Pre and post-breach monitoring of the Qwuloolt Restoration project in the Snohomish River Estuary
Presentation Abstract
In August 2015 the breaching and lowering of approximately 1500 meters of levee returned tidal inundation to the Qwuloolt Restoration Project a 150 hectare site in the lower Snohomish River estuary. Qwuloolt is one of several large restoration projects planned for the Snohomish estuary in the next decade for recovery of wild salmon and other biota. Together these projects could restore several thousand acres and constitute one of the most significant restoration efforts in Puget Sound. A comprehensive pre-breach monitoring effort for the Qwuloolt was conducted over the past six years to evaluate a broad suite of biotic and abiotic attributes (e.g., taxonomic composition of plant, invertebrate, fish, and bird assemblages; land forms, hydrology, and chemistry) attributes across project and reference sites. Results from the pre-breach monitoring provide an invaluable foundation for scientifically rigorous post-breach evaluation of project performance, and contribute to estuary-wide understanding of cumulative effects of restoration and basic estuarine ecology of Puget Sound. Preliminary post breach data over the first six months document rapid, dramatic change as tidal dynamics are reintroduced into a subsided, hydrologically isolated area, and the biota shift from relatively few species dominated by freshwater non-natives, to more native, estuarine species.
Session Title
General Marine Habitat
Conference Track
Habitat
Conference Name
Salish Sea Ecosystem Conference (2016 : Vancouver, B.C.)
Document Type
Event
Location
2016SSEC
Type of Presentation
Oral
Genre/Form
presentations (communicative events)
Contributing Repository
Digital content made available by University Archives, Heritage Resources, Western Libraries, Western Washington University.
Subjects – Topical (LCSH)
Estuarine restoration--Monitoring--Washington (State)--Snohomish River Estuary
Geographic Coverage
Snohomish River Estuary (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
Pre and post-breach monitoring of the Qwuloolt Restoration project in the Snohomish River Estuary
2016SSEC
In August 2015 the breaching and lowering of approximately 1500 meters of levee returned tidal inundation to the Qwuloolt Restoration Project a 150 hectare site in the lower Snohomish River estuary. Qwuloolt is one of several large restoration projects planned for the Snohomish estuary in the next decade for recovery of wild salmon and other biota. Together these projects could restore several thousand acres and constitute one of the most significant restoration efforts in Puget Sound. A comprehensive pre-breach monitoring effort for the Qwuloolt was conducted over the past six years to evaluate a broad suite of biotic and abiotic attributes (e.g., taxonomic composition of plant, invertebrate, fish, and bird assemblages; land forms, hydrology, and chemistry) attributes across project and reference sites. Results from the pre-breach monitoring provide an invaluable foundation for scientifically rigorous post-breach evaluation of project performance, and contribute to estuary-wide understanding of cumulative effects of restoration and basic estuarine ecology of Puget Sound. Preliminary post breach data over the first six months document rapid, dramatic change as tidal dynamics are reintroduced into a subsided, hydrologically isolated area, and the biota shift from relatively few species dominated by freshwater non-natives, to more native, estuarine species.
