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.

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 map service includes seagrass presence from underwater surveys in the marine nearshore of greater Puget Sound. The surveys are made with underwater video as part of a monitoring program conducted by the Washington Department of Natural Resources. Attributes describe the seagrass species classified at each point along the linear survey with a nominal spacing between points of approximately 1 meter. The map service currently serves 2000-2015 data. More recent data (2000-2017) is available for download.

Surfgrass (Phyllospadix spp.) is a submerged aquatic plant with recognized ecological value and management protections. This dataset summarizes surfgrass occurrence using data from the ShoreZone Inventory. Surfgrass is classified as being patchy (less than 50%) or continuous (greater than 50%) along each unit of shoreline (an area with similar physical characteristics). The ShoreZone Inventory includes all saltwater shorelines statewide. It was completed between 1994 and 2000 using aerial videography collected at low tide.