Coastal Habitats in Puget Sound Active
A Pacific Northwest icon, Puget Sound is the second-largest estuary in the United States. Its unique geology, climate, and nutrient-rich waters produce and sustain biologically productive coastal habitats. These same natural characteristics also contribute to a high quality of life that has led to growth in human population and urbanization. This growth has played a role in degrading the Sound, including declines in fish and wildlife populations, water-quality issues, and changes in coastal habitats. Natural resource managers look to the USGS as a critical science resource needed to solve problems in this important ecosystem.
The deterioration of the Puget Sound nearshore is of special concern — the area extending from the top of shoreline bluffs to a depth offshore where sunlight does not reach the bottom, and upstream in estuaries to the head of tidal influence. It includes bluffs, beaches, mudflats, kelp and eelgrass beds, salt marshes, gravel spits, and estuaries. Because the nearshore is one of the most productive parts of the Sound, improved understanding of it is vital to restoration and preservation of the entire Sound.
To develop a restoration program, Federal, State, Tribal, and local governments, non-governmental organizations, universities, and private industry joined in 2001 to create the Puget Sound Nearshore Ecosystem Restoration Project (PSNERP). In December 2005, protection and restoration of Puget Sound was expanded in scope with the creation of the Puget Sound Partnership. As a task force within the Governor of Washington's Puget Sound Initiative, the Puget Sound Partnership's goal is to develop recommendations to restore the Sound by 2020.
The overall scientific goal of the CHIPS project is to provide scientific support for ecosystem recovery activities in Puget Sound. Through its diverse studies, the CHIPS project strives to demonstrate a structure and process for conducting interdisciplinary ecosystem science.
See links below for more information about USGS work in Puget Sound.
Below are data releases associated with this project.
Below are publications (USGS products, journal articles, etc.) associated with this project. See the “Data and Tools” tab for a list of Data Releases.
Seasonal and decadal-scale channel evolution on the dammed Elwha River, Washington
Puget Sound shorelines and the impacts of armoring: Proceedings of a state of the science workshop, May 2009
Coast salish and U.S. Geological Survey: Tribal journey water quality project
Beach morphology monitoring in the Elwha River Littoral Cell, 2004-2009
Coastal habitats in Puget Sound: A research plan in support of the Puget Sound Nearshore Partnership
Vegetation responses to dam removal
Below are data releases associated with this project.
Below are news stories associated with this project.
- Overview
A Pacific Northwest icon, Puget Sound is the second-largest estuary in the United States. Its unique geology, climate, and nutrient-rich waters produce and sustain biologically productive coastal habitats. These same natural characteristics also contribute to a high quality of life that has led to growth in human population and urbanization. This growth has played a role in degrading the Sound, including declines in fish and wildlife populations, water-quality issues, and changes in coastal habitats. Natural resource managers look to the USGS as a critical science resource needed to solve problems in this important ecosystem.
The deterioration of the Puget Sound nearshore is of special concern — the area extending from the top of shoreline bluffs to a depth offshore where sunlight does not reach the bottom, and upstream in estuaries to the head of tidal influence. It includes bluffs, beaches, mudflats, kelp and eelgrass beds, salt marshes, gravel spits, and estuaries. Because the nearshore is one of the most productive parts of the Sound, improved understanding of it is vital to restoration and preservation of the entire Sound.
To develop a restoration program, Federal, State, Tribal, and local governments, non-governmental organizations, universities, and private industry joined in 2001 to create the Puget Sound Nearshore Ecosystem Restoration Project (PSNERP). In December 2005, protection and restoration of Puget Sound was expanded in scope with the creation of the Puget Sound Partnership. As a task force within the Governor of Washington's Puget Sound Initiative, the Puget Sound Partnership's goal is to develop recommendations to restore the Sound by 2020.
The overall scientific goal of the CHIPS project is to provide scientific support for ecosystem recovery activities in Puget Sound. Through its diverse studies, the CHIPS project strives to demonstrate a structure and process for conducting interdisciplinary ecosystem science.
- Science
See links below for more information about USGS work in Puget Sound.
- Data
Below are data releases associated with this project.
Filter Total Items: 16No Result Found - Publications
Below are publications (USGS products, journal articles, etc.) associated with this project. See the “Data and Tools” tab for a list of Data Releases.
Filter Total Items: 91Seasonal and decadal-scale channel evolution on the dammed Elwha River, Washington
More than 75,000 dams exist in the continental United States to provide water storage, flood control, and hydropower generation (Graf, 1999). Many of these were built during the early twentieth century and are due for relicensing consideration now and in the near future. The cost of repairing aging dams, together with growing understanding of the ecologic effects of river regulation (Williams andAuthorsAmy E. Draut, Joshua B. Logan, Mark C. Mastin, Randall E. McCoyPuget Sound shorelines and the impacts of armoring: Proceedings of a state of the science workshop, May 2009
The widespread extent and continued construction of seawalls and bulkheads on Puget Sound's beaches has emerged as a significant issue in shoreline management and coastal restoration in the region. Concerns about the impacts of shoreline armoring and managing the potential risks to coastal property are in many ways similar to those in other places, but Puget Sound also poses unique challenges relaCoast salish and U.S. Geological Survey: Tribal journey water quality project
The ancestral waters of the Coast Salish People, the Salish Sea, comprise a large inland sea contained within both United States (Puget Sound) and Canadian (Georgia Strait) territory. The Salish Sea is home to more than 220 species of fish, 29 species of marine mammals, more than 40 species of commercial and recreationally harvested invertebrates, and numerous resident and migratory bird species (AuthorsSarah K. Akin, Eric E. Grossman, Debra Lekanof, Charles J. O'HaraBeach morphology monitoring in the Elwha River Littoral Cell, 2004-2009
This report describes the methods used, data collected, and results of the Beach Morphology Monitoring Program in the Elwha River Littoral Cell, starting in 2004. The U.S. Geological Survey and the Washington State Department of Ecology collaborated in the data collection with the support of the local Lower Elwha Klallam Tribe. Beach monitoring efforts consisted of collecting topographic and bathyAuthorsJonathon A. Warrick, Douglas A. George, Andrew W. Stevens, Jodi Eshleman, Guy Gelfenbaum, George M. Kaminsky, Andrew K. Schwartz, Matt BierneCoastal habitats in Puget Sound: A research plan in support of the Puget Sound Nearshore Partnership
The purpose of this research plan is to identify high-priority research goals and objectives and delineate the critical questions and information gaps that need to be addressed to provide natural-resource managers and policy- and decisionmakers with tools to effectively undertake restoration planning and adaptive management of the nearshore ecosystems of Puget Sound.AuthorsGuy Gelfenbaum, Tom Mumford, Jim Brennan, Harvey Case, Megan Dethier, Kurt Fresh, Fred Goetz, Marijke van Heeswijk, Thomas M. Leschine, Miles Logsdon, Doug Myers, Jan Newton, Hugh Shipman, Charles A. Simenstad, Curtis Tanner, David WoodsonVegetation responses to dam removal
No abstract available.AuthorsPatrick B. Shafroth, Jonathan M. Friedman, Gregor T. Auble, Michael L. Scott - Web Tools
Below are data releases associated with this project.
- News
Below are news stories associated with this project.