Monthly Archives: October 2010

2010 South Sound Science Symposium getting underway

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Folks from around the South Sound are streaming in ready to spend a day learning about the latest science in the South Sound. Speakers today will be presenting on topics ranging from human population growth, the pelagic food web of the South Sound, and invasive mudsnails in Capitol Lake. There are also a number of posters set up that cover additional topics including monitoring the restoration of the Nisqually Estuary, nitrogen loading in the South Sound, and bacterial monitoring of swimming beaches in Puget Sound.

We will be live blogging the day as speakers present so check back on this website often if you would like to track the conversations today and learn more about South Sound Science.

Live updates at the South Sound Science Symposium

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Jeanette Dorner and I will be updating what’s happening at the 2010 South Sound Science Symposium.  Updates will be posted at  https://www.squaxin-nr.org/  

Some background information about the Symposium is on the Puget Sound Partnership website, which also has the agenda.

If anyone else present as your own updates or observations, please feel free to email them to me: kanderson [at] nwifc [dot] org

Squaxin Island Tribe rolls out new landscape analysis of Budd Inlet

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Recently we’ve been presenting a landscape analysis to small groups in the area. Hopefully, our analysis will help kick-start a conversation about how to best approach restoring Budd Inlet.

Here is a press release about the project from the NWIFC:

The Squaxin Island Tribe has taken more than 20 years of studies and developed a resource to restore Budd Inlet. “We’ve taken every technical report, assessment and action plan written and come up with the ultimate Budd Inlet resource,” said Scott Steltzner, a biologist for the Squaxin Island Tribe.

Rather than writing a top to bottom restoration plan, the tribe created a way for practically any group to find out where to best apply their efforts. “This isn’t a straight up and down list of priority projects, but rather a way to find the project that’s right for a particular budget or effort,” Steltzner said. “If you have $25,000 and want to restore a shoreline, we can find a project for you. Or, if you have want to do projects that benefit shorebirds or forage fish, this tool can help you develop a strategy.”

The best thing about our work is that it doesn’t tell you what to do, just gives policy-makers the resources they need to make informed choices.

Here is our biologist Scott Steltzner giving a presentation on the analysis. Just click on the window below and you can hear Scott as he presents:

Squaxin Island Tribe Budd Inlet landscape analysis

Here is a link to the spreadsheet Scott referred to in the presentation, and here is the complete map of the analysis.

Too see why a part of Budd Inlet was ranked in a particular way, you can find its number on the spreedsheet and find what attributes were associated to it.

Squaxin-WDFW Spawning Chinook at Tumwater Falls Hatchery

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Male Chinook selected for spawning

Over the last few weeks WDFW and Squaxin Island Natural Resources staff have been busy spawning hatchery Fall Chinook returning to the Tumwater Falls Hatchery.  Pictures from Wednesday October 6th, 2010 spawning.  Video Clip

Approximately 3,000 adult Chinook (1,500 females/1,500 males) are needed to return to the hatchery for spawning to continue the program.   Eggs and milt are then taken from returning Chinook for future production.  Approximately 4.8 million eggs are taken, sometimes more to support other hatchery programs around the Puget Sound.  So far about 4,000 Chinook have returned to Tumwater Falls.

Once eggs are fertilized, incubated and reared at Minter and Coulter Creek Hatcheries,  about 3.8 million are released as juveniles at Tumwater Falls in late spring  (at about 70 chinook to the lbs.).