Marine Shoreline Design Guidelines – Phase 2 Analysis and Applications
Presentation Abstract
The Marine Shorelines Design Guidelines (MSDG) report provides a background on the Puget Sound nearshore environment, the values of stewardship, and comprehensive guidance on how to effectively manage and protect Puget Sound shores for the improvement of the larger nearshore ecosystem. Guidance material and design recommendations integrate the results of assessing the relative success of different shoreline design techniques, which was an earlier phase of the larger MSDG project. The design methodology for shore protection includes: detailed guidance on how to perform site and coastal processes assessments, measure cumulative risk, identify appropriate design alternatives for site conditions, avoid and mitigate for negative habitat impacts, and the design process entailed for each of the major marine design techniques. The spectrum of design techniques included a range from passive management approaches that require minimal engineering to soft shore protection to hard armor. No Action alternatives are characteristically more passive approaches that preserve natural processes and have few to no negative impacts on nearshore ecosystem functions, goods, and services. Soft shore protection approaches preserve the natural beach and typically rely only on natural materials (at least above grade). Soft shore approaches include projects in which gravel and sand are added to the beach (beach nourishment), large wood is installed to curb erosion in the backshore, or the bank is regraded and revegetated to reduce bank erosion. Soft shore protection projects commonly include beach nourishment that can benefit drift cells and shoreforms where natural sediment supply has been reduced, such as drift cells with considerable armored feeder bluffs. Hard armor design techniques using rock revetments and vertical bulkheads, which are designed to preclude shoreline migration and bank erosion, are included. Each type of approach has varying degrees of impact with the no action alternatives resulting in the least impact and hard armor having the greatest impact.
Session Title
Session S-01G: New Strategies for Shorelines
Conference Track
Shorelines
Conference Name
Salish Sea Ecosystem Conference (2014 : Seattle, Wash.)
Document Type
Event
Start Date
30-4-2014 10:30 AM
End Date
30-4-2014 12:00 PM
Location
Room 6E
Genre/Form
conference proceedings; presentations (communicative events)
Contributing Repository
Digital content made available by University Archives, Heritage Resources, Western Libraries, Western Washington University.
Subjects – Topical (LCSH)
Shore protection--Environmental aspects--Washington (State)--Puget Sound Region; Coastal zone management--Washington (State)--Puget Sound Region
Geographic Coverage
Puget Sound (Wash.); Salish Sea (B.C. and Wash.)
Rights
This resource is displayed for educational purposes only and may be subject to U.S. and international copyright laws. For more information about rights or obtaining copies of this resource, please contact University Archives, Heritage Resources, Western Libraries, Western Washington University, Bellingham, WA 98225-9103, USA (360-650-7534; heritage.resources@wwu.edu) and refer to the collection name and identifier. Any materials cited must be attributed to the Salish Sea Ecosystem Conference Records, University Archives, Heritage Resources, Western Libraries, Western Washington University.
Type
Text
Language
English
Format
application/pdf
Marine Shoreline Design Guidelines – Phase 2 Analysis and Applications
Room 6E
The Marine Shorelines Design Guidelines (MSDG) report provides a background on the Puget Sound nearshore environment, the values of stewardship, and comprehensive guidance on how to effectively manage and protect Puget Sound shores for the improvement of the larger nearshore ecosystem. Guidance material and design recommendations integrate the results of assessing the relative success of different shoreline design techniques, which was an earlier phase of the larger MSDG project. The design methodology for shore protection includes: detailed guidance on how to perform site and coastal processes assessments, measure cumulative risk, identify appropriate design alternatives for site conditions, avoid and mitigate for negative habitat impacts, and the design process entailed for each of the major marine design techniques. The spectrum of design techniques included a range from passive management approaches that require minimal engineering to soft shore protection to hard armor. No Action alternatives are characteristically more passive approaches that preserve natural processes and have few to no negative impacts on nearshore ecosystem functions, goods, and services. Soft shore protection approaches preserve the natural beach and typically rely only on natural materials (at least above grade). Soft shore approaches include projects in which gravel and sand are added to the beach (beach nourishment), large wood is installed to curb erosion in the backshore, or the bank is regraded and revegetated to reduce bank erosion. Soft shore protection projects commonly include beach nourishment that can benefit drift cells and shoreforms where natural sediment supply has been reduced, such as drift cells with considerable armored feeder bluffs. Hard armor design techniques using rock revetments and vertical bulkheads, which are designed to preclude shoreline migration and bank erosion, are included. Each type of approach has varying degrees of impact with the no action alternatives resulting in the least impact and hard armor having the greatest impact.
