Squaxin Island Tribe's Natural Resources

Powerpoint presentations from the speakers at the South Sound Science Symposium are now available online. Recorded audio will be added soon.

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Curtis Tanner of Puget Sound Nearshore Ecosystem Restoration Project provided closing comments.  “My job is to summarize everything and rally the troops.”  Curtis provided a summary of today’s speakers, telling of lessons that he will take away, uplifting solutions, and many questions to consider.  Sampling of questions: This was in a panel format, and for the [...]

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Linda Hofstad, Thurston County, on “Improvement in Henderson Inlet water quality/shellfish harvest status”: All was going well until State Department of Health started looking at water quality data, and closures and downgrades resulted. 2001 Shellfish Protection District formed, and in 2003 grant dollars became available to develop septic program. Keys: 1) process; 2) risk-based approach [...]

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In the last talk of the day Linda Hofstad from Thurston County told a story of success in the effort to improve water quality and upgrade shellfish beds in Henderson Inlet.   After 26 years of over 650 acres of shellfish beds degraded in Henderson Inlet the situation is now turning around and shellfish beds are [...]

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A large scale analysis of landform types and restoration opportunities identified 2 major river deltas (Nisqually and Deschutes) ,  144 coastal inlets, 179 barrier embayments, and 288 beaches in the South Puget Sound.   Paul Cereghino from NOAA explained that these different types of nearshore habitat were then examined looking at both degradation of the habitat and [...]

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Paul Cereghino, NOAA Restoration Center, on “Assessment of human/natural ecosystems for nearshore protection and restoration planning”: Nearshore systems are physically dynamic.  Critical processes operate at large scales.  The best strategy is based upon the whole situation (social, economic, ecological). Aims: Plan at the scale of physical systems.  Support quest for USACE Construction General.  Facilitiate regional project [...]

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Larry Phillips from the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife explained how very little work has been done to assess the status of coastal cutthroat in South Puget Sound.   Some work has been done in the past few years to establish potential index areas to monitor spawning cutthroat population numbers and to track cutthroat movements [...]

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An analysis of Chinook survival in Puget Sound and growth patterns in juvenile fish are indicating that the growth period between May to July when the Chinook are primarily feeding offshore is highly correlated with adult survival rates.    Dave Beauchamp from the University of Washington explained that a study looking at feeding rates, food availability, [...]

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