Skagit Estuary Restoration Blueprint: Identifying and Prioritizing Areas for Habitat Restoration in Puget Sound's Largest Rural Estuary

Author: Tom Dean
Organization: People for Puget Sound

1402 Third Ave
Seattle, WA 98101
USA

Phone: 206-382-7007
Fax: 206-382-7006
zferdana@.pugetsound.org

Presented by Zach Ferdana

Spurred by proposed Endangered Species Act listings of Puget Sound salmon and other marine species, we developed a GIS site selection tool to identify and prioritize restoration and conservation targets throughout Puget Sound. For the restoration blueprints, we used ARC GRID and ArcView GIS to create a coincidence model based on historic tidal influence, seasonal and tidal flooding, hydrologic zones, ecological sustainability, public lands, land cover, and parcel density. These criteria are based on principles of landscape ecology and ease of restoration. This analysis for the Skagit estuary could be applied to any rural delta in the Puget Sound/Georgia basin.