Shoreline monitoring is necessary to evaluate the effectiveness of restoration actions and continue to improve shoreline management practices. WSG manages or supports a variety of restoration monitoring programs.
Shoreline Monitoring Toolbox
The Shoreline Monitoring Toolbox provides standardized approaches to monitor shorelines in Puget Sound. This project analyzes and interprets data that have been collected using protocols in the Shoreline Monitoring Toolbox and uploaded to the Shoreline Monitoring Database. These data will be used to assess restoration effectiveness and status and trends in Puget Sound.
Shoreline monitoring program
Each year, state and federal governments spend millions of dollars funding competitively ranked projects for restoring salmon habitat. But they provide very little funding for monitoring, assessing the effectiveness of restoration approaches or ensuring that ecological responses meet project goals. Using trained volunteers and students, WSG is conducting long-term monitoring — including topographic surveys and beach transect surveys of sediment, slope and biological communities.
WSG provides oversight, analyzes the data collected, supervises citizen volunteers and shares results with others.
Elwha River monitoring
This program was designed to test a fundamental idea associated with the Elwha dam removals: that the input of a massive dose of new sediment from the Elwha River into marine waters will nourish beaches miles away. Monthly surveys of beach profiles and grain size help researchers test the concepts that are used to manage shorelines throughout Washington state.
These surveys help investigators better understand the full scope of the restoration benefit of removing the dams. And this research provides a case study for adapting to long-term environmental changes like sea level rise.
In addition to supporting the research, WSG partners with multiple entities engaged in the Elwha studies to facilitate funding, coordinate outreach efforts, organize meetings and publish results.