CLAMP Fact Sheet #3

The Biological Conditions Report describes whathabitats would be expected in a restored Deschutesestuary. Capitol Lake used to be part of southernBudd Inlet. Today, Budd Inlet is seven miles long, onemile wide at its mouth, and two miles wide near itscenter. At the south are East and West Bays which aredivided by the Port of Olympia peninsula. West Bay isthe mouth of the Deschutes River Estuary.Budd Inlet and southern Puget Sound estuaries arecharacterized by:• Shallow depths,• Soft, and silty sediments,

• Slow ﬂushing times,

• “Layering” of freshwater on top of saltwater,• Warmer summer surface water,

his report describes the results of two separatefeasibility study tasks. First is the Reference EstuaryStudy, and the second is the Biological ConditionsReport. Both tasks will help evaluate the feasibility ofrestoring Capitol Lake to an estuary of the DeschutesRiver. Capitol Lake is part of the Washington StateCapitol Campus and is located in Olympia andTumwater, Washington.When designing the

eschutes

stuary

easibility

tudy

(DEFS)

, one important question was …

“If we build it,will they come?”

This study would help answer thequestion when considering whether or not to restorethe estuary. It was to predict what types of habitatcommunities a restored Deschutes estuary mightsupport. To do this, the study used the anticipatedphysical conditions of the restored estuary which werea part of the Hydrodynamics and Sediment TransportModeling report (see Fact Sheet #4).

Study BackgroundSouthern Puget Sound

• Complexity in shape,• Limited water exchange with other parts of thePuget Sound,• Tide ranges of 13 to 15 feet between high and lowtides,• Limited dilution of nutrients, and• Lower oxygen concentrations.These physical conditions lead to some differences

between the ﬂora and fauna of southern Puget Sound

as compared with other estuaries in Puget Sound. For example, some species assemblages such as kelpand other algae and invertebrate species are not asdiverse as other parts of Puget Sound. Eelgrass, a keyhabitat of juvenile salmon, is also not found south ofthe Nisqually Delta.

Fall 2006

Field data collection. Ellis Cove in Priest Point Park. August 2005

This Fact Sheet is a summary of major ﬁndings from

the Deschutes Estuary Feasibility Study. It presentsinformation from the 1

in a series of technical reports.The Deschutes River Estuary Restoration Study andBiological Conditions Report was prepared by the EarthDesign Consultants, Inc. (Corvallis, Oregon).The full report can be downloaded from the WashingtonDept. of General Administration website at:www.ga.wa.gov/CLAMP/EstuaryStudy.htm

The Biological Conditions Report combined thefield data, scientific literature, and statisticalmodeling. It identifies what sort of estuarinecommunities might recolonize a restoredDeschutes estuary.•

Mud Flats

would dominate the restoredestuary. They would be similar to those of MudBay in Eld Inlet. Mud flats are characterizedpredominantly by silt and clay sediments thatare regularly flooded by high tides, drainedand flooded by a diffuse pattern of channels.At high and low tides, mudflats can be asource of food for waterfowl and food andrefuge for juvenile fishes. Organisms expectedin mud flat habitats include burrowingcrustaceans and polychaetes, mud shrimp,and clams. Diatoms and algal mats may befound where salinities are higher.•

Mixed Sand and Mud Flats

would occur atvarying elevations and salinities throughout arestored estuary. At higher elevations, thesehabitats form a transition zone up to high marshareas and are populated with vascular plantsand even some trees. At lower elevationsand low salinities, plants such as bulrush andarrowgrass may also occur. In lower elevation/high salinity areas, microalgae, salt-tolerantplants such as pickleweed, and animals suchas ghost shrimp will likely exist.•

Sand Flats

would also be expected within thebasin. Sand flats are found along exposedboundaries of mud flats in estuarine river deltas,adjacent to river channels. They typicallyoccur in higher energy areas than mud flatswhere the substrate is predominantly sand andis exposed to sorting from wave and currentaction. Flooded by most high tides, sand flatsare covered by scattered vegetation near the tidal edges, with more vegetation farther away from water. Clams, polychaetes, andyoung fish are typical animals that inhabit sandflats. In high salinity areas salt grass

could beexpected, while less salt-tolerant commonthree-square and Lyngbye’s sedge

wouldbe expected closer to Percival Cove andTumwater Falls.

Biological Conditions Report

A recreated Deschutes River estuary would featuremostly mud ﬂats at low tide with a sandy river channelrunning through it and a thin perimeter of salt marsh plants in portions of the North and Middle Basins.

The Reference Estuary Study sampled five estuarieswithin southern Puget Sound. These includingWoodard Bay, Ellis Cove, and Mud Bay in ThurstonCounty; and Kennedy Creek and Little Skookum Inletin Mason County. All are relatively close to CapitolLake and were chosen to represent the range ofconditions present in estuaries within Southern PugetSound. While the reference estuaries were fromsmaller drainages (creeks rather than a river), eachwatershed had a similar diversity of land uses andforest cover as compared to the entire DeschutesRiver watershed.At each estuary a total of 16 to 21 field samplingpoints were randomly located. There were a total of90 sites across the five estuaries. Measurements weretaken on the following: 1) Vegetation - percent cover;species, and type, 2) Sediment texture - sand, silt, andclay 3) Salinity, 4) Temperature, 5) Dissolved oxygenconcentration, and 6) pH. The location and elevationof each sampling point were established using globalpositioning system (GPS). Sediment cores and emptyor dead invertebrate

(insects and shellﬁsh)

shells werecollected for later lab analysis. The ﬁeld work wasundertaken during August and September 2005.•

Sand Channels

would form in the North andMiddle Basins. The main channel would reformquickly after dam removal. It would be expectedto be deeper and sandier than those found atKennedy Creek. Sand channels generally occur inopen, deeper areas where channels form. Theseopen areas are typically inhabited by clams,polychaetes, young flat fish, salmon, and sandloving algae. They are also important for provisionof refugia and food for anadromous, resident, andmarine fishes and transport of sediments.•

Vegetated marsh

would likely be limited to a bandaround the periphery of the basin (similar to MudBay). This area would support the type of salmarshplants described for the mud and sand ﬂatsabove. Higher elevations may also support treesand shrubs common to Puget Sound shorelines

Reference Estuary Study

Elevation

Elevations at the reference estuary sites ranged froma low of -2.1 feet tidal elevation (Mean Lower LowWater - MLLW) at Ellis Cove in Priest Point Park, to ahigh of almost 16 feet MLLW in Mud Bay. The averageelevation of sampled sites was 8.4 feet MLLW. Thelargest proportion of the sites fell near the medianvalue of 8.6 feet MLLW, which is just above mean halftide. By comparison, the summer and winter levelsof Capitol Lake would be 14.2 - 13.2 feet MLLW, ifconverted to tidal elevation datum.The ﬁeld team was unable to sample the lowestelevation at many of the estuary sites becauseof deep water. However, the sampling strategyadequately captured much of the range ofphysical conditions, and dominant plant and algalcommunities present in South Sound estuaries andthose which could be expected within a restoredDeschutes estuary.

Salinity

The salinity data collected at the reference estuarysites were measured in “pore water salinity” (psu). TheUSGS modeling output was called “near-bed salinity”.While the two salinity data sets are not directlycomparable, both include salinity ranges which arecommon to estuarine communities in Puget Soundaccording to other scientiﬁc studies.

The urban se�ing of Capitol Lake could pose someobstacles for reestablishing a restored Deschutesestuary. These challenges include: excess nutrients,altered hydrologic cycle, urban stormwater, invasivespecies, climate change, and other human disturbances.However, with realistic goals and an adaptiverehabilitation process, these uncertainties could beovercome and successful estuarine communities couldbe reestablished within the basin.

Biological Conditions Report

continued

Previous studies have shown that Elevation, SedimentTexture, and Salinity are the key physical parameters for predicting conditions within a restored Deschutesestuary (Capitol Lake).