DESCRIPTION
The purpose of this project was to accomplish the following goals of the San Juan County Shoreline Modification Inventory: identify key juvenile salmon nearshore habitat stressors; prioritize habitat restoration opportunities to improve prey availability, and increase juvenile salmon survival; and secure landowner support for restoration implementation.
While there is a general awareness regarding the negative role shoreline modifications have on nearshore habitats, detailed information on the specific location, type, and landscape scale of the problem remains a major data gap for San Juan County salmon recovery efforts. Recent results of case studies indicate that the extent of shoreline modifications is much larger than understood; with roughly a third of the shorelines on developed parcels already modified.
Friends of the San Juans (FSJ) will survey, via boat, shoreline modifications including armoring, docks, and mooring buoys along all 400+ miles of San Juan County shorelines. Shoreline modifications will be then be prioritized for restoration. FSJ will then conduct targeted landowner outreach to educate the landowner about the importance of their shoreline, opportunities to restore the habitat, promote more ecologically-friendly designs, and if pertinent discuss potential funding options for restoration. This comprehensive inventory will improve understanding of the status of nearshore habitat for salmon and salmon prey in San Juan County and will directly inform restoration planning and implementation.