IVERSON PRESERVE SITE MANAGEMENT PLAN CAMANO ISLAND , WA DECEMBER 2011 prepared for Island County Public Works Department PO Box 5000 Coupeville, WA 98239 360.678.5111 prepared by Northwest Ecological Services 1911 C Street Bellingham, WA 98225 360.920.0512 This page intentionally left blank AUTHORS Northwest Ecological Services Northwest Ecological Services, LLC is a small, service-oriented environmental consulting firm. NES provides a range of biological services to the public and private sectors. Biological services include wetland assessments, habitat analysis, restoration and mitigation plans, regulatory compliance, and ecological design. Analiese Burns and Vikki Jackson, the project leads for NES, are owners of NES and Professional Wetland Scientists (PWS). Analiese has over 11 years and Vikki has over 20 years of ecological consulting experience in the Puget Sound region. 1911 C Street Bellingham, WA 98225 360.734.9484 eccosDesign EccosDesign LLC is a landscape architecture and planning firm with a broad base of experience in recreational and commercial design. Patrik Dylan, project lead for eccosDesign, has served as a Landscape Architect and project manager in both the private and public sectors before starting his own design firm in 2003. His work focused on site planning, landscape design, and parks and recreational design. 505 S First Street, Ste B Mt. Vernon, WA 98273 360.419.7400 Shelterbelt, Inc. Shelterbelt Inc. Shelterbelt, Inc. is an open-land management and Revegetation and Restoration restoration company. Noah Booker, project lead for Shelterbelt, Inc., has 18 years experience in restoration and revegetation, noxious weed management, horticulture, arboriculture, and erosion control. 2406 Broadway Bellingham, WA 98225 360.920.1902 I VERSON P RESERVE II I SITE MANAGEMENT PLAN This page intentionally left blank I VERSON P RESERVE IV SITE MANAGEMENT PLAN EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Introduction The Iverson Preserve Site Management Plan provides guidance for the sustainable management and operation of Iverson Preserve consistent with site attributes, funding requirements, and the Island County Comprehensive Plan. This Site Management Plan documents baseline information on existing conditions, supporting efforts, and site opportunities and challenges. The Plan then incorporates public input and professional judgment into a set of recommendations to guide current activities and future actions. The Site Management Plan is intended for use by Island County and other community stakeholders. This document compiles existing, accessible information. No original scientific fieldwork or engineering studies were completed for the purposes of this plan. The Site Management Plan provides recommendations on improving the current function of the Preserve. This Plan does not attempt to alter the classification for the Preserve or recommend changes that deviate substantially from use definitions contained in the Island County Comprehensive Plan and Island County Shoreline Master Program. The Site Management Plan is focused on the uses and resources within the boundaries of the Preserve, with special emphasis on ecological protection. Although the project team feels strongly that addressing site access and parking issues are critical to the successful site operation and management, these topics are addressed in concept only due to the limited scope of this document. Existing Conditions Summary Iverson Preserve is located on the eastern shore of Camano Island, south of Livingston Bay and north of Barnum Point (Section 32, Township 32 N, Range 3 East and Section 5, Township 31 North, Range 3 East, W.M.). Island County purchased the 120 acre Iverson Preserve with Conservation Futures Funds (CFFs) in 1999. Infrastructure within the Preserve is limited, but includes important features such as a small (14-vehicle) parking area, emergency turn-around, information kiosk, trails, dike, tide gate, seasonal portable toilet (porta-potty), and an active agricultural field. The Iverson Preserve is within the Port Susan marine ecosystem in the Island watershed, Watershed Resource Inventory Area (WRIA) 6. The Preserve encompasses an accreting shoreline reach (Island County MRC, 2011). Historically, the Iverson Preserve property was dominated by a low-energy salt marsh (Sheldon & Associates, Inc., 2001; USGS 2011; US Coastal and Geodetic Survey, 1886; Philip Williams & Associates, Ltd., 2001). The 1886 US Coastal and Geodetic Survey and 1911 Department of the Interior maps depict the property as consisting of salt marsh with multiple tidal channels at the base of a relatively steep upland bank (Appendix A). By 1943, the property was drained and protected by a dike, most likely for the purpose of converting the land to agricultural use (USGS, 2011 and Sheldon & Associates, Inc., 2001). The dike and associated tide gate remain to this day. When Island County purchased the property in 1999, the shoreline was undeveloped with the exception of the dike and tide gate. Island County currently leases the 68 acres of agricultural land for commercial seed farming. Iverson Preserve and the surrounding portion of WRIA 6 is recognized as a having significant fish and wildlife resources and is the focus of several on-going conservation efforts. Iverson I VERSON P RESERVE V SITE MANAGEMENT PLAN Preserve itself contains several habitat types: managed agriculture, open water/ditches, emergent/herbaceous, scrub shrub, forest, salt marsh, mud flat, nearshore, and eelgrass. The variety of habitats is a reflection of the diversity of hydrology, landforms, soils, and land uses. The Iverson Preserve site has a variety of noxious weeds representing some of the most common deleterious invasive plants in the area. The current infestation level can be characterized as “average” or fairly typical as compared to other sites on Camano Island. Iverson Preserve supports a wide range of fish and wildlife species. The variety of species is due in part to the presence of several habitat types and the Preserve’s location at the intersection of three distinct ecosystems: marine waters, uplands, and freshwater river deltas. The Preserve has been known to contain larger mammals such as coyote and deer, smaller mammals, salmon, sturgeon, shellfish, and birds. Sport fishing is a common activity along the banks of Iverson Preserve. The open, protected habitats within Iverson Preserve are becoming increasingly important to fish and wildlife populations as development expands on Camano Island and within the Stillaguamish Basin. The Preserve is mapped as containing 10 species or habitats potentially present on or within the near vicinity of Iverson Preserve that are protected by the Island County Critical Areas Ordinance, listed by Washington State as a Species of Concern (i.e. Endangered, Threatened, Sensitive, or Candidate) or as Priority Habitats, and/or are listed under the federal Endangered Species Act (WDFW, 2011a; WDFW, 2011b; WDFW, 2008; Beamer, et al., 2006; National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Fisheries Service [NOAA-Fisheries], 2011; US Fish and Wildlife Service [USFWS], 2011). An additional five protected species or habitats are mapped as occurring within the near vicinity. Opportunities & Challenges Iverson Preserve has a number of opportunities and challenges that were identified through public input, discussions with stakeholders, and review of existing literature: Opportunities & Challenges Infrastructure & Facilities • Parking • Site Access • Traffic/Speeding • Trespassing/Vandalism • Support Facilities • Rules/Signage Standards Ecological • Agricultural Production • Ecosystem Protection • Tide gate/Ditches/Dike • Noxious Weeds • Hunting • Mosquitoes Management • Communication/Coordination • Ownership/Operation • Enforcement I VERSON P RESERVE VI SITE MANAGEMENT PLAN Proposed Vision Statement Iverson Preserve is a unique public space with broad community support. Although the Preserve is universally loved, there is no defined Vision that documents the shared value of this space other than the conventional assumption it be use for low-impact recreation Below is a proposed Vision Statement for consideration by Island County, citizens, and key stakeholders: Iverson Preserve is a site where citizens come to enjoy the beauty of the natural environment through limited, low-impact activities while exhibiting stewardship to ensure the health of sensitive ecosystems. Low impact activities are those activities that do not degrade the surrounding waters, habitats, and vegetation communities and are compatible with the available facilities and surrounding land uses. Site Management Recommendations The challenge of managing Iverson Preserve is to balance human activities with the sensitive habitats in a coordinated and sustainable manner. This Plan proposes specific management recommendations to achieve this objective. The recommendations are intended to address site Opportunities and Challenges consistent with the proposed Vision Statement. The recommendations are divided into “Near Term” and “Long Term” categories. The Near Term recommendations are simple in nature and can likely be implemented with little or no additional planning work. The Long Term recommendations are conceptual in nature. Due to the complexity of the Long Term projects, additional outreach, planning, design, permitting, and/or feasibility analysis are needed for implementation. All of the proposed actions depend upon identifying and securing funding. In their entirety, the recommendations provide a coordinated