Presentation Abstract
The recently designed and constructed Fir Island Farm – Estuary Restoration Project involves construction of a 1-mile long shoreline levee (dike) setback for restoration of 130 acres of farm land for tidal marsh estuary ecosystem restoration. The key uncertainty, and resiliency, design elements of concern include 1) selection of dike level of protection and design elevations considering climate change sea level rise projections, 2) inclusion of erosion protection measures, 3) farm drainage tailwater conditions and 4) ecosystem marsh vegetated plain future elevations and large woody debris loading conditions. This presentation discusses how site characterization, instrumentation, numerical modeling and monitoring were used to address uncertainty in developing a multi-benefit flood risk reduction, farm drainage protection and ecosystem restoration project. The project utilized robust site characterizations, surface and groundwater instrumentation, multi-dimensional hydrodynamic surface water and groundwater models and sensitivity analyses to predict a range of project conditions that were used in development of the project design. The project instrumentation provides observations used in calibrating numerical models, as well as monitoring project performance, for which initial monitoring results are available.
Session Title
Restoration and Protection Today for an Uncertain Tomorrow: Climate Change in Practice
Keywords
Restoration, Estuary, Tidal marsh, Climate change, Sea level rise
Conference Track
SSE5: Climate Change: Impacts, Adaptation, and Research
Conference Name
Salish Sea Ecosystem Conference (2018 : Seattle, Wash.)
Document Type
Event
SSEC Identifier
SSE5-196
Start Date
5-4-2018 10:00 AM
End Date
5-4-2018 10:15 AM
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)--Skagit County; Dikes (Engineering)--Environmental aspects--Washington (State)--Skagit County
Geographic Coverage
Skagit County (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
Fir Island farm: estuary restoration project: designing for climate change and uncertainty in shoreline flood risk reduction and ecosystem restoration projects
The recently designed and constructed Fir Island Farm – Estuary Restoration Project involves construction of a 1-mile long shoreline levee (dike) setback for restoration of 130 acres of farm land for tidal marsh estuary ecosystem restoration. The key uncertainty, and resiliency, design elements of concern include 1) selection of dike level of protection and design elevations considering climate change sea level rise projections, 2) inclusion of erosion protection measures, 3) farm drainage tailwater conditions and 4) ecosystem marsh vegetated plain future elevations and large woody debris loading conditions. This presentation discusses how site characterization, instrumentation, numerical modeling and monitoring were used to address uncertainty in developing a multi-benefit flood risk reduction, farm drainage protection and ecosystem restoration project. The project utilized robust site characterizations, surface and groundwater instrumentation, multi-dimensional hydrodynamic surface water and groundwater models and sensitivity analyses to predict a range of project conditions that were used in development of the project design. The project instrumentation provides observations used in calibrating numerical models, as well as monitoring project performance, for which initial monitoring results are available.
