WSU Kitsap County Shore Stewards

HOW’S THE WATER?

2009-06-07T20:28:00.000-07:00

As you gaze out over the usually still waters in our sector of Puget Sound’s vast marine labyrinth, you may take them for granted. You might think that salt water is pretty pedestrian stuff: just liquid with a lot of salt dissolved in it. Actually, it’s more complicated than that.

Scientists routinely take measurements of various aspects of the waters around Puget Sound. The factors being measured are those that experts watch closely in waters throughout the world. Things like salinity, oxygen content, and pH sound pretty uninteresting on the surface, but if you’re a crab, an octopus, a clam or a fish, these elements of salt water are crucial to your ability to make a living and reproduce successfully.

Dissolved oxygen is one important indicator of our waters’ overall health. Lowered levels of oxygen put marine life under stress, demonstrated tragically by summer events in Hood Canal. What depletes oxygen? It’s lowered when substances such as animal waste, improperly treated sewage and fertilizers wash into the water. This increases algal growth, and its ultimate decomposition, when it dies and falls to the bottom, uses up the oxygen that marine animals need.

All life in all the world's oceans rely on just the right chemical balance in the waters around them.

Another measurement is salinity, which refers to the amount of salts dissolved in the water. Too little or too much also affects marine life. The sea’s natural salt comes from the mountains, washed down by rivers. But humans can increase oceanic salt through agricultural runoff, wastewater from industry, and sewage plant effluent.

Temperature is also measured religiously; scientists are alert for big changes. Most marine creatures cannot tolerate a wide range of temperatures. Many fish, for example, have migrated up to northwest waters from the south because the southern reaches of the Pacific simply became too warm, particularly during those infamous “El Nino” events, and more important, gradually through global warming.

Another factor to measure is pH. This refers to the acidity or alkalinity of the water. If pH levels are too low or too high, fish may not be able to produce healthy young. Acidity is increased by the same human activities that alter salinity.

So there’s more to salt water than just the salt. Fortunately, scientists take these and other measurements continuously, all over the world, to determine how healthy the waters are, for the creatures that live in them, and we human creatures that live along their edges and interact with them on a daily basis.

Stormwater Solutions

2009-06-01T21:41:00.000-07:00

We’ve all seen it in the rainy season here in the Northwest - water pooling in parking lots, coming off of roofs, running down the street and into the storm drain. Most of this water goes directly into our waterways without any treatment to filter out the contaminants it picks up along the way.

Stormwater is the leading contributor to water quality pollution of urban waterways in Washington (http://www.psp.wa.gov/stormwater.php). Polluted stormwater can contain contaminants that are toxic to salmon and other stream and marine inhabitants and been a factor in the closure of some Puget Sound shellfish beds and beaches.

Polluted water runs into a storm drain.

Pollution from factories or sewage treatment plants, while still a problem, is easier to manage because the pollutants come from a single location. Stormwater runoff on the other hand, picks up small amounts of pollution until it is a veritable chemical cocktail by the time it reaches our waterways.

The pollutants in stormwater runoff can come from a variety of sources, including our lawns and gardens, and that is what this month’s newsletter will focus on. There are two major ways that you as a homeowner, can help reduce the impact of polluted stormwater. Once, is by reducing the amount of pollution coming from your property, and the other is by reducing the amount of water runoff from your property.

Landscaping

The easiest way to make sure that chemicals that you use for your lawn and garden aren’t polluting our waterways is to not use those chemicals! There are lots of ways to keep a beautiful yard without using chemical pesticides or fertilizer.

If you mulch heavily in planted areas, it makes pulling weeds very easy. If you have weeds that need to be removed from your lawn, a weed puller is very effective. Another effective weed solution is spraying them with white vinegar (this usually works best if the vinegar is applied during warm weather when plants are “thirsty”). And for getting rid of weeds coming up through the sidewalk, driveway, or other nonflammable area, a weed torch can be used to incinerate them.

Sometimes people fertilize their lawn or garden, without considering whether their soil is actually deficient in nutrients, and if so, which. It may be obvious that your soil needs fertilizer if your plants are not thriving, but if you’re not sure, a simple soil test can tell you what your soil needs. Most garden stores sell simple at home soil tests, but this are not always accurate. For really accurate results, you can send a soil sample in to a laboratory for analysis (your local Extension office will have a list of these labs).

If you find that your soil does need amendment, the best thing to use is organic fertilizer. Organic fertilizer breaks down slowly in your soil, delivering nutrients to your plants over a period of time instead of in one burst. This is healthier for your plants and the slow release action means that even if some of the fertilizer does wash off in a rainstorm, it is not as damaging to our water. Compost is another good way to boost the nutrient content of soils. If you are unable to obtain organic fertilizer or compost, slow-release fertilizer is the next best thing.

A copper strip around a wine barrel planter.

Pesky garden slugs can be caught and killed in a homemade trap by filling an empty margarine tub half full with beer (or apple juice) and sticking the tub in the ground so that the lip of the tub is level with the ground. The slugs will go in for a drink, but can’t climb back out. If you have raised beds, you can put a strip of copper around the bed and slugs will not crawl over it.

Water quality problems can be caused by what we put on our lawn and garden, and they can also be caused by what our pets put on our lawn. Bacterial contamination from pet waste can cause shellfish beds and beaches to be closed. It’s not a glamorous job, but the responsible way to take care of your pet’s poop is to double bag it and throw it away.

Planting a buffer of vegetation between your property and the water is a great way to prevent pollution from entering the water. The plants will trap chemicals that may be in the water, and will also trap sediment that can harm water quality. Using native plants in your buffer has an added benefit of needing very little or no maintenance (fertilizer, watering or pesticide) once established and provides habitat for animals.

Trapping and Infiltrating Stormwater

Impervious surfaces (such as concrete) prevent rain from soaking into the ground and are the reason that we see rivers of stormwater running down the street when it rains. Reducing impervious surfaces and finding ways to trap rain water for later use, will allow the water to infiltrate the ground where the soil can filter out any toxins it may have picked up.

Some of the suggestions below (permeable pavers and rain gardens) will involve letting more water infiltrate your soil during a storm event. If you live on bluff property, or any other type of property where landslides may be an issue, water infiltration must be done with extreme caution. It is best to consult a hydrogeologist prior to making changes with regards to water infiltration if you live on this type of property.

Sidewalks, driveways and patios are often paved with concrete or other impermeable materials that do not allow water to pass through into the ground. There are many alternative materials that can now be used to cover such areas. Permeable concrete can be used in many situations and is porous so that water can pass through. Permeable pavers are laid like bricks and create a lattice-work that allows water to soak into the soil.

Your roof is another example of an impervious surface, and there are simple measures you can take to reduce the runoff from your roof. Rain barrels can be hooked up to your downspouts to catch rain water. Not only do rain barrels minimize the amount of stormwater runoff, they are a great way to reduce your water bill too; water from your rain barrel can be used later to water your garden.

Rain gardens are another tool for managing runoff. A rain garden is made by digging depression in the ground, then planting this depression with plants that can tolerate having their roots wet. When there is a rain storm, excess water will flow into the rain garden where it can be soaked up by the plants, or slowly infiltrate the soil. For more detailed instructions on how to build a rain garden, see the resources section.

A newly planted raingarden traps runoff from a parking lot.

Not all runoff comes from storm events. Sometimes, we are the cause of runoff. This can happen when sprinklers are not directed correctly and are spraying water on sidewalks or streets or it can happen when we wash our cars in the driveway, allowing the water to run down the storm drain. Making sure your sprinklers are only watering your plants not only reduces runoff, it saves you money. One way to avoid runoff from washing your car, is to wash your car on the lawn (make sure to use a phosphate-free soap), but this is not foolproof and if you have a septic system, it may be challenging to find a place to park your car this is not over your drain field or your septic tank. Many commercial car washes recycle the water that gets used, so not only are you not contributing to runoff, you’re saving water at the same time.

Resources

City of Bremerton, Your Own Rain Barrel - http://www.cityofbremerton.com/content/sw_makeyourownrainbarrel.html

Department of Ecology, Managing Drainage on Coastal Bluffs - http://www.ecy.wa.gov/programs/sea/pubs/95-107/drainsys01.html

Department of Ecology, Stormwater webpage - http://www.ecy.wa.gov/programs/wq/stormwater/index.html

King County Rain Barrel Information - http://www.kingcounty.gov/environment/stewardship/nw-yard-and-garden/rain-barrels.aspx

Pacific Northwest Regional Water Program, Stormwater Management Directory - http://www.pnwwaterweb.com/initiatives/pnw_081.htm

Puget Sound Partnership, Stormwater webpage - http://www.psp.wa.gov/stormwater.php

Rain Garden Handbook for Western Washington Homeowners - http://www.pierce.wsu.edu/Water_Quality/LID/Raingarden_handbook.pdf

Washington Coalition for Alternative to Pesticide - http://www.pesticide.org/

Washington Toxics Coalition - http://www.watoxics.org/

WSU Pierce County Low Impact Development webpage (contains information on permeable pavers) - http://www.pierce.wsu.edu/Water_Quality/LID/

A VALUABLE LESSON

2009-05-14T21:19:00.000-07:00

by Nancy Sefton

One fall day, members of our little homeowner’s association gathered to clean up the brush along the sides of our gravel road. A small row of alder saplings had dared to sprout in our drainage ditch, threatening to disrupt the flow of rainwater from our hillside neighborhood into Puget Sound.

My husband was about to start up his chain saw when a 12-year-old boy from down the street came by on his bicycle. He stopped, his eyes wide with astonishment. "You can’t take those trees away," he said. "Didn’t you know? Trees are the lungs of the earth!"

We all stopped working. There was a long silence. Finally I spoke, curious to know whether this young man was simply repeating a phrase heard in class, or if he really understood the concept. "How do you mean, Sammy?" I asked.

"Well, trees breathe carbon dioxide from the air. Then they breathe out oxygen. We all need oxygen!" he replied with self-confidence, and an air of satisfaction; after all, he'd just given 6 attentive adults a mini-lesson about our planet’s life processes.

Why do I remember this so well? Although I’ve long believed in education as one solution to the earth’s environmental woes, that was the first time I’d seen it so graphically at work.

Since then, I’ve seen it repeated time and time again. At places like Islandwood and the Poulsbo Marine Science Center, kids are finding adventure in discovery. A six-year-old learns that some sea stars have 20 arms; a nine-year-old learns that leaves falling to the forest floor are part of a cycle on which the entire forest thrives. Children exploring a beach with a naturalist learn even more, because they’re actually immersed in a natural habitat, watching a variety of marine creatures trying to make a living on a muddy, sandy, cobble or rocky shore.

Decades ago, there was no such thing as "environmental education". Today it’s all around us, in the classroom, in the field, in community youth programs, and on the TV screen, an effort born of necessity. Altogether, we’re creating better stewards of the natural environment that sustains all life.

Now, I must confess that the alder saplings rising in our drainage ditch were ultimately sacrificed in the name of more efficient runoff. But the incident left me with better feelings about our planet’s future, thanks to a young neighbor and his concern for trees and their precious gift of oxygen.

LOTSA MUSCLE

2009-05-06T21:51:00.000-07:00

by Nancy Sefton

The vertical rock wall I paddled by in my kayak was exposed by low tide. It was covered with bumps, little rounded knobs of various colors... animals hanging on tenaciously to the sheer face, using suction and some incredibly strong muscles. Had I tried to pull one of these limpets off the wall, I’d have failed; it’s like they were stuck to the rock with super glue.

Among marine animals without backbones (invertebrates) there’s one group that qualifies as the Arnold Schwartzeneggers of the underwater world…excessively strong. It’s a diverse group as well. I’m always amazed that the little limpets with their conical shells, like Chinese hats, are close cousins of the octopus. Both are classified as mollusks, along with squid, cuttlefish, oysters and clams, and other marine snails of many kinds. Most species wear a shell on the outside, a few on the inside.

Besides the shell, what gives all these animals an odd kinship is muscle, pure muscle. That giant squid may never have let go of Capt. Nemo’s submarine (in Jules Verne’s “20,000 Leagues Under the Sea”) if the captain hadn’t applied about 20,000 volts of electricity to the metal hull. Likewise, it takes a screwdriver and some elbow grease to pry apart the shells of an oyster.

Snails such as top shells, whelks and turbans simply suction themselves onto the rocks using that muscular foot on the underside. When they hunker down, pulling their shells over all the soft parts, they’re fairly well protected from predators. They feed using their tongues, which have a rough surface, to scrape algae from the rocks.

The mussel secrets strong fibers called byssal threads, guy wires that tie it to the bottom and to its fellow mussels crowded together securely on the sometimes stormy rocky shore. Mussels pump water through their siphons, filtering food particles.

A clam like the geoduck uses its muscular foot as a shovel . It digs quickly, and must often relocate as sand gets shifted around by heavy waves. A “soft” beach is a very different habitat than a rocky shore, and any mollusk trying to make a living there must be equipped to burrow. Like the mussels, these bivalves pump water to feed.
limpet underside: This limpet underside shows off the strong muscular suction device that keeps the animal attached to rocks.

limpet top: This limpet is starting to rise up on its muscular foot, from its attached position.

mussels: These small mussels, common on docks and pilings, show off the twin siphons through which they filter plankton via a pumping action.

Perhaps the most popular mollusk is the octopus. Our local species, the giant Pacific octopus, reaches 100 lbs. when fully grown, with an armspread of up to 18 feet and more. The 8 muscular arms of these mollusks are lined with powerful suction cups. A scuba diver embraced enthusiastically by “Octopus dofleini” would simply have to wait for his new friend to lose interest and relax its grip.

In the octopus, the traditional mollusk shell is just an interior sliver, but it’s there nonetheless, as it is in the squid and cuttlefish. These smart cephalopods are carnivores, using speed and agility to capture crabs, fish and other prey items with those efficient tentacles.

So despite their differences…in size, shape, feeding habits and intelligence, all these animals and more are bound by family traits that make them the diverse and fascinating mollusks.

THE NAME OF THE GAME IS CONFUSION

2009-04-01T17:41:00.000-07:00

by Nancy Sefton

A geoduck is not a duck. A starfish is not a fish. A wolf eel is not an eel.

Some popular names for nature's critters are so badly chosen that it seems as though someone, way back when, was gleefully trying to confuse us non-zoologists about who's who in the animal kingdom.

Most people already know that a starfish is anything but a fish. A fish, after all, has a head and tail, eyes and fins, and is pretty mobile. A "sea star" (let's straighten things out starting here, and give the creature a proper name) has none of these, and, in fact, just sits around most of the time like a lump on a rock. Of course, it can creep slowly in anything but "hot" pursuit of a delectable bivalve like a clam or mussel, but it has to work fairly hard to do this.

Instead of moving parts like fins and tail to swim with, the sea star has thousands of tiny tube feet on its underside. These are operated by a very clever hydraulic system (invented long before we humans created the hydraulic piston). The tube feet are hollow, so the star can pump water in and out of each one, in just the right sequence so that the animal can move on what pass for little legs. So sea stars are amazingly talented in regards to motion, even if they're not fish.

Also, sea stars are invertebrate animals ("vertebrate" relates to spinal columns, "in" means "no way", "nada", "zilch", and that translates to "animal without a spinal column"). Vertebrates, animals WITH spines, of course include fish, aardvarks, platypuses, and us.

Now, to the lowly geoduck. How this huge clam which lives in the mud won the name of a free-swimming feathered creature with webbed feet is anybody's guess. "Geoclam" would be a better name, but then I wouldn't be having so much fun with this article.

The geoduck, much prized for its succulent flavors, is another invertebrate. Being a bivalve, it has the usual twin shells, hinged to open slightly when it's comfy cozy in its muddy burrow, and close like a trap door when it's disturbed. Most bi-valves extend a couple of siphons up through the mud to the surface; a simple pumping action pulls water in through one siphon, back out through the other.

Wolf eels, despite their streamlined shape, are really fish, not eels. What's the difference? Both eels and fish have spinal columns, which again, makes them vertebrates. But true eels are not found in our waters. Instead, our local "wolf eel" just happens to be a fish with a very long, snake-like body. It spends much of its time hiding in a rocky den on the bottom, more like an eel than a fish.

Fortunately most sea creatures have popular names that aren't misleading. Of course, one can always avoid any doubt by using a species' Latin name; but "sea urchin" is so much easier to say than "Strongylocentrotus franciscanus"!

Shore Stewards February Newsletter

2009-04-01T17:38:00.000-07:00

Here is the February Shore Stewards Newsletter. Peg's apologies for forgetting to hit send. Stay tuned soon for the March Shore Stewares Newsletter . Also included are some upcoming septic system and blue thumb gardening workshops you may want to attend.

Remember to check with the Shore Stewards contacts for your county for
shoreline stewardship information and upcoming classes.

The Shore Stewards Contacts for your own counties are:
Linda Smith lsmith@jefferson.wsu.edu - Jefferson County
Pat Pearson pearsonp@wsu.edu - Jefferson County
Peg Tillery ptillery@co.kitsap.wa.us - Kitsap County
Tess Frazier frazier.tess@gmail.com - Kitsap County
Emily Sanford elpiper@wsu.edu - Mason County
Nora Moloney nmoloney@wsu.edu - Mason County
ESTUARIES
By Jeanne Bogert

Estuaries are places of wonder. They are formed when fresh water flows to the ocean and mixes with seawater. Also called lagoons, inlets, bays, or sounds, they comprise only a small slice of the earth's surface (less than 3/100 of 1%), but contribute tremendously to water purity, wildlife and human well being. This is where sediments and pollutants are filtered before they can enter the ocean and where many small sea creatures begin their lives. The "food web," begins here, where smaller animals nourish larger ones. Estuaries also absorb energy from storms and floods that have the potential to wreak havoc on humans.

Mudflats are the foundation of life in estuaries. Detritus (dead organic matter), flows along with silt and clay from fresh water rivers, swamps or coastal wetlands. In time, a slimy mix of bacteria and fungus is formed. Eelgrass grows here, providing food for many of the residents as well as filtering contaminants from the water. Microscopic organisms called plankton thrive in this environment.The plant variety (phytoplankton) uses sunlight for energy. Phytoplankton is eaten by the animal plankton (zooplankton), which is then in turn eaten by juvenile salmon, herring or sand lance larvae, starfish, clams, crabs, birds and many other fish and animals.

Estuaries nourish and protect people as well as fish and wildlife. More than two thirds of the fish and shellfish we eat spend some part of their lives in estuaries. Salmon, perch, octopus, scallop, sea urchins, flounder, sole and cod, shrimp and smelt are a few familiar examples. Estuaries also protect us from erosion and flooding. Many scientists believe that Hurricane Katrina had two to three times more velocity and 20% higher storm surges because of estuary loss and reengineering of swampland along the Louisiana coast.

A century ago the importance of estuaries was not fully understood. Consequently, nearly 70% in the Puget Sound area are gone and despite recent laws protecting these valuable resources, more are at risk. We all have the opportunity to help save remaining estuaries and perhaps restore others. What can we do? Prevent pollutants from washing into your waterways by making sure your septic system is in good working order and regular check-ups are scheduled. Also pick up pet wastes and minimize stormwater runoff. Preserve or restore the native forest and wetlands area near your shoreline. When possible, eliminate hard sea barriers and instead, plant trees to protect your bluff, coast and estuarine habitats. Most importantly, become aware of the principles of watershed management and share what you learn. These actions will help estuaries to continue to provide, protect and fill us with wonder.

Jeanne Bogert is a WSU Watershed Master / Beach Watcher volunteer from the Class of 2008. To learn more about the Watershed Master / Beach Watchers or to join, visit our website at http://whatcom.wsu.edu/environ/water/bw.htm or call 360-676-6736.

To Grind or Not to Grind - That is the Question
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
To Grind or Not to Grind

As with most other things in life, the question of whether or not to encourage the use of garbage disposals (or garbage grinders) is not an easy one to answer. One might be tempted to think that they are a "green" solution to food waste since they return the little bits of food to nature's water stream. Unfortunately this is not true. Using garbage disposals puts a strain on treatment plants, septic systems, and the streams, lakes, and bays which receive the treated wastewater from these systems.

Putting your food scraps down the disposal requires a large amount of increasingly precious water, and sewage with a high organic content, such as garbage disposal waste, is more difficult to treat. Higher organic content means more water, more chemicals, and more energy is used to clean the sewage before it is expelled into free-running bodies of water. Where, if it is not adequately treated, it adds to "nutrient pollution" - one of the main causes of coastal dead zones in estuaries, gulfs, and bays.

In a septic system, garbage grinder waste increases the amount of solids in the tank which can mean that the tank must be pumped more frequently. These solids may also be slow to separate and settle in the tank, and the higher concentration of floating food particles in the effluent increases the risk of clogging in the drain field.

Considering all of the above, you might be tempted to think that putting food scraps in the trash is the simple solution to this problem. But that creates a whole different set of challenges. Food waste makes up about 11% of garbage nationally. And while landfills continue to expand, space for this purpose continues to shrink. In landfills, discarded peels, rinds, and cores have no access to oxygen and therefore biodegrade very slowly. This slow, anaerobic decomposition also leads to the production of methane - a potent greenhouse gas with 23 times the insulating effect of carbon dioxide.

An interesting approach to garbage being tested in Europe, captures this methane, and converts food scraps to fuel. In Malmo, Sweden, a government-sponsored project includes 200 disposals in apartment buildings. The disposals are not linked to the sewer lines, but to a separate system for turning food scraps into methane by means of an anaerobic digester. The methane is then burned to produce power. http://www.gonomad.com/readuponit/2007/12/tor-tells-world-about-malmos-bo01-area.html A similar system is under consideration for a proposed 2,000-home development in London.

Anaerobic digesters are also being piloted in the US with a variety of applications including chicken and cow manure, and restaurant waste. Not only do they capture and burn methane that would otherwise add to the greenhouse effect, they also serve as a solution to increasingly strict policies for disposal of agricultural waste.

What almost all the experts agree on is that, aside from turning food waste into fuel, the most environmentally responsible way to dispose of organic waste is to compost. It keeps the trash out of the waste stream, uses no chemicals, and when amended to existing soil, enriches the garden or farm.
San Francisco, a leader in the area of environmental municipal waste removal, is providing a composting option in addition to the normal recycling program. Residents can put all their food scraps, food-soiled paper, and yard trimmings in a green cart. Compostable liner bags are available to use as part of the green cart program. The food scraps are made into nitrogen rich compost and used by vineyards in the heart of California's wine country, including Napa, Sonoma, El Dorado and Mendocino counties - where wines are grown for sale in San Francisco's restaurants.

You can also compost at home, for free. Compost piles are easy to create and manage provided you have a little land to devote to one. While compost piles aren't a practical solution for everyone, they have become more and more popular as the desire to reduce our impact on the earth grows. For those with little or no garden space, worm bins are a great option. Worm bins can be used on a large or small scale and the resulting worm castings are an excellent source of additional nutrients for your potted plants, or lawn, or garden.

A great place to learn more about composting and raising worms is by contacting your own county resources at:

KITSAP COUNTY:
http://kitsap.wsu.edu/hort/mc_info.htm for Kitsap County
http://www.kitsapgov.com/sw/
WSU Kitsap Master Gardeners - 360-337-7158

MASON COUNTY:
WSU Mason Co. Master Gardeners- 360-427-9670 x 680
City of Shelton, Environmental Projects Coordinator, Tracey Farrell: 360-432-5126
Mason County Solid Waste- Recycling, David Baker: 360-427-7771 x 771

JEFFERSON COUNTY:
http://www.co.jefferson.wa.us/publicworks/solidwaste/default.asp - Jefferson County

So instead of using your garbage disposal, thereby increasing the use of additional "clean" water, putting a strain on our municipal wastewater treatment facilities (or your own septic system), and encouraging harmful algal blooms, start a compost pile in your yard or in your neighborhood, or keep a worm bin under your sink. The world will thank you.

Septic Sense and Blue Thumb Gardening Workshops
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Below are several Septic Sense and Blue Thumb Gardening workshop offerings to be held this spring in Belfair and Union that may be of interest.
For more information contact Teri King or Janis McNeal, Washington Sea
Grant, University of Washington
360-432-3054 or wsgcanal@u.washington.edu

---------------------------------------------------
LAWN & GARDEN CARE WORKSHOP
Thursday, March 19, 2009
6:00 p.m. to 8:30 p.m.
Theler Community Center
22871 NE State Route 3
Belfair, Washington 98528

SEPTIC SENSE WORKSHOPS
Learn the Three Supreme Insights into the Fearless Flush!
Thursday, April 2, 2009
6:30 to 9:00 p.m.
Union Marina
5101 E Hwy 106
Union, WA 98592

BLACK GOLD: A COMPOSTING WORKSHOP
Tuesday, April 21, 2009
6:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m.
N. Mason Timberland Library
23081 NE State Route 3
Belfair, WA 98528

SEPTIC SENSE WORKSHOPS
Learn the Three Supreme Insights into the Fearless Flush!
Thursday, May 7, 2009
6:00 to 8:30 p.m.
N Mason Timberland Library
23081 NE State Route 3
Belfair, Washington 98528

SEPTIC SYSTEM LANDSCAPING
Saturday, May 16, 2009
9:00 am to Noon
N Mason Timberland Library
23081 NE State Route 3
Belfair, Washington 98528

Harbor Seals

2009-01-01T08:06:00.000-08:00

by Nancy Sefton

It was a glorious, noisy (and nearly bloodless!) battle.

I was in my kayak, sitting quietly behind a flat rock in Puget Sound. About 50 feet in front of me, two male harbor seals were going at it, tooth and flipper. Between open-mouthed lunges, they’d roll and thrash as the water around them boiled.

Finally, one of the combatants emerged with a bloody wound on his forehead, where his adversary’s teeth had found their mark. The injured seal, using discretion no doubt borne of experience, barked one last time and swam away. The victor snuffled as if thinking, “Well, another rival taken care of. Now where was I….”

All this violence is not the norm when observing harbor seals. Normally we see them on breakwaters, fur-covered flour sacks snoozing in the sun, paying little attention to passing human traffic. (Harbor seals are the species most adapted to urban life!) Or, they’re gliding through the water, dolphin-diving now and then in search of lunch.

Harbor seals are the smallest of the pinnepeds, the name referring to flippers. Of the two types of pinnepeds, our harbor seals are “phocids”, seals having no ear flaps, but simply small ear openings. (The other group is the “otariids”, which have noticeable ear flaps; sea lions belong in this category.)

Male harbor seals, like the participants in the sparring match, reach 5 to 6 feet in length, and weigh up to 200 lbs. The species’ spotted fur gives them the name leopard seal. They’re at home in warm and cold water alike, having a broad range from Baja California to the Arctic; they feed mostly on fish.

One of my memorable scuba diving experiences involved harbor seals. I was hanging in a kelp forest, the harbor seals were all around me, pirouetting like obese ballerinas through the tall stands of this prolific seaweed. One female took a particular interest in me and approached closely. Soon we were eye to eye, her whiskers practically brushing the glass of my diver’s mask. Her stare was hypnotic as it focused on my face with what poet Hart Crane called “the seal’s wide spindrift gaze.”

Perfectly weighted for this depth, I hung motionless in a sitting position. Then, I felt a slight pressure and looked down; the seal had placed one flipper against my knee. I was mesmerized. It was a magic moment. Since then I’ve wondered if she was merely stabilizing herself in the current, or perhaps trying to make sure I was real. I’d like to think she was trying to establish a moment of rare communication between creatures from two different worlds, but then, I’m a dreamer.

In a few seconds, the seal backed away and joined her friends. The group moved off through the kelp fronds like twisting torpedoes, perfectly formed masters of the sea, becoming gray apparitions in the limited visibility.

Nancy Sefton is a Trustee of the Marine Science Society of the Pacific Northwest, operators of the Poulsbo Marine Science Center. New members and volunteers are welcome; phone 360-779-5549. Visit the web site at www.poulsbomsc.org.

Winter Low Tide Beach Walks - Sea Creatures on the Beach

2008-12-19T11:29:00.000-08:00

7:30-9:30pm (printable flyer)

Local Beach Naturalists will guide you on these FREE AND FAMILY-FRIENDLY lowtide adventures.

Bring: Flashlights and extra batteries, wading boots, and warm clothing.

Friday, Jan. 9 - Machester Library, Manchester

Friday, Feb. 6 - Ft. Ward State Park, Bainbridge Island (with the City of Bainbridge Shoreline Program; meet at north parking lot near boat launch)

RSVP Daoud Miller • 206-382-7007 x217
MORE INFO Peg Tillery • 360-337-7224

Current Affairs

2008-12-01T09:40:00.000-08:00

by Nancy Sefton

As our small boat approached Deception Pass, just south of Anacortes, it felt like all of Puget Sound was trying to rush through the narrow opening ahead of us. The ebbing water streamed, gurgled and boiled, eager to return to the wide welcoming arms of the Strait of Juan de Fuca. We swept through the pass by the grace of Nature’s forces.

This twice-daily exchange of water is as timeless as the rise of sun and moon, and of course, all are locked in a rhythmic dance, sometimes frenzied, sometimes slow, across the globe.

In our own waters, tides may rise or fall as much as 12 feet in a few hours, depending on the alignment of sun, earth and moon. All this moving water fosters the richness of marine life in areas where tidal currents are most strongly felt, in narrow passages where water must accelerate in order to meet its hectic tidal schedule. As the current pushed our boat through steep-walled Deception Pass, I knew instinctively that several fathoms below our hull, life was exploding.

At the lowest tides, a steep rocky shore displays four horizontal zones, each playing host to different groups of marine animals and plants, arranged according to their tolerance for exposure to air. Here, the water level is about 12 feet below the splash zone. Two sets of high and low tides daily accounts for considerable water movement in our area.

Triggered by the ebbing current, tentacles were reaching out for passing food particles. Bivalves with their shells open were sucking in nutrients. Bull kelp was absorbing energy through every tiny pore in stem, blade and bulb. Any marine creatures not securely attached to the rocky bottom were probably hunkered down in some handy crevice, like a family crouching in a storm cellar.

Moving waters deliver life-giving protein to support a marine food web that reaches right up through herring and salmon, to our illustrious orcas…and nourishing every living thing in between, including seabirds and land mammals that feed on marine life.

Puget Sound is part of a giant watershed, an area that drains the surrounding mountains. In the Sound and Straits, fresh water from hundreds of rivers and streams interacts with ocean tides in such a way that deeper, nutrient-rich salt water is pulled toward the surface to further enrich the food web.

These currents have an advantage over many other natural systems; humans cannot tamper with the tides. But we CAN make the mistake of relying on the tidal cycle to clean up our mess. A mere 5% of Puget Sound waters are actually exchanged by our northwest tides. Most of our toxic substances, oil, excessive nutrients and other unwelcome additions to the Sound’s waters aren’t conveniently flushed out to sea by currents. We’re forced to live surrounded by our own waste, constantly challenged to try to reduce it.

Upcoming Events

2008-11-25T15:47:00.000-08:00

Beach Plastics Talk - Port Townsend Marine Science Center Dec. 2
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Port Townsend, WA-As part of their ongoing Plastics in the Marine
Environment program, the Port Townsend Marine Science Center (PTSMC) is hosting a brown bag lunch in their Natural History Exhibit at Fort Worden State Park on December 2nd at noon.

Lisa Friend, recycling outreach coordinator for RE Sources for
Sustainable Communities, will be offering a 30-minute presentation about efforts with maritime industries to reduce impacts of marine litter by providing boatyard opportunities to recycle plastics, like monofilament fishing line.

"Our brown bag lunches are a way for people to convene in an informal setting and learn about pertinent topics that interest them," said Jean Walat, Volunteer Coordinator for the PTMSC. "While most of us are old hands at recycling milk jugs and newspapers, this presentation talks about how to reduce the impact of abandoned fishing line and other plastics that have been a big problem in the marine environment. The presentation is free and the public is encouraged to attend." People may bring a lunch if they wish; hot beverages and dessert will be provided.

RE Sources has been focusing this fall on three plastic streams: used tarps, monofilament fishing line and plastic bottles. Although plastics markets are weak from shore to shore, demand for most of these specialty materials is still strong. Next spring, RE Sources hopes to expand recycling efforts to more net recycling and a special "drive" to collect polyethylene boat wrap. They're anxious to expand both programs Sound-wide.

PTMSC is currently providing a region wide education and monitoring
program focused on reducing plastic pollution in the marine environment, funded by Washington Department of Ecology. RE Sources is a partner in this program, conducting beach sediment sampling in Whatcom County.

For more information on the brown bag lunch, contact Jean Walat at
385.5582, ext. 112 or via e-mail at jwalat@ptmsc.org or visit
www.ptmsc.org.

Beach Seining Opportunity - Bainbridge Dec. 5
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Friday, December 5th 8:30 am at Fay Bainbridge State Park we will meet for the bi-weekly Bainbridge Island beach seine. The beach seine program depends on its volunteers, without you we truly can't make it happen. With the holiday season officially upon us you may want to consider spending a few hours out on the Puget Sound with the beach seine crew as a way to get away from a stress of the season or spend time with a family member or friend. Beach seining is an excellent way to learn more about the nearshore environment, Bainbridge Island, and marine ecology from a hands on perspective, it's also a lot of fun and free. We will meet at Fay Bainbridge State Park at 8:30 am and typically conclude around 1-2pm. Please dress accordingly and bring a hardy pair of gloves.

Directions and information about the park are available at http://www.parks.wa.gov/parkpage.asp?selectedpark=Fay+Bainbridge
If you can't make it 12/5, the next seine events are scheduled for 12/19, 1/2, 1/16, and 1/30. Feel free to reserve a spot far advance. If you have any questions please call or email me. Join the Bainbridge Island beach seine crew and circumnavigate Bainbridge Island with us! Please confirm your attendance with boot size (for waders)
and emergency contact information (name and number).

Thank you,
Colin Spikes
shorelineintern@ci.bainbridge-isl.wa.us

Thank you for participating in Poulsbo Park Day!

2008-11-06T09:40:00.000-08:00

I am finally recovering from last weekend, and I wanted to send my heartfelt thanks for everything you did for Poulsbo Park Days, particularly at Poulsbo's Fish Park. It was quite a day, and everything went off without a hitch! We estimated that 250-300 people came through the park that day, with many of them surprised as to what Fish Park has to offer. I've had people ask if we will do this again, and maybe it can happen every year!

Your organizations have all played a vital part in the development of Fish Park. This project would not be what it is today if it wasn't for the blood, sweat and tears that have gone into the park. Of course, a little funding and donated assets are huge too! Thank you for sharing your wealth of knowledge and love of the environment with the community.

Your commitment to this park will have a lasting effect for many years to come. Thank you again for all that you do.

Yours truly,
Mary, Parks and Recreation

SHARKS ARE BEAUTIFUL PEOPLE

2008-11-03T09:38:00.000-08:00

by Nancy Sefton

The shark talk by the UW’s Dr. Galluci on October 30, for Beach Naturalists in Kitsap County, reminded me of the many dives I’ve made where sharks were present. Moreover, it reminded me of how often the gullible public is hoodwinked by Hollywood into believing that sharks pose more threat to man than processed food, other drivers, or your friendly IRS agent.

Shark movies may be great escapist fun, but I suspect they buoy up people’s mistrust of real-life large animals that inhabit our real-life oceans.

All during my diving years, I fielded the same question. “Aren’t you afraid of sharks?” I finally developed an answer that gave me some delicious satisfaction: “No, what I’m afraid of is returning to the unpredictable, often dangerous world of homo sapiens.”

My rather weird goal, when diving, was to pet a shark. But usually, sightings were just within my range of visibility, the animals appearing like ghosts against the distant blue.

But one lucky day I happened on a sleeping nurse shark about 7 feet long, on a shallow Caribbean reef. Perfect. Nurse sharks feed on very small organisms. Nurse sharks take naps. This one looked positively comatose as it dozed on the soft white sand next to a coral head.

I reached out my ungloved hand and touched the shark’s skin. It felt like sandpaper. In fact, shark scales under a microscope show up a tiny hook on each, and this is why the skin of a shark seems to “grab”. It’s anything but slimy.

A foot-long remora, or shark sucker fish, slithered nervously over its host like a vigilant bodyguard. The shark itself was very still. Its gill covers opened and closed rhythmically, keeping the water flowing in order to capture dissolved oxygen. The shark never awakened.

A few years later, in 1988, I found myself sitting in a deep submersible hunting the elusive Caribbean six-gill shark, a species found in Puget Sound. After waiting 30 minutes at 1,000 feet, the external bait bucket full of tasty barracuda brought in our prey. What a magnificent animal! I felt its power as the 10-foot shark closed its jaws around the bait bucket and shook it, rocking the sub on its mounts. It lasted only a few seconds but that fleeting vision of a true “monster of the deep” is fixed firmly in my memory.

This close encounter and others made me consider sharks as something more than mindless predators out to get us. Personally, I think of sharks as magnificent masters, not monsters, of the sea; they are sleek, perfectly formed and equipped for their important role in the oceanic community: that of sanitary engineers. (This is a concept that Peter Benchley, author of “Jaws”, didn’t find worthy of pursuing because after all, he wanted to sell books and movie rights.)

Sharks are scavengers, consuming what is dead or dying, sick or weak. When a human is attacked by mistake, all sharks become “man eaters.” Today, many species are overfished and seriously threatened. Certainly, sharks have more to fear from us than vice versa. Once we learn to value all life forms for their roles in earth’s ecosystems, perhaps we’ll put more effort into preserving them.

PUGET SOUND’S FAVORITE FOOD: FORAGE FISH

2008-10-24T13:59:00.000-07:00

PUGET SOUND’S FAVORITE FOOD: FORAGE FISH
October 2008, Issue No. 20

By Cammy Mills, Hood Canal Shore Stewards Coordinator. Additional content and editing by Doris Small, Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife.

A silvery Chinook salmon dancing at the end of a fisherman’s line or a brightly colored Sockeye making its epic journey up the river where it hatched, to spawn; when we think fish in the Puget Sound, these may be the kinds of images we first think of. But there is another kind of fish that we should think of too. While forage fish may not be as glamorous as some of our other local fauna, they fill a critically important niche in our local ecosystem.

Forage fish get their name, not because of their own foraging behavior, but because they are forage for other fish, birds, and marine mammals. Washington’s waters are home to six different species of forage fish (Pacific sardines, surf smelt, northern anchovies, eulachon, Pacific sand lance and Pacific herring). Of these species, three rely on nearshore waters of the Puget Sound for their survival. Surf smelt and sand lance rely on the upper beach habitat exclusively as spawning grounds, and Pacific herring spawn in subtidal eelgrass and macroalgae beds.

Because healthy forage fish populations are so vital to the stability of salmon populations (and other species) the Department of Fish and Wildlife has a “no net loss” policy for forage fish spawning habitat.

A critical link in the food chain
Most of you are probably familiar with the idea of a food chain, wherein smaller species become food for progressively larger species. If we use this food chain idea, then forage fish can be thought of as a vulnerable link in the chain. At the bottom of the food chain in Puget Sound, are phytoplankton (microscopic plants), tiny zooplankton (microscopic animals) and small invertebrates. These are then consumed by forage fish, which in turn, become food for various other fish-consuming animals, or piscivores (see diagram below). It’s important to note how few species are at the middle level of our chain, especially in comparison to the relatively large number of species that rely on the middle level of the chain for food. It’s also important to note that if the population levels in the middle of the chain are insufficient to support all the piscivores (fish eaters) at the top, the piscivores can not “choose” to feed on the species at the bottom of the food chain.

Figure 1. Simplified food web of piscivores in Puget Sound. Source: Forage Fish Management Plan: A plan for managing the forage fish resources and fisheries of Washington.

In food chains such as this, population size is not controlled from the top up, or the bottom down, but rather from the middle out. That is to say, if there is an abundance of organisms at the mid level (in this case, forage fish), then there will be an expansion in the population size at the upper level (because there is more food for them) and a decrease in population size at the bottom of the food chain (because they’re being eaten by the forage fish). Conversely, a shortage of organisms at the mid level will mean a population decrease at the top level and increase at the bottom level.

Much study has been devoted to the Pacific Herring and it is known that Pacific herring comprise a large percentage of the diet for many marine species, including Chinook, Coho, Pacific cod, whiting, lingcod, halibut and harbor seals. Other species including California sea lions, Stellar sea lions, harbor porpoises, Dall’s porpoises, Minke whales, pelicans, terns gulls and auks all use on forage fish for a significant part of their diet.

Forage fish populations naturally show rapid and wide fluctuations in size. This natural variability means that no management plan the humans devise can create a stable population, but it also means that we must be quite careful to preserve enough high quality habitat so that when there is a population crash, the species can recover. Once a population crash occurs, it may take decades for it to recover.

Forage Fish of Puget Sound

Pacific Herring
Pacific herring can grow to be nine inches long, are bluish to olive green on their back and have silvery sides. Herring spawn on eelgrass and macroalgae beds around Puget Sound. Herring tend to return to spawn in the same area as they were hatched, though their homing is not as precise as that of salmon. Herring originating from different spawning grounds are considered to be from a different stock. They spawn from late January through early April, with the exception of the Cherry Point stock in Whatcom County which spawns from early April through early June. To see a map of known herring spawning grounds in Puget Sound, click here.

Pacific Sand Lance
Sand lance (sometimes called candlefish) can grow to be eight inches long, have a gray to green back and silver sides. Their dorsal fin stretches almost the full length of their back and they have an elongated body. Sand lance feed in the open water during the day time, then bury themselves in the sand at night to avoid being eaten. Sand lance spawn on mixed sand and gravel beaches between the elevation of mean high tide and mean tide. They are obligate intertidal spawners, which means that if their preferred habitat is unavailable, they can not spawn successfully elsewhere. Sand lance spawn from November through February. Sand lance are very small and their eggs are miniscule, so even if you have them spawning on your beach, you may not see them. To see a map of known sand lance spawning grounds in Puget Sound, click here.

Surf Smelt
Surf smelt can grow to be nine inches long and have an olive green back with a silver or yellow band on their side. Surf smelt spawn on mixed sand and gravel beaches in the upper intertidal zone. In fact, both sand lance and surf smelt use the same stretches of beach at the same times of year. However, unlike sand lance, surf smelt have been found to spawn year round on some beaches. Surf smelt also use more of the upper beach than sand lance, spawning from the elevation of mean high tide to mean higher high water (the annual average of every day’s highest tide). Surf smelt eggs develop a small stalk that attaches them to the grains of sand on which they’re laid. This keeps the eggs from being washed away until they’re buried in the sand. This helps protect the eggs from predators. To see a map of known surf smelt spawning grounds in Puget Sound, click here.

What Can You Do
The areas in which our local forage fish spawn, make them especially vulnerable to impacts from shoreline development and there is no known way to replace lost forage fish spawning grounds. Additionally, not all forage fish spawning habitat may be known. Surveys for surf smelt spawning habitat are incomplete, so it is important to protect not only the known spawning beaches, but other beaches as well. Fortunately, there are steps you can take to help prevent degradation of forage fish spawning habitat, and in some cases, you may even be able to improve habitat.

Eelgrass beds can easily be damaged by boats that are anchored or moored in them. Anchors and attached chains can clear large patches of eelgrass when they scrape along the bottom as the boat they’re attached to moves about on the water’s surface. If you must moor or anchor your boat in an area with eelgrass, do so in deeper waters where there is no eelgrass (this has an added benefit as it also prevents the possibility that your boat will become grounded at low tide.)

Eelgrass is a plant and as such, it needs sunlight. Docks and piers can make it too shady for eelgrass to grow. If you are thinking about installing, or replacing such a structure, consider doing so in a way that permits light to pass through. For instance, when the Department of Transportation expanded the Clinton ferry terminal, they used glass bricks in the passenger walkway to permit light to pass through to eelgrass beds below. Installing glass bricks is potentially expensive. Less expensive techniques include using grating or limiting the width of your dock to 4-6 feet. Instead of building a new dock, you might also want to consider sharing a dock with a neighbor.

Poor water quality can also damage eelgrass beds. Runoff contaminated with fertilizer from gardens and farms is detrimental to eelgrass. There are many things you can do to reduce your use of fertilizer including, testing your soil prior to fertilizing to determine how much (if any) fertilizer your plants need, calibrate your spreader to make sure you only put down as much fertilizer as needed, amend your soils with compost to help boost soil health, and use organic or slow-released fertilizer. A buffer of plants between the water’s edge and your lawn or garden will help eliminate nutrients in runoff before it enters the water. Runoff containing pesticides can also damage eelgrass beds. There are many ways to eliminate weeds and pests without having to resort to harmful chemicals. For instance, you can pull weeds by hand and use mulch on garden beds to prevent their return, slug traps work well to eliminate slugs, and a strong spray of water is often enough to eliminate an aphid infestation on a plant. For more ideas on safe pest management, see the links for the Washington Toxics Coalition and the Northwest Coalition for Alternatives to Pesticide in the resources section.

Eelgrass beds also benefit tremendously from shorelines that are left natural. Bulkheads can increase wave energy and change a beach’s substrate so that the habitat is no longer suitable for eelgrass. If you are considering installing or replacing a bulkhead, consider soft armoring techniques instead and make sure that any structures you do build are set back as far as possible from the water’s edge. Not only does minimizing shoreline hardening help eelgrass beds, it also helps preserve the spawning habitat of sand lance and surf smelt. The increased wave energy and subsequent changes to a beach’s substrate and slope can eliminate both the type of substrate sand lance and surf smelt like to use to spawn and the tidal elevation at which they spawn.

One of the easiest things you can do to protect the area where sand lance and surf smelt spawn, is to provide shade on your beach. The eggs of both of these fish are vulnerable to drying out in warm temperatures. Studies have shown that the temperature on a beach is significantly lower where it is shaded by overhanging vegetation and that mortality rates for forage fish eggs on shaded beaches are much lower.

Creating a buffer of vegetation along your beach will help shade the habitat that is so vital for forage fish. Not only is this practice good for our local forage fish and eelgrass beds, it has the added benefit of helping stabilize slopes. Even if you don’t have a natural shoreline, planting a buffer along your bulkhead can help shade your beach.

So the next time you think about fish in Puget Sound, feel free to think of that beautiful silver Chinook, or brightly colored Sockeye, but then think about the forage fish that very likely fed those beautiful salmon, and know that you play a role in keeping those populations healthy.

Resources
Bargman, Greg. 1998. Forage Fish Management Plan: A plan for managing the forage fish resources and fisheries of Washington. Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife. Available at:
http://wdfw.wa.gov/fish/forage/manage/foragman.htm

Northwest Coalition for Alternatives to Pesticide, Pests and Weeds website:
http://www.pesticide.org/factsheets.html#alternatives

Penttila, Dan. 2001. Effects of Shading Upland Vegetation on Egg Survival for Summer-spawning Surf Smelt on Upper Intertidal Beaches in Puget Sound. Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife.

The Seagrass Conservation Working Group, Eelgrass Management Practices website:
http://www.stewardshipcentre.bc.ca/eelgrass/eelgrassrestoration.html

Washington State Department of Ecology, Puget Sound Shorelines Eelgrass website:
http://www.ecy.wa.gov/programs/sea/pugetsound/species/eelgrass.html

Washington State Department of Fish and Wildlife, Forage Fish website:
http://wdfw.wa.gov/fish/forage/forage.htm
Washington State Department of Transportation, Washington State Ferries, Eelgrass Protection Project website:
http://www.wsdot.wa.gov/ferries/your_wsf/corporate_communications/clinton_enviro/

Washington Toxics Coaltion, Healthy Homes and Gardens website:
http://www.watoxics.org/homes-and-gardens

Upcoming Events

This product was funded through a grant from Washington State Department of Ecology. While these materials were reviewed for grant consistency, this does not necessarily constitute endorsement by the Department.

Extension programs and policies are consistent with federal and state laws and regulations on nondiscrimination regarding race, sex, religion, age, color, creed, national or ethnic origin; physical, mental or sensory disability; marital status, sexual orientation, or status as a Vietnam-era or disabled veteran. Evidence of noncompliance may be reported through your local Extension office.

September Shore Stewards Newsletter

2008-09-30T15:32:00.000-07:00

Hi, Shore Stewards friends, here is the link to this month's newsletter:
http://www.shorestewards.org/island/newsletter/. This month's issue covers steps you should take in winterizing your boat, and what you can do to make sure your boating activities are friendly to marine life. Hope you find this useful!

Scott Chase, Shore Stewards Coordinator, Island County121 N. East Camano DriveCamano Island, WA 98282 schase@wsu.edu(360) 387-3443, ext. 258

Web Resource - A Primer on Local Shore Life

2008-09-19T14:34:00.000-07:00

Visit this wonderful resource from PMSC, a primer on local shore life (rocky shores, cobbles).

Go to: www.poulsbomsc.org, and click on "A coastal Journey". This is a national award-winning tutorial designed by a professor of graphic arts (volunteer) and illustrated by Nancy Sefton, that she often recommend to the MSC's own docents.

It's a Jungle Down There!

2008-09-19T14:29:00.000-07:00

LIFE ON THE EDGE
by Nancy Sefton

Just offshore, throughout our Puget Sound saltwater labyrinth, there’s a special shallow-water world that few people are aware of: miniature green jungles full of creatures locked in a life-and-death struggle to survive.

The ribbon-like Kelly-green leaves of perennial eelgrass, a flowering plant, grow to a half inch wide and four feet long, creating meadows beneath the shallows near shore, undulating with the tidal currents like prairie grasses in the wind. The residents are diverse. Seafood lovers take note: much of our Dungeness and red crab harvests, and even the health of our salmon runs, depends on the health of these eelgrass jungles.

This diagram shows the variety of marine species that depend on eelgrass beds.

They’re breeding grounds for fish of many species, and an important sheltering nursery as well. Herring lay their eggs right on the blades; juvenile salmon feed on the eggs, and more mature salmon feed on the live herring.

As an important player in the marine food chain, eelgrass is eaten directly by some animals, such as waterfowl, sea urchins and snails. Other creatures may feed on the microorganisms and algae thriving on the surfaces of the leaves.

But first and foremost is eelgrass’ contribution of detritus, small particles of decaying leaves and stems. These serve as habitat for diatoms, bacteria, fungi and algae, the base of the food chain. Carried on currents, eelgrass detritus travels great distances, nourishing sea creatures well beyond the meadow boundaries.

This tiny brooding anemone attaches to a single 1/4" blade of grass.

Eelgrass plants prefer sandy or muddy bottoms in areas with little water movement. Light levels in the murky, polluted waters of Puget Sound limit the growth of eelgrass to depths less than 30 feet. But in areas with clear water, it grows much deeper. Where eelgrass thrives, it protects the bottom from erosion by waves and currents, thanks to its extensive root network.

Like the canary in the coal mine, eelgrass is an indicator of our regional waters’ overall health. Pollution and other human impacts have resulted in the loss of 33 % of the eelgrass beds in Puget Sound, since studies began. Wisely, those who manage our natural resources have today adopted a “no net loss” policy as they try to restore lost beds and prevent more from disappearing.

Life on the Edge

2008-08-27T16:14:00.000-07:00

Picky Eaters
September 2008
by Nancy Sefton

You and I (unless you’re a vegetarian) are “omnivores”. That means we chow down on both plants (love that broccoli!) and animal flesh (Col. Saunders thanks you!), whatever’s handy and tastes good.

But the underwater world has some very picky eaters, and different groups of creatures have different ways of ingesting their favorite foods. It’s easy to assume that all marine animals simply “grab it and gulp it”. But not all sea animals make their living with big mouths and sharp teeth.

One group, for instance, has earned the name “filter feeders”. These include clams, mussels, sponges, sea cucumbers and creatures with feathery appendages. They’re all designed to strain tiny drifting plants and animals (plankton) from the water, and they’re very good at it. The barnacle has feathery legs that emerge from the shell to act like a sieve. Clams and mussels draw water in through their siphons, filter out the goodies, and send the strained water back out again.

Clams filter plankton by pumping water through two siphons.

Marine snails, on the other hand, use their tongues; these have a rough texture like a nail file, capable of scraping seaweed and slurping up all that healthy vegetable matter. These mollusks are classified as herbivores, or eaters of plants. (If you ARE a vegetarian, you’re a herbivore too, but by choice. You weren’t born to it!)

Some marine animals can’t dash or creep around to get their food; they’re stuck in one place, perhaps for life. So the food comes to them. Sea anemones (and their jellyfish cousins) simply extend their tentacles into the water column and zap! –any passing organism accidentally touching a tentacle gets hit by a poison dart. Anemone tentacles are full of these microscopic weapons, and they’re deadly. The poison stuns the poor victim which is then drawn down into the anemone’s mouth. Gruesome but efficient.

Sea anemones snare their pray with stinging tentacles.

However, first prize for “gross eating habits” goes to the sea stars. Just lying prone on a rock, they may not look like predatory carnivores, but they can make short work of any bivalve in the neighborhood. An ochre star, for example, can wrap itself around a large mussel and pull the shells apart using its tube feet, which have suction cups at the ends. Once the mussel’s shell is pried partially open, the star regurgitates its own stomach and inserts it between the mussel shells in order to digest the soft parts. Ugh. But those tube feet get the job done. Not many sea stars go hungry.

“Deposit feeders” are the sanitary engineers of the marine world. Crabs, shrimps, lobsters and some snails keep the sea bottom clean by eating whatever falls from above, including dead and decaying organic matter.

Crabs feed on dead and decaying matter on the bottom.

So whether they’re herbivores or carnivores, or a combination of both (like us), marine creatures can be categorized according to the way they eat. Each group fills a niche in the oceanic food web, and as long as we humans don’t interfere with the way nature’s restaurant is managed, everybody leaves the table satisfied.

August 08 Newsletter

2008-08-27T09:53:00.000-07:00

Dear friends of Shore Stewards,

here is the link to the August newsletter. This month's focus is on metals in our environment that are toxic to aquatic life: mercury, zinc, and copper. There is also an article about the beaches, parks and facilities managed by the Port of South Whidbey all becoming part of Shore Stewards.

http://www.shorestewards.org/island/newsletter/Aug2008Newsletter.pdf

Hope you enjoy this issue, and find some of the information helpful.

Scott Chase
Shore Stewards Coordinator, Island County
121 N.East Camano Drive
Camano Island, WA 98282

Beach Naturlist Field Trip Photos

2008-08-15T14:58:00.001-07:00

Beaches & Bluffs

2008-08-15T14:24:00.000-07:00

BEACHES AND BLUFFS
When walking along the beach, have you ever wondered where the gravel and sand come from, why it changes in appearance and texture as you walk along, and why the profile of the beach may change over time? This issue of the Shore Stewards News is a simple primer on where the beach sediment comes from, where it goes to, and how development and human interactions can impact our beaches. Please check the bibliography, which has several excellent sources and links where you can find materials to help you understand the dynamics of how our beaches are formed.

Feeder Bluffs
The shoreline of Puget Sound and the Northwest Straits is rimmed by steep bluffs that range from fifty to several hundred feet high. Looking at the bluff faces, you can see many layers of sand, silt, gravel and clay, which were deposited during the glacial and interglacial periods. These are easy to spot, as they are often of different colors and shades. As these bluffs erode, they provide the building materials that make up our beaches. If you are walking along a gravelly beach, for instance, look at the bluff face, and you are likely to see layers of gravel. As the bluff erodes, whether from slide activity or wave action, the sediment drops to the face of the bluffs, where it is carried along the shoreline by wave and wind action. These primary sediment input areas can feed miles of beaches, creating shore forms such as spits and barrier beaches.

Illustration shows bluff erosion before development. Courtesy of Metro King County Natural Resources and Parks, Water and Land Resources Division.

Shore or Littoral Drift
Look at the waves as they move onto the beach. They usually come ashore obliquely, at an angle other than 90 degrees, often determined by the direction of the wind. When these waves strike the shore at an angle, they cause the wave swash (water that washes up on shore after an incoming wave has broken) to move up the beach at an angle. This swash moves the sediment sand and gravel up the beach at an angle. The backwash (the water that rolls back down a beach after a wave has broken) then leaves the shore at 90 degrees, solely under the influence of gravity, taking the sediment with it. This causes a gradual zigzag movement of the particles along the shore, which can increase with storms, tides, and seasons. It might help to think of the beach as a slowly moving river of sediment, sand and rocks.

This sand and gravel constantly flows along Puget Sound beaches. This littoral drift can move sediment and other materials from bluff erosion and stream deposits to beaches that are several miles in distance. In locations where jetties or man-made structures block this flow of the sediment, sand and gravel can build up on one side of the blockage (accretion) and erode away from the other side. See illustration below, courtesy of Washington State Department of Ecology.

Our local beaches do not run in a straight line, of course, and the shore drift is interrupted by inlets, headlands, and bends in the shore contours. The shoreline in our area is divided into several sectors which are often referred to as “drift cells.” Each of these cells contains a source, where sediment and other debris are picked up, and a sink, where the sediment is dropped off. In the long term, a single direction of net shore drift may be seen within each cell or sector. These drift cells are generally independent of one another. Looking at littoral drift as the primary way in which beaches are created and changed, one can see that there are two main feature types. We find bluff-backed beaches, which are the sources of eroded materials, and spit or barrier beaches, where these materials are typically deposited.

Effects of Human Development
It is estimated that there are over 800 miles of bulkheads, seawalls, boat ramps, marinas, docks, and other hardened structures around Puget Sound, equal to about 1/3 of the entire shoreline. Hardened structures can prevent materials from entering the sediment stream, causing erosion downdrift from those structures. This in turn can cause erosion and loss of beach habitat.

A bulkhead does not prevent the beach itself from eroding. The waves reflecting off the bulkheads, particularly those made of concrete, can scour away sediments at the base of the bulkhead. This can undercut the sediment that holds it upright, causing it to lean towards the waves, and possible future failure. This can also cause erosion on nearby beaches. If the bulkhead interrupts the zigzag activity of the littoral drift and halts the transportation of sand up the beach, a sandy beach can be changed into one that only contains cobbles or gravel. In some cases, the beach can be scoured down to bedrock or a hard clay surface. This process may take several years or even decades, but the damage is long-term. This erosion can degrade the nearshore spawning habitats for surf smelt, sand lance, and herring, and ultimately the food sources for salmon and other benthic feeding fish.

There are alternatives to bulkheads, however, such as soft shore armoring. Such alternatives may involve anchoring of large logs parallel to the shoreline, planting of salt-tolerant vegetation, and/or bringing in fill in the form of sand or gravel. Information on these methods can be found in the bibliography. If you are interested in installing soft shore armoring, it is best to consult a professional to assess your situation, as well as performing the design and installation work. This approach does not work in all locations, however, so be sure to investigate your situation to the fullest possible extent.

This issue of Shore Stewards News was written by Scott Chase, Coordinator of the Island County Shore Stewards program. This was updated by Cammi Mills June 2008.

Flame Retardant Chemicals

2008-08-15T14:21:00.000-07:00

Hi, Shore Stewards partners, Here is the link to this month's Shore Stewards News, which deals with flame retardant chemicals that have been shown to affect the health of marine animals in Puget Sound: http://www.shorestewards.org/island/newsletter/ . I would recommend clicking on the pdf version. As with some other recent newsletters, this edition was written by a Shore Stewards coordinator in another county -- in this case, Cheryl Lovato-Niles in Whatcom County. You will see other newsletters in the future written by me or other coordinators, so that we may each devote more research and depth into what we write. We will add local content when required, so our information will not be too generalized, though it will almost always focus on Puget Sound.

This edition is somewhat more technical than most, but is something we don't usually think about. Many thanks to all of you who completed the online survey; your feedback and comments were most helpful in helping guide the program in the future! Hoping you all enjoy a warm and happy July, and get a chance to get down to the beach as often as possible, Scott Chase, Shore Stewards Coordinator, Island County121 N. East Camano DriveCamano Island, WA 98282 schase@wsu.edu(360) 387-3443, ext. 258

Life on the Edge

2008-07-28T16:19:00.000-07:00

Confessions of a Beachcomber
August 2008
by Nancy Sefton

I am bent over double, unable to stop a steady slide down a slope of green slime, tennies soaking, shoulders in knots. Add a sniffley nose, blue hands, and legs that collapse like a folding chair when I try to stand after hours of crouching. Without warning, Puget Sound sends an occasional scout wave to lick hungrily at my cold, wet feet. This is heaven.

At the right time and place, marine animals representing every biological group found in the sea are showcased for local shoreline hikers. Some creatures become dormant when exposed, their shells closed like trap doors to await the return of the sea. Others occupy shallow pools and remain submerged during the lowest tides, carrying on their normal lifestyles, defending themselves, trying to gobble each other up, even reproducing. Many animals lie hidden beneath sand, mud or cobbles, frustratingly beyond our view.

For its inhabitants, the intertidal zone is a tough neighborhood. It features wide temperature and salinity variations, periodic drying, and occasional heavy waves. Despite the conditions, a huge variety of animals lay claim to this inhospitable real estate. The intertidal zone is the maritime equivalent of downtown. In fact, things get so crowded that it's literally Standing Room Only for some residents like mussels, barnacles and oysters.

The tenacity of intertidal dwellers comes in many forms: clinging feet, suction cups, gripping fibres, custom shell shapes, rubber necks, impregnable armor, a camel-like tolerance for the hot sun.

On the edge of a shallow, rock-strewn pool, I sit quietly waiting for something to happen. Shortly the bottom debris begins to stir. What appeared to be small dark pebbles suddenly sprout jointed legs and lurch across the bottom – hermit crabs dragging their borrowed snail shells, like RVs, as they forage for food.

Keyhole limpet with encrusting coralline algae.

Living moon snail burrowing into mud bottom.

Sea stars grip the rocks with tiny suction cups on the ends of their tube feet. The strongest waves fail to dislodge them. The Pacific's colorful five-rayed ochre starfish is the Jesse Owens of the intertidal zone, a voracious carnivore that "gallops" across the exposed shore, shamelessly gorging itself in the high mussel and barnacle beds.

From rocky nooks, anemones blossom like chrysanthemums, some open and inviting, others closed upon themselves. Actually carnivorous animals, these flower look-alikes can be fatal, their poisonous tentacles spread to seduce the unwary. A tiny blue crab goes down for the third time into the gullet of an anemone, only the victim's claw emerging in a last silent plea for help.
As one wanders down the rugged shore, the sea delights in offering a hint here, a clue there, tantalizing fragments tossed up to lie scattered on the mind. The molted crab's abandoned shell is a half-told tale. The mussels and barnacles, their doors closed to strangers, keep their secrets until the waters rise. The spent heap of kelp piled upon the rocks beneath a buzzing cloud of insects alludes to a drowned forest, its canopy afloat on the far surface like a girl's hair. An empty snail shell, the sea's refuse, is an object of desire.

At each tiny pool I’ve stared through the sea's looking glass into an intriguing world I can never be part of. The tide turns at last and water flows like a transfusion into nooks and channels, bringing renewal. As the sea returns, intertidal residents resume their normal lifestyles, while I, the uninvited, retreat to higher ground.

Life on the Edge

2008-06-27T16:25:00.000-07:00

A Sound is Born
July 2008
by Nancy Sefton

Some folks from outside this area are geographically challenged when it comes to Western Washington. They think Seattle is perched right on the Pacific coast. Of course, WE know that we live around Puget Sound; the ocean itself is over 90 miles due west, far away across the Olympic peaks.

Imagine being around 17,000 years ago, when one could have walked across the Sound (no waiting in ferry lines). Back then, a great ice sheet had invaded from Canada to cover our entire region. At its toe, near present day Shelton, the ice rose 800 feet above a moraine. The future Olympia was covered by 1,500 feet of ice. Where Tacoma sits, the ice wall rose 2,500 feet. And Seattle? Over 3,000 feet of ice blanketed today’s busy metropolis.

This so-called Puget Lobe basically filled in the low areas between the Olympic and Cascade ranges, while a second lobe (not shown in the picture) pushed between Vancouver Island and the Olympic Peninsula, out to the Pacific Ocean.

But a big thaw was on the way. The ice sheet ultimately retreated, exposing deep gouges carved by ice and captured boulders grinding away relentlessly at the terrain beneath. Soon the Pacific Ocean poured in through the Strait of Juan de Fuca. Meandering trenches filled in to become greater Puget Sound, Hood Canal, and all those narrow passages so well traveled today by ferries, tankers, fishing boats, cruise ships and pleasure craft.

The great ice sheet left massive amounts of sediment behind. A great freshwater glacial lake, glacial meltwater and the glacier itself left layers of clay, sand and unsorted till respectively. As a result, the movement of sand and mud along our shorelines influences the kind of beaches we see today. Where steep bluffs are located, sandy beaches are constantly replenished by material shed from above. The often muddy bottoms of estuaries, where rivers enter the Sound, are replenished by sediments washed down from nearby mountains.

Because thousands of rivers and creeks pump fresh water into the Sound and saltwater pours in over shallow sills, the Sound itself can be considered a huge estuary, a big mixing bowl of fresh and salt water. It’s also referred to as an “inland sea”. Whatever the name, Puget Sound is a unique marine environment that deserves our most careful stewardship.