A Salmon Recovery Funding Board grant funded this important study completed for the east marine shoreline of Kitsap County.   The Battelle Marine Sciences Laboratory authors; Amy B. Borde, Chaeli Judd, Nichole K. Sather, Ronald M. Thom, Battelle  completed the study in Fall of 2009.  The overall goal of the nearshore assessment was to develop a  science-based protocol for determining priorities and strategies for improving nearshore ecosystem functions.  The primary objectives of the Kitsap County nearshore habitat assessment effort were the following:

• Conduct a field inventory of shoreline features;
• Delineate assessment units at “site” and “landscape” scales;
• Characterize the ecological features and conditions within those assessment units;
• Provide a baseline assessment of disturbances to nearshore ecological functions using repeatable methods;
• Consolidate this information into a single, GIS-based database for use by planners and resource managers;
• Validate the disturbance results by evaluating habitat structures indicative of ecosystem functions, including juvenile salmonid habitat.
• Develop a framework for prioritizing preservation and restoration of nearshore habitats used by salmonids.

The report is available below in 9 Adobe Acrobat files consisting of the report and the appendices.

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