Event Title
Hydrologic and habitat assessment in False Bay Creek watershed, San Juan county, Washington
Presentation Abstract
Freshwater resources in the San Juan Islands in Washington state are limited, and since the late 19th century, have been modified to support agricultural use in the islands. The False Bay Watershed is the largest watershed on San Juan Island, and contains the largest percentage of agricultural lands of any watershed on the island (59% of all agricultural activity on San Juan Island occurs in this watershed). Funded by a Department of Ecology under the Watershed Planning Implementation and Flow Achievement Grant Program (PIFA), this study produced two reports to identify and prioritize the feasibility of restoring salmonid habitat within the lower reaches of False Bay Creek. The first study, written by David Hartley, Ph.D., P.E. of Northwest Hydraulic Consultants, developed an HSPF watershed model calibrated to available stream data. This model is capable of synthesizing a long term time series of stream flows, lake and reservoir storage reflecting the range of climatically driven seasonal and interannual hydrologic variation associated with existing land use conditions and water management policies within the watershed. The hydrologic assessment characterizes the existing flow regime based on available data, and the model can be used to determine whether proposed changes to water management could produce instream flows sufficient to effectively support salmonid habitat. This study looked at pre-development conditions, current conditions, and modeled alternative flow scenarios needed to support salmonid habitat restoration. A companion study, the False Bay Watershed Restoration Plan: Stream Habitat Assessment Report, co-authored by Jennifer in collaboration with Andrew Wones of Essency Environmental and Scott Rozenbaum of Rozewood Environmental Services, describes existing stream habitat conditions and identifies limiting factors associated with potential habitat rehabilitation in the watershed. This report analyzed the lower 2.6 miles of False Bay Creek and prioritized reaches for riparian habitat rehabilitation using the SVAP2 method developed by NRCS. Jennifer will provide an overview and summary of both reports, and discuss how the results of these studies are being used to implement riparian habitat restoration within the watershed.
Session Title
Achieving an Integrated Watershed Approach for Freshwater Ecosystems in the Salish Sea
Keywords
Freshwater restoration, Hydrologic codeing, Stream habitat assessment
Conference Track
SSE4: Ecosystem Management, Policy, and Protection
Conference Name
Salish Sea Ecosystem Conference (2018 : Seattle, Wash.)
Document Type
Event
SSEC Identifier
SSE4-394
Start Date
4-4-2018 4:15 PM
End Date
4-4-2018 4:30 PM
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)
Salmonidae--Habitat--Washington (State)--San Juan Island; Watershed hydrology--Washington (State)--San Juan Island; Watershed management--Washington (State)--San Juan Island
Geographic Coverage
San Juan Island (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
Included in
Fresh Water Studies Commons, Marine Biology Commons, Natural Resources and Conservation Commons, Terrestrial and Aquatic Ecology Commons
Hydrologic and habitat assessment in False Bay Creek watershed, San Juan county, Washington
Freshwater resources in the San Juan Islands in Washington state are limited, and since the late 19th century, have been modified to support agricultural use in the islands. The False Bay Watershed is the largest watershed on San Juan Island, and contains the largest percentage of agricultural lands of any watershed on the island (59% of all agricultural activity on San Juan Island occurs in this watershed). Funded by a Department of Ecology under the Watershed Planning Implementation and Flow Achievement Grant Program (PIFA), this study produced two reports to identify and prioritize the feasibility of restoring salmonid habitat within the lower reaches of False Bay Creek. The first study, written by David Hartley, Ph.D., P.E. of Northwest Hydraulic Consultants, developed an HSPF watershed model calibrated to available stream data. This model is capable of synthesizing a long term time series of stream flows, lake and reservoir storage reflecting the range of climatically driven seasonal and interannual hydrologic variation associated with existing land use conditions and water management policies within the watershed. The hydrologic assessment characterizes the existing flow regime based on available data, and the model can be used to determine whether proposed changes to water management could produce instream flows sufficient to effectively support salmonid habitat. This study looked at pre-development conditions, current conditions, and modeled alternative flow scenarios needed to support salmonid habitat restoration. A companion study, the False Bay Watershed Restoration Plan: Stream Habitat Assessment Report, co-authored by Jennifer in collaboration with Andrew Wones of Essency Environmental and Scott Rozenbaum of Rozewood Environmental Services, describes existing stream habitat conditions and identifies limiting factors associated with potential habitat rehabilitation in the watershed. This report analyzed the lower 2.6 miles of False Bay Creek and prioritized reaches for riparian habitat rehabilitation using the SVAP2 method developed by NRCS. Jennifer will provide an overview and summary of both reports, and discuss how the results of these studies are being used to implement riparian habitat restoration within the watershed.
