This story map presents historical and contemporary distributions of kelp forests along the Strait of Juan de Fuca in Washington State. Kelp forests are critical to biodiversity because they create unique habitat for many species. Kelp forests are sensitive to many factors, such as climate, animal grazers and pollution. The Washington State Department of Natural Resources (DNR) manages and monitors kelp forests as part of its stewardship responsibilities. Recently, DNR scientists teamed up with scientists from the University of Chicago and Marine Agronomics to study DNR’s long-term monitoring data along the Strait of Juan de Fuca and Outer Coast. This study compared contemporary kelp distribution from the ongoing monitoring with historical kelp distribution from maps summarizing field surveys from 1911-1912.This story map allows you to explore the historical and modern maps that we compared in order to assess changes in kelp abundance over the last century.

Collected web maps, story maps and downloads produced by the Nearshore Habitat Program - a program within the Aquatic Resources Division of the Washington Department of Natural Resources.

This web application gives interactive access to 2000-2019 seagrass monitoring data from selected sites in greater Puget Sound. Seagrass species monitored include eelgrass, surfgrass and Zostera japonica.  Underwater video is collected along transects and interpreted for species presence.  This data is used for site-specific purposes as well as estimating the total area of eelgrass in greater Puget Sound.  The estimates of total eelgrass area are the basis of the eelgrass vital sign reported by the Puget Sound Partnership.Eelgrass is a valuable aquatic plant in the marine nearshore that provides spawning grounds for Pacific herring, out-migrating corridors for juvenile salmon and importing feeding grounds and foraging habitats for waterbirds such as the Black Brant and Great Blue Heron.  Eelgrass also improves water quality by reducing particle loads, acts as a sink for nutrients, and stabilizes sediment, thus counteracting erosion processes.

This map service layer shows the seagrass species present at each site sampled (2000-2015) by a monitoring program covering greater Puget Sound. The monitoring is conducted by the Washington Department of Natural Resources. More recent data (2000-2017) is included in the complete dataset that is available for download.

This map service layer contains the site boundary polygons used for monitoring seagrasses in the marine nearshore of greater Puget Sound.  Monitoring is conducted by the Washington Department of Natural Resources. The site polygons cover all the potential native seagrass habitat for the entire monitoring study area.  The underlying data are included in the complete dataset that is available for download.

This is the eelgrass line layer from the larger Washington ShoreZone Inventory. Eelgrass (Zostera marina) is a submerged aquatic plant with recognized ecological value and management protections. The ShoreZone Inventory includes all saltwater shorelines statewide. It was completed between 1994 and 2000 using aerial videography collected at low tide. The complete ShoreZone Inventory can be found under Download Data.The Washington State ShoreZone Inventory can be used to better understand and manage Washington's coastal ecosystems. The inventory is useful for identifying the location of sensitive resources, for characterizing the distribution of habitats, and for identifying rare features. For example, maps of the inventory data can illustrate the distribution of eelgrass. Data can also be analyzed numerically to characterize abundance, such as the percentage of a shoreline that has been modified, or the relative abundance of different types of shorelines.

This dataset mapped 8 types of intertidal and shallow subtidal vegetation along saltwater shorelines in Skagit County and part of Island County in 1996 using an airborne multispectral scanner.  This is one element of a larger dataset that includes substrate type, wave & current energy, water regime and tidal datum lines as well as an ArcGIS layer file.  The complete dataset (all layers) can be accessed under "Download Data".

This story map describes seagrass monitoring at Dumas Bay conducted since 2008 by the Washington State Department of Natural Resources. This research uses an ecological monitoring protocol, designed by SeagrassNet, to detect fine scale changes in local seagrass resources.SeagrassNet is a global seagrass monitoring network that investigates the status of seagrass populations and the threats that affect these critical resources. The SeagrassNet program began in 2001 in the Western Pacific and now includes 126 sites in 33 countries with a global monitoring protocol and web-based data reporting system.More information on SeagrassNet monitoring at: seagrassnet.org