San Juan County / WRIA2 Lead Entity Program for Salmon Recovery Barbara Rosenkotter Lead Entity Coordinator 360-370-7593 [email protected] www.sjcmrc.org/Projects/Salmon-Recovery.aspx Photo: Rick Gould WRIA2 Recovery Plan Hypotheses San Juans provide important nearshore and marine habitat for salmon San Juans provide forage for salmon Part of the challenge is understanding how salmon use different habitats at different times in their life cycle. Name Source (Date) Geomorphic shoreform mapping for SJC Coastal Geologic Services (2010) Modification Inventory Restoration Opportunities Friends of the San Juans (FSJ 2011) Existing data Shoreline Modification Inventory for SJC FSJ (2010) Eelgrass (outer line) Mapping for San Juan County FSJ, DNR and UW (2004) Puget Sound Change Analysis Geodatabase PSNERP (2009) Bull kelp classification FSJ, DNR and UW (2007) Forage fish spawning habitat WDFW and FSJ (2004) Nearshore fish utilization Beamer and Fresh (2012) Herring spawning grounds WDFW, priority habitats and species Geomorphic shoreform PSNERP (2009) Shipman (2008) typology Geomorphic shoreform RITT adaption of Shipman (2012) Parcel link SJC GIS Library Land Use Designation SJC GIS Library Shoreline Master program designation (current) SJC GIS Library (2011) LiDAR DEM SJC Public Works (2009) SJC Structure Layer SJC Public Works (2012) Stream Typing Wild Fish Conservancy (2010) Streams SJC GIS Library Salmon Habitat Protection Blueprint FSJ, San Juan Preservation Trust and SJC Land Bank (2008) Tide Data NOAA Washington State ShoreZone Inventory DNR (2001) High resolution Infrared vertical aerial photographs DNR (2004), FSJ and DNR (2006) High resolution oblique aerial photographs WA Department of Ecology (2002) High resolution vertical aerial photographs WA Department of Ecology (2008) Pulling It All Together “Pulling It All Together” Project - to bring these various assessments and data sets together and to analyze and use the assessment information to prioritize protection and restoration actions for San Juan County. PIAT Project Process Source: Friends of the San Juans PIAT Fish Use Prioritization Source: Friends of the San Juans WRIA 2 (Mixed Stock Rearing) Nearshore Habitat Juvenile Salmon Project Questions: When are juvenile salmon present and how long are they present? Where are juvenile salmon found within each area by habitat type? What is the origin (river or stock) of salmon present in each area? Primary Investigators: Eric Beamer, Skagit River System Cooperative and Kurt Fresh, NOAA Fisheries When are juvenile Chinook salmon present and how long are they present? Wild juvenile Chinook Salmon 80% 60% 40% 33.0% 18.1% 17.8% 18.5% 20% 4.4% 2.9% 5.3% Percent of Season's Catch of Season's Percent 0.0% 0% Mar Apr May June July Aug Sept Oct Hatchery juvenile Chinook Salmon 76.5% 80% 60% 40% 20% 10.7% 4.8% 5.9% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 2.0% Percent of Season's Catch of Season's Percent 0% Mar Apr May June July Aug Sept Oct Source: Beamer / Fresh Juvenile Wild Chinook salmon Juvenile Wild Chinook Salmon 1000 100 fish/ha 10 1 barrier beach bluff backed pocket beach pocket estuary rocky shoreline beach like Source: Beamer / Fresh Pacific Sand Lance 1000000 100000 10000 fish/ha 1000 100 10 barrier beach bluff backed pocket beach pocket estuary rocky beach like shoreline Source: Beamer / Fresh Herring 100000 10000 1000 fish/ha 100 10 1 barrier beach bluff backed pocket beach pocket estuary rocky beach like shoreline Source: Beamer / Fresh Juvenile Chinook Map shows the likelihood (probability) of finding a juvenile Chinook salmon in the San Juans Values possible: 0 – 1 Value range: 0.057 – 0.563 . “Best” areas are Waldron & S. Lopez areas . However, no place in the San Juans has a probability of zero . But, some places are 10 times higher Juvenile Sand Lance Juvenile Herring Juvenile Surf Smelt PIAT Fish Use Geographic Prioritization Three Factors (equally weighted): Juvenile Chinook presence probability Rearing forage fish presence probability (herring, surf smelt and sand lance combined) Documented forage fish (surf smelt and sand lance) spawning habitat presence Fish use geographic prioritizationResults: Priority Shoreforms • Pocket beaches • Transport Zones • Feeder bluffs • Barrier beaches • Rocky • Embayment Results: Priority Landscape Regions Highest: Waldron/President channel Rosario SW Juan de Fuca-S.Lopez Haro Strait NE Regions prioritized by the abundance of highest and high priority fish use shoreforms. Degradation Analysis and Identification of Protection and Restoration Actions Source: Friends of the San Juans Identify Shoreline Stressors Armor Tidal barriers Roads Jetties Marinas Groins Overwater structures Boat ramps Impervious surface Shoreline Stressors- count stressor count 900 800 700 600 500 400 300 200 100 0 armor tidal barrier road ows jetties marina ramp groins Source: Friends of the San Juans Shoreline Stressors- length stressor length miles 25 20 15 10 5 0 armor tidal barrier road ows jetties marina ramp groins Source: Friends of the San Juans Top stressors- shoreforms with stressors count 200 180 160 140 Shoreform with stressor - length 120 armor road 100 ows 80 tidal barriers 60 40 20 0 Artificial Barrier beach embay-e embay-l Feeder Bluff Pocket beach Rocky Transport zone Source: Friends of the San Juans Top stressors- shoreforms with stressors length 25000 20000 15000 armor road ows 10000 tidal barriers 5000 0 Artificial Barrier beach embay-e embay-l Feeder Bluff Pocket beach Rocky Transport zone Source: Friends of the San Juans Nearshore Process Degradation Analysis Measure of degradation or intactness at the shoreform scale. Processes Evaluated: • coastal sediment dynamics, • wind and waves, • tidal hydrology, • freshwater hydrology, • tidal channel formation and maintenance, • detritus potential, • solar radiation :Outcomes For each individual shoreform: sum of process degradation; normalized (sum divided by the # of processes); % of degradation; # of stressors; type of stressor. Nearshore Process Degradation Most impacted areas on ferry- serviced islands near urban growth areas, villages, marinas, bays, etc. Identify Priority Areas for Protection and Restoration Actions Source: Friends of the San Juans Priority Salmon Recovery Regions Maps and Findings 1. Waldron / President Channel 2. Rosario SW 3. Juan de Fuca / S. Lopez 4. Haro Strait NE Source: Friends of the San Juans 1. Waldron / President Channel Source: Friends of the San Juans 1. Waldron / President Channel Landscape Region The top salmon recovery action for this region is protection. With virtually all shorelines ranked as top or medium protection priorities, restoration of the minimally degraded sites in this region is also a top salmon recovery priority for San Juan County. The Waldron Island and NW Orcas sections of this region are dominated by drift cell systems, while the Sucia Island and West Orcas Island regions consist primary of rocky shores and pocket beaches. Highest correlation with existing protection priorities. Significant public ownership. Highest sea level rise resiliency. 2. Rosario SW Source: Friends of the San Juans 2. Rosario Channel SW Landscape Region High percentage of protection priority shoreforms. Rocky shores, pocket beaches and drift cell systems. Nearly all shoreline ranked as high or medium protection priority (north) and areas of low degradation that are top restoration (and medium protection) priorities (south). Highly degraded shoreforms are extremely limited. Scattered public ownership. Significant overlap with existing restoration priorities for restoration projects along the east shorelines of Decatur. Second highest long -term priorities based on SLR resiliency, as well as one site (Decatur Island) where enhancement action can improve resiliency to sea level rise. 3. Juan de Fuca / S. Lopez Source: Friends of the San Juans 3. Strait of Juan de Fuca / S. Lopez Landscape Region Balanced combination of protection and restoration needs. Exclusively rocky shores and extensive pocket beaches. High percentage of high protection priority shoreforms. Multiple feasible priority restoration opportunities at pocket beaches with low degradations scores. While the majority of the region has degradation scores of zero or low, considerable areas of highly degraded shores also exist along Agate Beach, Barlow Bay and MacKaye Harbor. Some long term resiliency to sea level rise, primary smaller, dispersed intact or low degradation pocket beaches. There is some public ownership in the region. Some overlap with existing priorities, especially protection. 4. Haro Strait NE Source: Friends of the San Juans 4. Haro Strait NE Landscape Region Primary salmon recovery need in this region is restoration. Few fully intact areas (rocky western shore along Haro Strait). Highly diverse, with all shoreforms represented. Rocky shores the areas with minimal process degradation. Pocket beaches and drift cells are moderate to highly degraded. Substantial integrated restoration priorities, the largest amount of any region in the county, mostly concentrated at the northern half of the region (westcott, garrison, mitchell bays). Limited public ownership in this region, primarily located at English Camp National park. Many small sites resilient to sea level rise; a few protection and most restoration priorities, mostly on pocket beaches. PIAT Project Team Project Partners: Friends of the San Juans, Anchor QEA and Coastal Geologic Services. GIS contractors: Jim Slocomb and Sally Hawkins. Technical Team: