Ecosystem monitoring in the Snohomish estuary: project and landscape - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

Ecosystem monitoring in the Snohomish estuary: project and landscape contexts SBSRTC Meeting 12/3/2013 Casey Rice 1 , Josh Chamberlin 1 , Jason Hall 1 , Todd Zackey 2 , Holly Zox 3 , Hiroo Imaki 3 , Michael Rustay 4 , Frank Leonetti 4 , Phil Roni 1 , Kurt Fresh 1 1 NOAA/NWFSC, 2 Tulalip Tribes, 3 Independent, 4 Snohomish County

Acknowledgements Coworkers Collaborators Volunteers Tim Beechie Beach Watchers & Funding Anna Kagley Pilchuck Audubon NOAA Restoration Center Mindy Rowse MRCs Tulalip Tribes Correigh Greene Snohomish County Skagit River System Cooperative

Overview • Rationale and approach • Project and system wide overviews • Hydrology • 2013-14 field effort • Data and product update • Allen-Quilceda watershed project proposal • Discussion

Why monitor? • salmon recovery information needs: surveillance and response to actions (restoration) and other change (SLR) • estuaries rich and productive • critical to fish and wildlife • heavily altered by humans hypothesis: estuary restoration = estuary rearing = population recovery

Approach • 5 Factors (land, water, food, chemistry, biological interactions) & biological response • 4 Levels of information (foundational, diagnostic, prescriptive, performance)

Questions • Project: What are the pre-breach conditions at Qwuloolt? What is the likely future trajectory? • Whole estuary: What are the patterns of fish use across the estuary? What are hydro and sediment dynamics? • Endpoints: whole assemblages, Chinook and coho detail, abiotic variables (e.g., landforms and hydrology)

Qwuloolt levee breach & Snohomish estuary large potential area + wild populations Data from Brian Collins (UW)

Snohomish estuary restoration past, present, future

Qwuloolt design & expectation Levee breach in late 2014 2015 Passive approach, except for some channel and berms with planting Dieback Accretion Colonization Mudflat Emergent marsh Scrub-shrub? Forested?

Allen Quilceda Creek Monitoring Qwuloolt tide gates Jones design Creek Landfill Marysville mitigation Ebey Slough Ebey Island Before-after with space-for-time and Heron Pt. mature reference sites Smith Island Spencer

Sampling to date 2009-present year round fish (3yrs) vegetation invertebrates birds mammals elevation hydrology

Disconnection & subsidence Tide gates Levees

Subsidence effects-vegetation vertical distribution of wetland plants in study area 3.5� 3� 2.5� CENTURIES 2� DECADES 1.5� YEARS 1� 0.5� 0� PHAR� CALY� SCMA� CHAN-EDGE� CALY� TRMA� TYAN� SCAC� ROPI� AGSP� POPA� SYAL� TYLA� LYAM� RONU� SPDO� LITT� LOIN� OESA� MAFU� JUSC� PISI� ATFI� GASH� Curveballs: freshwater, beaver, SLR, etc…

Disconnect effects-fish/amphibians 214 samples; each dot = 1 site/month combination

Pre-breach fish abundance — Ebey Slough 2012 101 beach seine sets Extent and resolution

Qwuloolt is… • Hydrologically isolated • Subsided • Biologically degraded Less native, diverse, salty • Native biota (wild salmon) in the study area

Estuary-wide sampling Rowse/Fresh/Kagley 2001-2010 2011 — suspended 2012, 2013 — Expand to whole system Stratify and randomize Integrate intensive site efforts

Estuary-wide gradients : connectivity (main stem) based on Beamer et al.

Estuary-wide fishing 2012 February-October twice monthly beach seine limited fyke trapping complete catch detailed Chinook

Fish assemblages by zone (each dot = 1 zone/month combination)

Estuary-wide salmon 2012 Whole estuary Cumulative mean CPUE %

2012 (February – September, 526 seine sets) Chinook Whole estuary coho

2013 (February – September, 526 seine sets) Chinook coho Whole estuary

Estuary-wide Chinook size 2012 Whole estuary yuk F M A M J J A S

Estuary-wide coho size 2012 Whole estuary yuk A M J J A S

Estuary-wide effort 2013 Whole estuary yuk

SET installation 2013 Whole estuary yuk

SET installation 2013 Whole estuary yuk

SET installation 2013 Whole estuary yuk

Summary • Pre-breach Qwuloolt conditions well documented Disconnected Subsided Degraded Native biota present • Snohomish system level monitoring is promising Fish are not uniformly distributed Hydrology informative; long-term loggers in place SET installations started, complete in 2014-2015 • Collaborations expanding but funding not…..

Snohomish River Estuary Hydrology: Monitoring Design and Data Synthesis December 3, 2013 Jason Hall 1 and Tarang Khangaonkar 2 , Casimir Rice 1 , Joshua Chamberlin 1 , Mindy Rowse 1 , Kurt Fresh 1 1 NOAA N ORTHWEST F ISHERIES S CIENCE C ENTER 2 M ARINE S CIENCES L ABORATORY , PNNL

Monitoring Hydrology : • Hydrology is a primary ecosystem driver: – Abiotic and biotic features – Tidal dynamics and complex hydrology • Understanding hydrology has high value: – Restoration design/effectiveness – Status and trends (e.g., climate change and SLR) • System-wide monitoring design: – Continuous water sensors – Discrete surface water sampling – Discrete water column profiles – Hydrodynamic model solutions 32

Monitoring : • Continuous Water Sensors: – Temp, salinity, and level – 10-minute intervals – 2010 – 2011 (limited deployments) – 2013 started system wide monitoring – 13 active sites (SP1, QTG, & JC1 not active) – 2 planned inside Qwuloolt – +Smith Island sites? – Solinst LTC Junior sensors being phased out – Replacing with Schlumberger CTD Divers 33

Monitoring : • Discrete surface water samples: – Paired with fish sampling – Sampling on ebbing spring tides – Monthly or biweekly – February – September – 2001 – Present – YSI sensors – Temp and salinity (plus some DO) 34

Monitoring : • Discrete water column profiles: – SeaBird CTD Profiler – Thalweg profiles – 0.5 m intervals – Targeted sampling based on tides and flow – High and low spring tides – High flow event: • 5/28/10 (538 CMS) • 5/29/10 (317 CMS) – Extreme low flow event: • 8/19/09 (43 CMS) 35

Monitoring : • Finite Volume Coastal Ocean Model (FVCOM): – 3D hydro model – Unstructured grid – Nested Snohomish model – Model output for 2006 – Hourly intervals – Salinity, temp, velocity, and depth – Model calibrations and validation with field data 36

Continuous Water Sensors : Downstream Upstream SEWIP Intrusion Extent CTD and PNL Intrusion Extent Ebey Slough 37

Continuous Water Sensors : Downstream Upstream SEWIP Intrusion Extent CTD and PNL Intrusion Extent Mainstem Steamboat Union 38

CTD : Mainstem Low Tide - Low FLow 30 Union Slough High Tide - Low Flow Confluence Maximum Profile Salinity (PSU) Low Tide - High FLow 25 High Tide - High Flow 20 15 Ebey Slough 10 Confluence 5 0 0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 20 22 River Kilometer 39

CTD : Ebey Slough Low Tide - High FLow 18 16 High Tide - High Flow Maximum Profile Salinity (PSU) 14 12 10 Tidal Steamboat Slough Trapping Confluence 8 6 4 2 0 0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 20 22 River Kilometer 40

CTD : Mainstem Low Flow – Well Mixed Water Column Low Tide Depth (m) High Tide Salinity (PSU) 41

CTD : Mainstem High Flow – Stratified Water Column Low Tide Depth (m) High Tide Salinity (PSU) 42

FVCOM : 2006 Output SEWIP Intrusion Extent CTD and PNL Intrusion Extent 43

Synthesis : Habitat Condition Maps • Synthesizing data into usable products: – Multiple data sources – Temporally and spatially extensive – Combine to produce multiple products • Maximum extent of salt SEWIP intrusion: Intrusion Extent – Oligohaline habitat conditions (0.5 – 5.0 ppt) CTD and PNL Intrusion Extent 44

Synthesis : Habitat Condition Maps • Historic habitat classifications limited: – Estuarine • Tidal wetlands • Maximum salinity 0.05 – 30 ppt – Palustrine • Non-tidal marshes, salinity does not exceed 0.05 ppt • Use hydrology data to classify mixohaline habitats: – Freshwater (0 – 0.5 ppt) – Oligohaline (0.5 – 5 ppt) – Mesohaline (5 – 18 ppt) – Polyhaline (18 – 30 ppt) 45

Application : Historical and Current Habitat 46