Friends Notes

UPDATE: Grant for Fidalgo Bay and City of Anacortes stormwater monitoring.

The Rose Foundation awarded a significant grant to Friends of Skagit Beaches for monitoring stormwater outfalls at the point where stormwater meets saltwater. The objective of this project is to create a continuously updated baseline of measured stormwater pollution levels that reach Puget Sound.
The City of Anacortes has more than 80 outfalls that deposit stormwater directly into Puget Sound. This project, manned by volunteers, will monitor most of these outfalls. The outfalls not monitored are either on private land or are too unsafe for a volunteer to reach.

(FOSB President Tim Gohrke checking out one of Fidalgo Islands stormwater outfalls)

This stormwater pollution monitoring project is a partnership with Friends of Skagit Beaches, the City of Anacortes, and the Samish Tribe's Department of Natural Resources.

At this stage the project is organizing the training curriculum around six types of measurements:
1. Dissolved Oxygen Levels
2. Salinity
3. pH
4. Water Temperature
5. Turbidity
6. Fecal Coliform levels

Volunteers will use several calibrated electronic measuring devices for fast and accurate data capture. The data will be stored in the project's own database. The Rose Foundation grant provides funding for two years. At the end of that two year period the project will visualize the data and show the actual levels of pollution from Anacortes stormwater.

(Pictured: Wayne Huseby watches Diane Hennebert (City of Anacortes) calibrate her turbidity test equipment. This procedure involves three bottles with known turbidity levels. The sensor is shown each bottle and calibrated to that level. This machine will be used by the FOSB stormwater monitoring volunteers in their monthly data gathering work among the city's stormwater outfalls.)

The State Department of Ecology requires that a municipality with a stormwater permit must examine and sample at least 13% of their entire stormwater pipe network each year. Most municipalities have budget shortages for manpower. Usually no more than 13% is examined. That means in the five year permit time frame no more than 65% of a town's stormwater system is monitored, and likely only once in five years.
Stormwater is the state's largest single pollution source according to The Department of Ecology. It's greater than waste water treatment or agricultural runoff. Yet no municipality can routinely or consistently report pollution levels that discharge into Puget Sound.

This situation seems tailor-made for a citizen science volunteer campaign. The Anacortes stormwater monitoring project will not stop pollution, but will guide the city's limited manpower to find and eliminate the sources of pollution that the volunteers detect.

It was a cool mostly cloudy 4th of July morning when Pete Haase, Tom Flanagan, and I met at the March Point Park and Ride. Pete and I are members of the Fidalgo Bay Aquatic Reserve (FBAR) Citizen Stewardship Committee (CSC) and Tom is a super volunteer/citizen scientist. We were headed to Libbey Beach Park, a small Island County park just north of Fort Ebey State Park on the western shores of Whidbey Island. It is part of the Smith and Minor Island Aquatic Reserve (SMIAR), an area that spans 36,300 acres of tidelands and seafloor habitat and includes the largest bull kelp forest in the State of Washington.

Today we were doing what any red blooded old white guys do on the Fourth of July, we were going to help a couple of young ladies, Jamie Kilgo and Cassidy Johnson from the Department of Natural Resources (DNR), with a kelp harvesting study. Pretty much what everybody does on the 4th of July, right? The goal of their study is to gather information about harvester practices and evaluate potential impacts of harvesting on the intertidal kelp community. Kelp is a broad term used to describe a group of brown macroalgae species common to our Salish Sea rocky shores, including the iconic bull kelp (Nereocystis leutkeana). Kelp forests, as they are known, are extensive underwater (most of the time) “factories” that convert solar energy into food and protective structure for many of its inhabitants, like invertebrates and fish, including juvenile salmonids. They are vital to a healthy intertidal and subtidal ecosystem.

Although Tom and I are experienced citizen scientists, neither of us had experience with these types of studies. We are both former engineers so almost impossible to train! Pete was an “old hand” having been out on the beach with Dale Fournier, FBARCSC member, and Jamie a few weeks earlier. By some miracle, Jamie and Cassidy were able to quickly teach us (the tide would soon be coming back in!) how to identify, measure, and record data on these amazing macroalgae in a very short time. Proof that you can teach an old dog new tricks!

Although we were noting and recording the presence of several types of kelp, our focus was on Alaria marginata (winged kelp) and Saccharina spp. (sugar and split leaf kelp). These species are the preferred targets for the recreational harvesters.

One of the things that makes the beaches along the west side of Whidbey perfect for supporting large kelp beds but extremely difficult to walk (better to crawl!) are the large boulders that litter the beach. Kelp attaches and anchors itself to the rocks so as not to be swept away by winter storms or strong tides. Once anchored solidly to the sea floor, the kelp forests absorb significant amounts of wave energy thereby slowing beach erosion.

These studies actually started back in 2015 when members of SMIAR and other local environmental groups began observing and recording spatial and temporal harvester patterns, measuring the wet weight of harvester buckets, and conducting harvester interviews at Libbey Beach. Since 2017, the DNR led by Jamie Kilgo and her team, has been conducting a harvest method impact study.

One of the outgrowths of the work by volunteers and DNR is a harvester outreach and education program. Interpretative signs were developed and installed a few years ago. Harvesters are provided information on the best method to harvest kelp so that it can survive and re-grow. It turns out the methods used to harvest kelp are critical to sustainability. If the stem is cut too close (generally less than 12”) to the holdfast, it is not able to regenerate and/or reproduce. Not a good thing if we want sustainable kelp forests!

As we finished up and headed home for a “normal” 4th celebration, it reminded me that the actions taken by a small group of engaged local citizens can make a big difference toward protecting our rich marine environment.

Jennifer Selvig and Wayne Huseby went out to the end of Weaverling Spit to retrieve half of the "shell stacks" that they had deployed in late May. 

The "shell stacks", made up of 11 Pacific oyster shells, provide an appropriate substrate for native oyster larvae to deposit themselves. The stacks will be sent to the labs in Olympia to be viewed under a microscope for evidence of native oyster "spat". The remaining half of the stacks will be collected in late May of 2019 or one year from initial deployment. A new set of "shell stacks" will be deployed at that time.

A great way for citizen scientists to help with important research on this once abundant mollusk!

The Salish Sea Stewards Class of 2018 completed their training on Tuesday, May 22. Twenty-five eager and engaged community members completed the ten-week course, which included hands-on training in forage fish spawning monitoring, intertidal monitoring, and crabber outreach. Many regional experts gave their time to the class, presenting on a variety of important topics, such as ocean acidification, the importance of citizen science, and tribal treaty rights. The training included field time at Bowman Bay, the shoreline of Fidalgo Bay and the mudflats of Padilla Bay.

 The new Salish Sea Stewards have committed to give back to the Salish Sea 50 hours of their time over the next year. Programs needing volunteers were highlighted throughout the trainings and class participants have already signed up for many that interest them. Many have already started volunteering at intertidal monitoring, heron monitoring, and education events for school children. When these Salish Stewards complete their volunteering in twelve months, the Salish Sea will have benefitted from a whopping 1,250 hours of dedicated volunteer energy!

A New Project

After many years of questioning what bird species use Fidalgo Bay Aquatic Reserve, the members of the Fidalgo Bay Citizen Stewardship Committee decided it was time to put this question to action. This question could not be answered previously because bird species have never been consistently surveyed within the aquatic reserve. There have been a few studies quantifying marine bird species abundance in the Salish Sea, the most comprehensive being the Marine Ecosystems Analysis Puget Sound Project conducted in 1978/1979 . The most recent survey of the bay to our knowledge was conducted by ornithologist John Bower of Western Washington University, “Changes in Marine Bird Abundance in the Salish Sea: 1975 to 2007”. Using these two reports as our guide, the committee got to work organizing surveys to quantify the diversity, distribution, and abundance of marine bird species within Fidalgo Bay Aquatic Reserve.

Organizing a Citizen Science Project

A key factor in the success of planning these surveys was the guidance we received from the Cherry Point Aquatic Reserve Citizen Stewardship Committee, who have been completing bird surveys up north for six years now in close partnership with the North Cascades Audubon Society. Lucky for us, the Skagit Audubon Society also has an incredible group of birders that were eager to help this project take off.

We also had the privilege of receiving instruction with volunteer training and protocol development by Washington Fish and Wildlife seabird biologist, Caanan Cowles (pictured to the left). Caanan also happened to work for John Bower back in the early 2000s when he last conducted bird surveys in Fidalgo Bay, so he helped us determine the four site locations for our survey as well. The surveys run from September to May for the overwintering season, and this year’s survey was our pilot year to work out the details in the protocol as well as organize a solid group of citizen science volunteers. We held a training in February at the Fidalgo Bay RV Park that had 19 participants, and around 6 volunteers attend the surveys each month.

Why Monitor Birds?

Birds are often used as an “indicator species” to detect the overall health of the ecosystem. Here in the Salish Sea, marine birds are predators, often dependent upon forage fish as their main food source. Fidalgo Bay Aquatic Reserve was created because it is a hotspot for forage fish spawning due to the expansive eelgrass beds, another common food source for migrating birds. Surveying marine birds gives us yet another element in the Fidalgo Bay food web to follow over time in order to detect any changes within the reserve.

Gathering Baseline Data

By gathering data over a long period of time, we will be able to monitor trends in the population dynamics of the bird species that depend on Fidalgo Bay. This data will help us be prepared for detection of abnormal conditions and whether these changes are due to natural variation or anthropogenic causes such as an oil spill. Volunteer positions for the bird surveys include a spotter, counter, and a scribe. Although we do need an experienced birder for the counter position, all are welcome and encouraged to join our surveys and learn more about the birds of Fidalgo Bay Aquatic Reserve!

If you are interested in receiving updates for the 2018/2019 monitoring season with monthly surveys from September to May, please email Erica Bleke at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.