Bowman Bay volunteers building resilience for people and ecosystems

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By Adam Airoldi, SFEG Riparian Restoration Manager

Deception Pass holds a unique position in our local ecosystem as the first access to the open ocean for out-migrating salmon from the Skagit and Stillaguamish watersheds, as well as the numerous spawning streams on Camano and east Whidbey Island. Coastal marine habitat is critical to salmon as they transition from freshwater to saltwater life. Volunteers at restoration projects at Cornet Bay and Bowman Bay are actively improving survival of these juvenile fish, building populations of spawning salmon and providing an essential food source for endangered Southern Resident orca. Volunteers have planted thousands of trees and shrubs and helped reestablish native coastal vegetation by pulling invasive weeds, watering in drought years, and building soil fertility by mulching. Park users have been treated to native wildflowers blooming in the spring and summer, and can take shelter from winter storms under trees planted nearly a decade ago. 

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As climate change continues to alter historic weather patterns, our native ecosystems are subject to changing precipitation patterns, extended droughts, record heat, and extremes in wind and rainfall events. The forests and ecosystems that define the Pacific Northwest face the reality of these new conditions, which further increase threats from invasive species, insects, and disease. Volunteer restoration efforts are helping build future resilience by establishing native vegetation under this new climate paradigm. These new plantings by necessity will seek water and nutrients from a lower summer water table, and can be adaptable to conditions that test the limits of established forests. Many endemic species (local to this specific area), having never experienced such extremes, need to use stored resources to adapt, reducing their ability to tolerate water stress or ward off attacks from insects or disease. Dieback in western redcedar tops is an example of stress manifesting in decline of a native species. 

 

Many native species, like western redcedar, have a wide geographic range, which offers another method for building resilience. Skagit Fisheries has been working with plant suppliers to increase genetic diversity to the native species planted in restoration projects. These include western redcedar and other species native grown from seed from the south Puget Sound area, and other warmer, drier areas of their native range. This added genetic diversity in restoration projects helps ensure some individuals can be better suited to future conditions. A native seed from the Puget Lowland forest may sprout earlier and take advantage of favorable growing conditions in early spring, adding nutrients and carbohydrates to stores in the roots and helping the plant to weather stressful growing conditions later in the summer. By planting a portion of trees, shrubs, and herbaceous vegetation from these geographically and genetically diverse areas, volunteers help ensure that in the long run individual plants best suited to a site will be successful in establishment, growth, and reproduction. Volunteers also increase species diversity by removing invasive plants, making resources and growing space available for native plants. Controlling infestations of invasive weeds like Scotch broom, morning glory, or ivy is a challenge, but dedicated volunteers have spent over 1,000 hours on this critical task. The results of their efforts include improved survival of native plants, increased insect biodiversity and food for salmon, and improved water quality. 

 

Building on the work to control invasive species, restoration sites are home to diverse native species suited to the area. At Bowman Bay for example, prior to the restoration and replanting, turf grass was the dominant vegetation along the beach. With the removal of the rock armoring and re-establishment of native plants, there are now over twenty species forming a buffer between the developed Park amenities and the beach. The same can be seen at Cornet Bay, where the restoration planting helps filter runoff from the road before it washes over the beach and into the ocean. Similar buffer plantings can be seen throughout the watershed reducing stormwater runoff, moderating air temperatures, reducing erosion. Native plants like dunegrass and ocean spray, adapted to life around Deception Pass help hold soils in place during severe storms. Others like coastal gumweed and red alder help enrich the soil and create self-sustaining plant communities. Enhanced species diversity helps ensure that every niche in the ecosystem is filled. From the Pacific silverweed on the beach to the spiraea in the wetlands to the salal in the rocky clefts, native plants established with the help of volunteers can then compete with invasive species. 

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Although we face challenges today and in the future to ensure the Pacific Northwest is a green and vibrant place, our partners and volunteers are building the resilience needed to secure a future for the fish, plants, and people of our communities. Resilience comes from being able to solve challenges together, whether as an ecosystem or a community. SFEG could not deliver on habitat restoration needs without the community volunteers, students, and partners who share in this vision for healthy communities and ecosystems. We look forward to carrying on these efforts and continuing to engage the wonderful volunteers to ensure that future generations of people and salmon can thrive. We have more work to do! 

 

If you would like to help at our final Bowman Bay work party of the season on September 8, contact Lucy at sfeg@skagitfisheries.org

 

For more on invasive species check out the State Noxious Weed Control Board and the SFEG post on knotweed eradication:  

http://www.skagitfisheries.org/project-11-deception-pass/

https://www.nwcb.wa.gov/

https://www.skagitfisheries.org/eradicating-knotweed-in-the-upper-skagit-watershed/)

Eradicating Knotweed in the Upper Skagit Watershed | Project 14 of 30

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By Bengt Miller, Stewardship Coordinator

If you have ever seen knotweed in the Upper Skagit Watershed (upstream from Rockport) you are one of a small, select group. This invasive species has been wreaking havoc on watersheds throughout the state. Knotweed has made the list of ‘100 worst invasive species’ list compiled by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature. Skagit Fisheries has been working to eradicate knotweed from the Upper Skagit Watershed since 2010. While progress has been made the fight continues.  Without the efforts of Skagit Fisheries the Upper Skagit would look like adjoining watersheds, with knotweed infestations lining the banks.

Japanese knotweed creating a monoculture along the Samish River

While the upper Skagit Watershed is fairly clean the lower Skagit Watershed has detrimental levels of knotweed. This is due to the physiology of the plant. Knotweed spreads most often by plant fragmentation.  This describes the process by which part of a plant becomes disconnected from the parent plant and is then capable of forming an entirely separate plant.  Knotweed fragments as small as ½ inch are capable of growing into new plants. This process happens most often along stream and river banks where floods transport knotweed pieces downstream. If these pieces come to rest someplace on the ground, they begin to grow roots and form a new colony.  This is why Skagit Fisheries has taken the approach of treating knotweed in the upper watershed, since treating downstream without getting the source is like continually chasing your tail.

 

Knotweed looks like a broad leaved bamboo, with alternate leaves and a segmented stem. For the uninitiated it looks like a slightly taller than average understory shrub. For the initiated it is a harbinger of doom. One study found that streams with large knotweed infestations have 40% fewer macroinvertebrates compared to streams banks without knotweed.  These aquatic bugs are the main food source for juvenile salmon in fresh water, so more knotweed= fewer macroinvertebrates= fewer salmon. 

In addition to negative ecological impacts knotweed also changes natural forest succession. The typical floodplain forest in western Washington is an alder and cottonwood canopy with a deciduous understory. While it appears that these understory plants are growing in an impenetrable thicket there is actually enough light reaching the ground that shade tolerant conifers can germinate and survive, albeit slowly. Knotweed on the other had grows so densely that no light penetrates to the forest floor meaning that nothing germinates, and there is no second generation of trees. Alders and cottonwoods are fairly short lived species, so when the mature trees die, there is nothing growing to replace them.  All that remains is a knotweed patch.

The third reason knotweed is insidious is that after the first frost in the fall the above ground stems of the plant die. This can look like the knotweed has died, but this is a false flag. Over the course of the summer the knotweed has been using the sunlight to create energy, which it has been transferring down into its rhizomes. Here the stored energy rides out the winter, while the top of the plants appears dead.  As mentioned earlier nothing is capable of growing under knotweed. This 

becomes especially problematic in the winter. When the above ground growth dies it exposes the bare ground underneath, just in time for the winter rains. When the rain falls on the unprotected ground it causes lots of erosion which washes sediments into streams increasing turbidity and affecting water quality.  Once spring arrives the knotweed plant uses the energy stored in its roots to create new stems, which can grow over an inch a day when emerging.

Skagit Fisheries has been on the front lines of the battle against knotweed since 2010. Every year a crew thrashes through the watershed looking for and treating knotweed.  Initial efforts focused on the upland parts of the watershed, since eliminating these infestations would prevent downstream infestations. Once those patches were eliminated focus was shifted to the floodplain. This is where we have been working ever since. Floodplains are very dynamic and with constantly shifting river courses and high water events knotweed is continually getting redistributed.

While all the negative impacts of knotweed make this seem like a doom and gloom story there are bright spots.  It is a slow and labor intensive project, but we have seen progress. In the traditional project area we have seen the amount of knotweed treated each year continue to decline.

 

 

 

 

 

Figure 1  Knotweed patches in Upper Skagit Watershed treated between 2010 and 2020.

In 2020 Skagit Fisheries was able to expand the treatment area downstream for the first time. This was possible because we have gotten a handle on knotweed in the Upper Skagit Watershed.  Expanding into this previously untreated area added 8 river miles to the program. It was jarring to see how much knotweed was in this new section. It provided a visual representation of how the years spent in the upper watershed had prevented knotweed from spreading.  We will continue to survey for and treat knotweed in the upper watershed to keep the minor infestation from spreading, but the main brunt of our efforts will focus on the river between Concrete and Rockport. The hope is that eventually we will be able to get this section of river to look like the areas upstream from Rockport.

Much of the land in this expanded reach is private. We are very fortunate that we have a good reputation in the Skagit Valley. Because Skagit Fisheries is not a government agency and has no enforcement authority we work solely with willing landowners. Education and outreach provide us the opportunity to reach private landowners. When the negative effects of knotweed are explained to people they are generally wiling to allow knotweed treatment. The Skagit Valley is a unique and beautiful place and most landowners want to be good stewards of the land. Not everyone is aware of threats to the landscape, but when they are made aware most participate in the Upper Skagit Knotweed Control Program. 

Over the decade of the program Skagit Fisheries has been committed to keeping the program funded. We have been fortunate that we have been able to acquire grants to maintain continual operation. Over the years we have received funding from:

  • Washington Department of Agriculture
  • Ecotrust
  • US Fish and Wildlife Service
  • US Forest Service through Resource Advisory Committee of the Mount Baker-Snoqualmie National Forest
  • National Fish and Wildlife Foundation
  • Pulling Together Partnership (funds donated by Phillips 66)
  • 5 Star and Urban Waters Fund (funds donated by Shell)

 

Britt Slough | Project 13 of 30

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Skagit Fisheries seining at Britt Slough March 2018 

The Endangered Species Act of 1973 “provides a framework for conserving and protecting endangered and threatened species and their habitats” (Source: US Fish and Wildlife Service).  This key piece of environmental legislation has led to the successful protection (and even recovery) of many native species of plants and animals, including the American peregrine falcon, bald eagle, southern sea otter, humpback whale, and the green sea turtle.  However two iconic “listed” species in our own backyards: Southern Resident Killer Whale and Puget Sound Chinook salmon have not yet joined the list of recovered species.  

The Skagit Chinook Recovery Plan is an essential, science-based document that guides local restoration projects. In addition to laying out restoration goals and methods, this document also specifies high priority areas for restoration and conceptual projects for these. Nearly 15 years later, Skagit Fisheries Enhancement Group is currently in construction for one of these important projects, the Skagit Forks Wetland Reconnection Project.

Part of the newly built channel reconnecting the wetland June 2021

The Skagit Forks Wetland Reconnection project is located close to the center of Mt. Vernon on public property within one of the Washington State Department of Fish and Wildlife’s (WDFW) Skagit Wildlife Areas on the river side of the dike. This project will restore high quality rearing habitat, which salmon and trout need in order to survive their first months. Experts agree that a lack of quality rearing habitat is a critical issue that is limiting the ability of Chinook populations to recover. Skagit Chinook require both freshwater habitat, such as side channels and wetlands, as well as estuary habitat in their early life, but there are not enough of these habitats available. Restoration projects that open up more of this freshwater rearing habitat benefit Chinook salmon (Source: Beamer et al 2005).

Juvenile pink salmon found by Skagit Fisheries staff 2.11.2020 in the Skagit Forks Wetland

Historically, this wetland in the floodplain was well connected to both the Skagit River and Britt Slough, but human modifications in the early 1900s changed this. For the past few decades, the wetland was only connected with the Skagit River a few times a year during high flows. At those times, river water would fill the wetland and baby salmon would come with it, seeking shelter from the harsh river current.  When the river level decreased a short time later, the wetland would become isolated, trapping any baby salmon still there. For several weeks these salmon would have a great life, enjoying plenty of food, shelter, and space. Skagit Fisheries collected years of pre-project data and observed coho, pink, and Chinook juveniles in the wetland thrive during this time period, typically in early spring.  However, eventually the wetland would dry up and all of these juvenile salmon would ultimately die, unable to return to the river due to these floodplain modifications. 

Skagit Fisheries staff seining February 2020 

Construction that started in May is well underway! This summer, an additional 7.8 acres of off-channel wetland rearing habitat will be reconnected to both Britt Slough and the Skagit River, improving the function of roughly 50 acres of floodplain. Not only will this allow juvenile salmon to have easier access to this critically limited nursery habitat at lower river flows, it will also give them more time to leave the wetland. Ultimately, this will increase their chances of feeding an orca, supporting the livelihood of local fishermen, reaching a Skagit resident’s dinner plate, or returning to its native stream to reproduce.   

 

Citations: 

US fish and Wildlife service: https://www.fws.gov/international/laws-treaties-agreements/us-conservation-laws/endangered-species-act.html#:~:text=The%20Endangered%20Species%20Act%20(ESA,threatened%20species%20and%20their%20habitats.

EPA: https://www.epa.gov/salish-sea/chinook-salmon#:~:text=Salish%20Sea%20Chinook%20salmon%20populations,shown%20a%20relatively%20stable%20trend.

NOAA Orca: https://www.fisheries.noaa.gov/west-coast/endangered-species-conservation/southern-resident-killer-whale-orcinus-orca

NOAA Chinook: https://www.fisheries.noaa.gov/species/chinook-salmon-protected

Adapted Chinook Recovery Plan: https://www.skagitwatershed.org/wp-content/uploads/SkagitChinookRecoveryPlan13.pdf

Beamer et al 2005: http://skagitcoop.org/wp-content/uploads/Appendix-C-Freshwater.pdf