission. The reports provide contributors with a forum for displaying comprehensive data that are often deleted from journals because of page limitations. Current examples of such reports include the results of research that addresses natural resource management issues; natural resource inventory and monitoring activities; resource assessment reports; scientific literature reviews; and peer reviewed proceedings of technical workshops, conferences, or symposia. Views, statements, findings, conclusions, recommendations, and data in this report are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views and policies of the U.S. Department of Interior, NPS. Mention of trade names or commercial products does not constitute endorsement or recommendation for use by the National Park Service. Printed copies of reports in these series may be produced in a limited quantity and they are only available as long as the supply lasts. This report is also available from the Natural Resources Publications Management Web site (http://www.nature.nps.gov/publications/NRPM) on the internet, or by sending a request to the address on the back cover. Please cite this publication as: Klinger, T., R.M. Gregg, K. Herrmann, K. Hoffman, J. Kershner, J. Coyle, and D. Fluharty. 2007. Assessment of Coastal Water Resources and Watershed Conditions at Olympic National Park, Washington. Natural Resource Technical Report NPS/NRPC/WRD/NRTR—2008/068. National Park Service, Fort Collins, Colorado. NPS D-405, April 2008 ii Table of Contents List of Acronyms and Abbreviations xii Executive Summary xiv A. Park and Regional Description 1 A.1. Background 1 A.1.a. Olympic National Park Regional Description 1 A.1.b. Site History 3 A.1.c. Human Utilization 4 A.2. Hydrology 6 A.2.a. Oceanographic Setting 6 A.2.b. Hydrologic Setting 9 A.3. Aquatic Habitats and Biological Resources 25 A.3.a. Marine Intertidal and Shallow Subtidal Habitats 25 A.3.b. Other Aquatic Habitats 39 B. Water Resources Assessment 40 B.1. Water Quality 40 B.1.a. Data Sources 40 B.1.b. Marine Water Quality 40 B.1.c. Freshwater Water Quality 49 B.1.d. Data Gaps and Information Inconsistencies 111 B.2. Water Quality Degradation 112 B.3. Sources of Pollutants 113 C. Other Areas of Concern 117 C.1. Harmful Algal Blooms 117 C.2. Non-indigenous and Invasive Species 120 C.3. Harvest and Collection of Organisms 123 C.4. Aquaculture 128 C.5. Shoreline Development 128 C.6. Recreation 129 C.7. Habitat Modification 133 C.8. Sea Level Rise, Tsunami Hazards, and Coastal Erosion 134 C.9. Marine Debris 136 C.10. Oil and Fuel Spills 136 C. 11. Land Use Practices 137 C.12. Ocean Productivity 139 C.13. Climate Change 140 D. Recommendations 145 D.1. Condition Overview 145 D.2. Recommendations 154 D.2.a. Prior Recommendations 154 D.2.b. Summary Recommendations 157 Literature Cited 159 iii Appendix A. Water quality standards 171 Appendix B. Benthic taxa reported from OLYM marine intertidal areas 173 Appendix C. Benthic intertidal species 174 Appendix D. Non-indigenous and cryptogenic species found in OCNMS 193 Appendix E. Olympic Peninsula marine intertidal algae species list 2005 194 Appendix F. Inventory of intertidal fish species in OLYM, 2002-2005 200 iv List of Figures Figure 1. Regional setting of OLYM showing the main body of the park, the coastal strip, and tribal reservations 2 Figure 2. Schematic of wind-driven coastal circulation in the Pacific Northwest 7 Figure 3. Sea surface temperature along the Washington Coast 8 Figure 4. Satellite image of the Olympic Coast showing surface expression of mesoscale features 9 Figure 5. Major rivers of the western Olympic Peninsula 11 Figure 6. NWI land type distribution in the coastal strip of OLYM 13 Figure 7. NWI land type distribution in the main body of OLYM 14 Figure 8. Water Resource Inventory Areas (WRIAs) in the vicinity of OLYM 16 Figure 9. Water Resources Inventory Area 20 17 Figure 10. Ozette River Watershed 19 Figure 11. Ozette River at mouth 20 Figure 12. Quillayute River Watershed 21 Figure 13. Quillayute River Sub-watershed 21 Figure 14. Quillayute River near mouth 22 Figure 15. Quillayute River at mouth 23 Figure 16. Hoh River Watershed 24 Figure 17. Hoh River at mouth 24 Figure 18. Rocky headland at Cape Johnson 28 Figure 19. Bedrock and cobble beaches north of Rialto Beach 29 Figure 20. Bedrock and sandy beaches at Teawhit Head 30 Figure 21. Bedrock, sandy beaches, and offshore rocks at Toleak Point 31 Figure 22. Sandy beaches at Kalaloch 32 Figure 23. Place names and locations of shoreline segments 33 Figure 24. Distribution of chocolate brown kelp in OLYM 36 Figure 25. Distribution of clam species in OLYM 37 Figure 26. Distribution of smelt in OLYM 38 Figure 27. Sites monitored by the BEACH program and by the Surfrider Foundation for bacterial levels 42 Figure 28. NCCOS Mussel Watch Sites 45 Figure 29. PSP exceedances Jefferson County Sites, 1990-2005 46 Figure 30. PSP exceedances Clallam County Sites, 1990-2005 47 Figure 31. DA exceedances Jefferson County Sites, 1990-2005 47 Figure 32. DA exceedances Clallam County Sites, 1990-2005 48 Figure 33. Water quality index scores for the Hoh River site 55 Figure 34. Pacific coast drainages and water quality sampling sites in Clallam County 56 Figure 35. Channel changes to the Ozette River, 1957-1997 59 Figure 36. Channel changes near the mouth of the Quillayute River, 1964-1997 61 Figure 37. Channel changes in the lower Hoh River 63 Figure 38. Summary of habitat conditions in WRIAs 16-21 65 Figure 39. Washington State coastal EMAP stations 69 Figure 40. Surface SubPAR as % of TerPAR 74 v Figure 41. Surface Light-Extinction Coefficient k 75 Figure 42. Mean Total Suspended Solids (TSS) Concentration 76 Figure 43. Surface Chlorophyll-a Concentration 77 Figure 44. Mean Phaeopigment Concentration 78 Figure 45. Mean Dissolved Ammonium (NH4) 79 Figure 46. Mean Dissolved Nitrite (NO2) 80 Figure 47. Mean Dissolved Nitrate (NO3) 81 Figure 48. Mean Total Dissolved Inorganic Nitrogen 82 Figure 49. Silt-Clay Content 83 Figure 50. Sediment Total Organic Carbon (TOC) Content 84 Figure 51. Sediment Aluminum 85 Figure 52. Sediment Antimony 86 Figure 53. Sediment Arsenic 87 Figure 54. Sediment Cadmium 88 Figure 55. Sediment Copper 89 Figure 56. Sediment Iron 90 Figure 57. Sediment Lead 91 Figure 58. Sediment Manganese 92 Figure 59. Sediment Mercury 93 Figure 60. Sediment Nickel 94 Figure 61. Sediment Selenium 95 Figure 62. Sediment Silver 96 Figure 63. Sediment Tin 97 Figure 64. Sediment Zinc 98 Figure 65. Sediment Total DDT 99 Figure 66. Sediment Total PCB 100 Figure 67. EMAP Total PAH 101 Figure 68. EMAP Total LPAH 102 Figure 69. EMAP Total HPAH 103 Figure 70. SQS/CSL Total LPAH (% org C) 104 Figure 71. SQS/CSL Total HPAH (% org C) 105 Figure 72. ERL/ERM Total LPAH 106 Figure 73. ERL/ERM Total HPAH 107 Figure 74. ERL/ERM Total PAH 108 Figure 75. Amphipod Survival Test (Ampelisca abdita) 109 Figure 76. Sea Urchin Fertilization Test (Arbacia punctulata) 110 Figure 77. Sea Urchin Embryo Development Test (Arbacia punctulata) 111 Figure 78. Satellite image of toxic algal bloom off the coasts of Washington and British Columbia, September 2004 118 Figure 79. Domoic acid levels measured at Kalaloch Beach 120 Figure 80. Domoic acid levels in razor clams measured at Kalaloch Beach, 1996-2007 120 Figure 81. OLYM/OCNMS Rapid Assessment of Invasive Species: Intertidal Survey Sites 2001-2002 122 Figure 82. Frequency of visitation to sites within OLYM 130 Figure 83. Average human-related beach usage, Northern localities of OLYM 132 vi Figure 84. Average human-related beach usage, mid-localities of OLYM 133 Figure 85. Average human-related beach usage, Southern localities of OLYM 133 Figure 86. Predicted vulnerability to sea level rise 135 vii List of Tables Table i. Condition of water resources in OLYM xviii Table ii. Recommendations xix Table 1. National wetlands inventory land type size and distribution for OLYM 15 Table 2.