Assessing Misrepresented Streams in Regulatory Water Type Maps
Presentation Abstract
In Washington, local and state government agencies rely on WA Dept. of Natural Resources (WADNR) water type maps to identify and protect streams. WADNR acknowledges that their regulatory water type maps are inaccurate and not to be taken at face value, but most agencies don’t have the resources to groundtruth the regulatory maps within their jurisdictions. As a result, many streams are not likely to receive the protection they warrant under existing regulations and efforts to effectively identify and prioritize fish habitat restoration/protection projects are compromised. Since 2000 Wild Fish Conservancy has been performing systematic water type assessments throughout the Puget lowlands to describe the magnitude and extent of mapping errors in the WADNR water type maps. Understanding how the WADNR regulatory water type maps were developed, along with the results of our extensive field efforts, has allowed us to describe the conditions where WADNR regulatory maps are least-accurate. Further, we are able to estimate the extent to which small Puget Sound drainages are misrepresented or unrepresented in the regulatory maps. With this information, Wild Fish Conservancy is working with partners to develop a LiDAR-based water type model that better-predicts the location and classification of small Puget Sound streams.
Session Title
Session S-04C: Importance of Puget Sound Lowland Streams
Conference Track
Freshwater
Conference Name
Salish Sea Ecosystem Conference (2014 : Seattle, Wash.)
Document Type
Event
Start Date
1-5-2014 8:30 AM
End Date
1-5-2014 10:00 AM
Location
Room 606
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)
Rivers--Washington (State)--Maps
Subjects – Names (LCNAF)
Washington (State). Department of Natural Resources; Wild Fish Conservancy Northwest
Geographic Coverage
Salish Sea (B.C. and Wash.); Washington (State)
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
Assessing Misrepresented Streams in Regulatory Water Type Maps
Room 606
In Washington, local and state government agencies rely on WA Dept. of Natural Resources (WADNR) water type maps to identify and protect streams. WADNR acknowledges that their regulatory water type maps are inaccurate and not to be taken at face value, but most agencies don’t have the resources to groundtruth the regulatory maps within their jurisdictions. As a result, many streams are not likely to receive the protection they warrant under existing regulations and efforts to effectively identify and prioritize fish habitat restoration/protection projects are compromised. Since 2000 Wild Fish Conservancy has been performing systematic water type assessments throughout the Puget lowlands to describe the magnitude and extent of mapping errors in the WADNR water type maps. Understanding how the WADNR regulatory water type maps were developed, along with the results of our extensive field efforts, has allowed us to describe the conditions where WADNR regulatory maps are least-accurate. Further, we are able to estimate the extent to which small Puget Sound drainages are misrepresented or unrepresented in the regulatory maps. With this information, Wild Fish Conservancy is working with partners to develop a LiDAR-based water type model that better-predicts the location and classification of small Puget Sound streams.
