Currently Oakland Bay and Hammersley Inlet are the only estuary/nearshore systems that have been surveyed in WRIA 14 (Stevie 2002, personal communication). Taylor et al. (2000) used the National Wetlands Inventory maps (Cowardin et al. 1979) to identify a total of ~214 acres of wetlands associated with small tributaries of Oakland Bay and Hammersley Inlet. They also identified 51 acres of estuary in the same area. Cumulatively, about 28,000 feet (5.3 miles) of bulkheads are present along the shorelines of Oakland Bay and Hammersley Inlet (Washington Department of Ecology 1980, cited in Taylor et al. 2000). Shelton Harbor, Oakland Bay, and Hammersley Inlet were listed on the 1996 and 1998 303(d) lists for high levels of fecal coliform bacteria. Oakland Bay was also listed in 1996 for low levels of dissolved oxygen (Washington Department of Ecology 1996, Washington Department of Ecology 2000). From a point source pollution standpoint, water quality in Oakland Bay has improved greatly since enactment of the Clean Water Act of 1972 (Anchor Environmental 2002).

The head of Oakland Bay and mouth of Hammersley Inlet are less modified than the central portion of the region near Shelton and western Hammersley Inlet. A large estuarine mudflat with emergent marsh is present at the head of Oakland Bay and extends from Deer Creek south over one mile to the mouth of Johns Creek. Chapman Cove also contains an estuarine mudflat with emergent marsh. Two small mudflats are present in Hammersley Inlet; one is just east of Eagle point, and the other is at the mouth of Mill Creek. Shorelines along the western two-thirds of Hammersley Inlet and western Oakland Bay are extensively armored with concrete and wooden bulkheads and riprap.The mouths of Goldsborough and Shelton Creeks have been channelized through the industrial area along the Shelton waterfront (Anchor Environmental 2002).

Overhanging riparian vegetation was more plentiful along the eastern one-third of Hammersley Inlet and eastern Oakland Bay than in western Oakland Bay and the western two-thirds of Hammersley Inlet where shoreline armoring was prevalent. Overhanging vegetation was typically present along less than 25% of the armored shorelines. Nine out of 10 unmodified sample sites on Hammersley Inlet and Oakland Bay had overhanging riparian vegetation along 100% of the shoreline. Six of 10 modified sites had overhanging vegetation along 5% or less of the shoreline (Anchor Environmental 2002).

Unmodified sand and gravel beaches in Oakland Bay and Hammersley Inlet appeared to provide habitat more conducive to juvenile salmonid production than areas with modified shorelines. Large woody debris abundance ranged from 15 to 66 pieces per site at unmodified stations on Hammersley Inlet. Less than 15 pieces of LWD were found at all other sand and gravel beach sites with the exception of one near the head of Oakland Bay (Anchor Environmental 2002).

Description from the Salmonid Habitat Limiting Factors Water Resource Inventory Area 14, Kennedy-Goldsborough Basin. For more information including salmonid stock status see the previously stated document or the Salmon Habitat Protection and Restoration Plan for Water Resource Inventory Area 14, Kennedy-Goldsborough.