Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Units Program: Washington
Education, Research and Technical Assistance for Managing Our Natural Resources

A number of habitat restoration sites in the lower Duwamish Waterway in Seattle, Washington have been extensively studied under previous Research Work Orders (RWOs) (Cordell et al., 1994, 1995, 2001, 2003), to determine how they function with respect to use by juvenile salmonids and production of invertebrates that provide the salmon with food. In 2008, the University of Washington Wetland Ecosystems Team (UW-WET) established an RWO to investigate ten additional habitat restoration sites in order to evaluate their biological function and to enable an initial comparison of them to other better studied sites in the system. Work on these sites included biological sampling in cases where it had not been previously done, synthesis of pre-existing data reports, and an evaluation of each site with regard to the stated restoration goals (Armbrust et al. 2008). The goal of this project is to conduct similar work for five additional restoration sites, including collection of new biological data where appropriate, and evaluation of each project with respect to original project goals. This data will be valuable in providing information about restoration sites above the waterway and in contextualizing the more downstream sites that have been previously sampled extensively. Work common to all sites: - reports related to each restoration project will be summarized - conduct a thorough walk through of each site - Site specific work will be conducted in the following areas: - Lake Washington gravel nourishment area - Seahurst Park seawall removal site - Green River large woody debris site - Uper Green River "Humphrey" Log Jam For each site a separate summary of the monitoring data available as well as the results of our own monitoring efforts will be prepared. Where possible, we will evaluate the site regarding success in meeting its goals. We will also provide recommendations to improve site function if appropriate.