Beach Log JUNE 2007 - Sound Water Stewards · Beach Log JUNE 2007 Page 2 The Double Bluff-Wahl Farm team had an incredible -3.8 foot tide on May 18th and with that much beach exposed,

June 16th found the Ala Spit team taking to the beach to see what a -3.1 foot tide would reveal. Sammye Kempell is team captain for Ala Spit and her team was split down the middle with 5 veteran monitors and 5 folks from the new BW class. The group had great fun finding lots of red velvet mites (Neomolgus littoralis), a tiny striped anemone (Haliplanella lineata), and a purple ribbon worm (Paranemertes peregrina) that repeatedly

shot its proboscis out. Barry Dunn spotted a single sprig of invasive Spartina and Charlie Se-ablom’s sharp eyes picked out an eelgrass limpet (Lottia parallela). Steve Young reported that the day’s highlight for him was the discovery of a gunnel eel found tucked away underneath a cockle shell. One unusual finding was that of numerous jackknife clam (Solen sicarius) shells. This species has not been documented by our monitoring teams previously.

Another team was at work the next day at Trail’s End beach near Greenbank. Finn Gatewood is team captain for that beach and had a good turnout with a team numbering 13. Pam Win-stanly brought her son along and he proved to be a champion critter spotter. Among the findings at this beach were red rock crabs (Cancer productus), two spe-cies of shore crabs (Hemigrapsus nudis and H. oregonen-sis), broken back shrimp (Heptacarpus sp.), and hermit crabs (Pagurus sp.). They also found eelgrass (Zostera marina) with the red epiphytic seaweed Smithora on it, eelgrass limpets (Lottia parallela), a moonsnail (Euspira lewisii), and a sunflower star (Pycnopodia helianthoides).

JUNE 2007 Beach Log

WSU Beach Watchers P. O. Box 5000 Coupeville WA 98239 360-679-7391 ; 321-5111 or 629-4522 Ext. 7391 FAX 360-678-4120 Camano Office: 121 N. East Camano Dr., Camano Island, WA 98282, 387-3443 ext. 258, email: [email protected] E-mail: [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] Web address: www.beachwatchers.wsu.edu

Education, Research, Stewardship

Photo by Charile Seabloom

Photo by Jan Holmes

Barry Dunn with spartina

Photo by Mary Jo Adams


Red velvet mites (Neomolgus lit-toralis)

Beach Monitoring is in Full Swing

Continued on page 2

Page JUNE 2007 Beach Log

The Double Bluff-Wahl Farm team had an incredible -3.8 foot tide on May 18th and with that much beach exposed, it took the team five hours to get it all done! It is a wonder-fully diverse beach with a rocky upper section giving way to sand and then a big erratic in the very low intertidal. Among the findings was Swan’s Mopalia (Mopalia swani), a species not often seen by Whidbey Island beach monitors. The relatively wide girdle of this chiton has such very short, fine hairs that it may appear hairless. Another unusual find was that of a small yellow snailfish (genus Liparis or Polypera). Like the more commonly seen clingfish, soft-skinned little snailfish have a sucker disk on their underside that allows them to adhere to rocks and seaweed. Libby Hayward liked the anem-

ones and the team documented four spe-cies: white plumed (Metridium sp.), red beaded (Urticina cori-acea), Christmas (U. crassicornis), and aggre-gating (Anthopleura elegantissima). They also spotted a gum-

boot chiton (Cryptochiton

stelleri) and rough piddocks (Zirfaea pilsbryi). Bob Buck commented that he had “never seen so many fish, gun-nels, bryozoans, nudibranchs, and worms in such concen-trations.” Julie Buktenica is team captain for Wahl Farm.

May 19th marked the 27th anniversary of the eruption of Mount St. Helens, an event that reminds us of the in-credible forces that can be unleashed by our planet. It was also the date chosen to monitor the beach at Partridge Point. This beach has an incredibly rich diversity, and first time beach monitor Rex Porter was awed by the vari-ety of flora and fauna; the species list for the day spanned five pages! Team captain Brian Giles enjoyed seeing the variety of chitons: Black katy (Katharina tunicata), lined (Tonicella lineata), mossy (Mopalia muscosa), and gumboot (Cryptochiton stelleri) chitons were found. Jan Holmes noted the presence of a large patch of white glove leather as-cidian (Didemnum/Trididemnum) as a high point of her day, as were seeing six-rayed (Leptasterias sp.) and sunflower (Pycnopodia) sea stars. Monem Mahmoud Abdel found the crabs interesting, particularly a red rock crab that he tried to hold still so its photo could be taken. Lisa Harkins was fascinated by the worms. She saw feather duster worms (Eudistylia vancouveri), a group of tiny, apparently newly hatched flatworms, and the many-tentacled tubeworm Thelepus crispus. As the tide dropped to the -3 foot level, masses of kelp and other seaweeds were revealed. The team documented two of the so-called “tarspots,” black tarspot (Petrocelis) and rusty rock (Hildenbrandia).

Photo by Jan Holmes

The Partridge Point monitoring team for 2007


Snailfish

Photo by Jan Holmes

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Liz and Pete Berg headed up the Harrington La-goon team of six volunteers on May 20th. In spite of threatening skies, the rain held off until the team finished for the day and just 15 minutes later came a pummeling downpour. Liz reports that everyone seemed to have a great time. She says the best part was having two brand new beach monitors (John and Wendy Moon) on the team. The team found quite a number of barnacle-eating nudibranchs (Onchidoris bilamellata) and their egg ribbons. They also saw lots of egg cases from predatory Nucella snails. In addition there were 6-rayed sea stars (Leptasterias sp.), mottled sea stars (Evasterias troschelii), an ice cream cone worm (Pectinaria) in its inch-long sand tube, and a multitude of purple shore crabs (Hemigrapsus nudis).

The Ledgewood Beach team lucked out with great

weather on June 1st. Jan Holmes headed up this eleven-member team. Sandy Dubpernell has been a Beach Watcher since 1993 but this was her first monitoring ex-perience, and she looked like she was having a great time as she examined a colorful carapace from an immature red rock crab (Cancer productus). Pete Berg turned over a small boulder and found it covered with tiny amphipods, and Jean Congdon spotted a small chiton. Another find was that of moonglow anemones (Anthopleura artemesia). The species diversity along the profile area at this beach is not as extensive as on some beaches so when monitoring was done, the team headed to a nearby rocky area to do some additional tidepooling. Liz Berg was amazed by the many forms of life that blanketed an erratic. Stewart Congdon

spotted a purple sea star (Pisaster ochraceous). Cheryl Brad-kin got a close-up look at a sunflower star (Pycnapodia) and was fascinated by the movement of the orange tube feet against the purple body of the sea star. Jan Holmes found a lavender and white ribbon worm (Micrura verrilli). This colorful Nemertean has a bright orange head. Tipping a boulder revealed another species of ribbon worm (Tubulanus polymorphus) that was red-orange over its entire body. One other unusual finding was that of a tiny cumacean. These minute crustaceans nourish themselves by feeding on the organic material that coats sand grains. Jill Hein, who came armed with binoculars, identified surf scoters and an osprey.

The following day started with chilly temperatures as a

thick fog shrouded West Sunset Beach. Bob Laws and Charlie Seablom have monitored that beach yearly since 1993, the year they both completed Beach Watcher train-ing, and you can bet that they didn’t let a little fog stop them this year! Bob commented on how much the beach had changed since last year. There is a massive erratic in the mid-intertidal, and Charlie pointed out that some years it sits on a hard surface of peat and other years the base is partially buried in sand. This year a thick layer of sand had settled around the erratic and concealed the underlying peat. The fog lifted enough for them to find their land-mark, the south end of Smith Island, and they quickly got their profile line laid out and went to work. Aside from those on the erratic, there are not a lot of species to be seen at this site. The erratic, however, supports a rich population of seaweeds and animal life. Taking a close

The Harrington Lagoon monitoring team for 2007

Photo by Jan Holmes

Continued on page 5

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Dates to Remember Upcoming Camano Island and Whidbey Island Events

and Other Items of Interest

WHIDBEY ISLAND Saturday, June 16, 10:30 a.m. Digging for Dinner - Double Bluff Beach Park, Whidbey Island Wednesday, June 20, 6—8 pm Premier of Wharf Exhibits opening for Beach Watchers

Thursday June 21, 6:30p.m. Evening Educational Series - Whidbey General Hospital conference room Topic: Deception Pass State Park Friday June 22, 8 a.m.: Ala Spit Seining Saturday June 23, 5—7 pm Orca Awareness Celebration and Grand Opening of BW exhibits Whidbey Naval Air Station Great American Backyard Campout Friday June 29, 7pm, Evening Presentation by Beach Watchers at Ft. Ebey State Park Saturday June 30, 11am—noon Low Tide walk for public at Ft. Ebey State Park Saturday June 30, 9:30am Digging for Dinner - West Penn Cove, Whidbey Island Friday July 6 8:30am Breakfast w/ BW's at Whidbey General Hospital Cafeteria Wednesday July 11, 9am Oil Spill Training @ Padilla Bay - 10441 Bayview-Edison Road, Mt Vernon Thursday July 19, 6:30 pm Evening Educational Series—Trinity Lutheran Fireside Room, Topic: Sonar 101 with Navy contractor Ken Longshore 10 am Hike and Haiku with Elizabeth Davis in South Whidbey State Park

Saturday, July 21 Day on the Praire with WSU Extension

Sunday, July 29 11 am Annual Island County Beach Watcher Picnic at Rosario Beach Shelter

CAMANO ISLAND Wednesday June 13, 6:30—8:30pm Escape Cord Training @ Tulalip Marina Monday July 2, 9am Camano Monthly Meeting - 121 N.E. Camano Drive, Camano Island, 98282 Saturday July 7, 9am Oil Spill Training - American Legion Hall, 145 Alverson Blvd, Everett 98201 Thursday July 19, 10 am Nature Conservancy’s Port Susan Bay Preserve field trip

Sunday, July 29 11 am Annual Island County Beach Watcher Picnic at Rosario Beach Shelter

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Continued from page 3 look, Bob and Charlie found three species of barnacles: little brown (Chthamalus dalli), acorn (Balanus glandula), and thatched (Semibalanus cariosus); four species of limpets: finger (Lottia digitalis), shield (Lottia pelta), mask (Tectura persona), and plate (Tectura scutum); two species of anemones: aggre-gating (Anthopleura elegantissima) and white plumed (Metridium sp.); two species of ribbon worms: purple (Paranemertes pere-grina) and white (Amphiporus sp.); feather duster worms (Eudistylia vancouveri) and black katy chitons (Katharina tuni-cata).

Mary Jo Adams, BW Class of 1999

Beach Monitoring Schedule For June and July Whidbey Wednesday, Jun 13, 8 a.m. Double Bluff Cirque

Contact: Eugene Thrasher Thursday, June 14, 8:30 a.m. Rolling Hills Contact: Charlie Seabloom 8:30 a.m. South Whidbey SP Contact: Libby Hayward, Finn Gatewood Friday June 15, 9:30 a.m. Rosario Beach Contact: Jan Holmes Saturday, June 16, 9 a.m. North Hastie Lake, Contact: Sue Howard Sunday, June 17, 10 a.m. Freeland County Park, Contact: Bob Buck Monday, June 18, 12 p.m. South Lagoon Point, Contact: Jan Holmes Friday June 29, 9 a.m. Maxwelton Tidepool, Contact: Jeannie McElwain Thursday, July 12, Columbia Beach, Contact: Bill Blair Friday July 13 Honeymoon Bay, Contact: Finn Gatewood

Cornet Bay, Contact: Heather Leahy-Mack Possession Point, Contact: Bill Blair Thursday, July 14, Sunlight Beach, Contact: Brian Giles

Camano Tuesday June 12, 8a.m. Monitoring at Elger Bay 10:30am Monitoring at Cama Beach State

Park Monday Jun 18 12pm Monitoring at Iverson Spit Friday Jun 29, 9am Monitoring at English Boom Historical

Preserve

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Education Days on Camano Is-land For two days in May, the Beach Watchers on Camano Island had an opportunity to interact with second graders from our local elementary schools. Each day on May 17 and 18, 120 students, their teachers and parents came to the Camano Island State Park for Education Days, which are coordinated by the Friends of Camano Island Parks (FOCIP). Beach Watchers partner with FOCIP to educate the “little people” about life in and around the beach. Af-ter a morning of learning about forests and estuaries, fol-lowed by a lunch break, the students are led by their group leaders on a trail to the beach to explore the six activity stations we had set up.

FOCIP Education Days is a major event for the Ca-mano Island Beach Watchers. This year, 32 Beach Watch-ers shared their knowledge and love of the beach with the students and adults. We had wonderful low tides (-3.5 feet) and sunshine both days. The marine life in the aquariums and touch pools were sheltered from the hot sun by canopies. The remaining activities (touchy/feely, barnacle feeding, rocky shore and “Barnacle Bill”) were enjoyed near the beach in the open air. Along with our nametag, each of the Beach Watchers tied a strip of bright survey tape around an arm, so the students could easily spot us in the crowd.

Scuba divers (Mary Jo Adams and NW Divers) helped stage the event by bringing up critters that aren’t usually seen on a beach. Numerous creatures were on display in our three aquariums and four touch pools (octopus, sea cucumbers, nudibranchs, sea stars, crabs, anemones, jelly-fish, barnacles, sea weeds, clams, shrimp and sculpin). Af-ter the event, all creatures were returned to the water.

Before the event, I visited each classroom to give them an overview of the Education Days and answer questions. The visits were only 15 minutes long, but I would have enjoyed spending much more time with those intelligent “little people.”

After the clean up on Friday we had a debriefing ses-sion, evaluated the day and activities, plus shared ideas for improving the beach part of Education Days for next year. We came away from the event knowing that we had helped 240 students and 70 adults learn about the fragile environment of the beach.

Alice Blandin, Camano Island Beach Watchers, Class of 2002

Creosote Logs Removed From Camano Island State Park Between July and August of 2006, 31 Beach Watchers volunteers on Camano walked around the island with Global Positioning System (GPS) instruments, mapping all of the creosote and Spartina they encountered. The Beach Watchers were joined by several spouses and mem-bers of the public. Under the leadership of Duane Hoek-stra (BW class of 2003) and Mike Fielding (BW Class of 2006), the creosote was mapped for the Department of Natural Resources (DNR), while the Spartina was mapped for People For Puget Sound. By August, over 1,100 creo-sote and treated logs and beams were identified and re-corded. Spartina data was turned over to Susan Horton, Island County Noxious Weeds Coordinator.

On May 14, 2007 many of the volunteers returned to Camano Island State Park to mark the creosote and treated wood with stakes topped by red flagging tape. Al-ice Blandin (BW Class of 2002) and her husband Bill al-lowed the volunteers to continue along to their adjacent private beach. Crews working under the guidance of Wyatt Leighton from DNR followed up over a four day stretch that week, eventually removing several tons of the potentially hazardous logs from the Park and “Blandins’ Beach.” Although the Beach Watchers mapped the entire island last year, it appears that DNR will only be removing

Kristen Cooley enthralls her audience during Camano Island Education Days.

Photo by Scott Chase

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mittee, and Puget Sound Action Team (who sponsored the workshops).

The Elger Bay workshop on Camano was held March 17 at the South Camano Grange, and included: Pat Powell of Whidbey Camano Land Trust, speaking about property conservation; Scott Chase, talking about non-point pollu-tion; Aundrea McBride from Skagit River Systems Coop-erative, talking about shoreline processes; and Kurt Fresh from NOAA Fisheries talking about the salmon life cycle. After lunch Kurt Fresh, joined Todd Zackey of the Tulalip Tribe and several Camano Beach Watchers seiners, amazed property owners who found out how many juvenile salmon were just offshore. Most of the 40 attendees joined in the field trip, held in the rain. Aundrea McBride also described shoreline processes and salmon habitat to an assembled group.

The Saratoga Passage workshop, focused on educating those who live around Harrington Lagoon, Race Lagoon, and Ala Spit, was held at the Coupeville Rec Hall on April 14. Linda Lyshall from Puget Sound Action Team spoke about property conservation efforts, and the other sessions were the same as those held on Camano. Following lunch, everyone carpooled to Harrington Lagoon to watch Kurt Fresh and the Whidbey Beach Watchers seining team haul in a net teeming with salmon. Bob Buck supplied a kiddie pool to replicate a tiny lagoon, and the 5-gallon bucket of salmon, sculpin and other marine critters was poured into the pool, to the delight of the workshop participants. One resident was heard to remark that he lived at Harrington

creosote from this Camano site in 2007, as they have other priority locations around Puget Sound and a limited budget to achieve their goals. With the help of Beach Watchers, however, several tons of dangerous creosote will no longer be a problem on our beaches.

Scott Chase, BW Class of 2002, Shore Stewards coordinator

Estuary Workshops Teach Is-landers About Salmon Two workshops were held in March and April on Whid-bey and Camano Islands to teach folks living around pocket estuaries about the significance of their locations to salmon habitat. With the focus on lagoons where Beach Watchers currently do seining, several Beach Watchers volunteers assisted Shore Stewards coordinator Scott Chase in getting the word out to the folks who live near those locations. Planning for the workshops began in 2006, and included representatives from Beach Watchers, Shore Stewards, Whidbey Watershed Stewards, Island County Planning, Island County Marine Resources Com-

Seiners at Camano workshop, left to right: Barbara Brock, Duane Hoekstra and Bill Griffith (with his face hidden). Photo by Scott Chase


At Harrington Lagoon, Kurt Fresh exhibits a bowl of salmon and Bob Buck looks at the camera.


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Lagoon for 10 years, and had no idea that so much marine life inhabited the lagoon.

The workshops were held not only to inform residents of how much marine life depends on pocket estuaries, but also to make them aware of how their actions play a signifi-cant role in keeping those locations healthy for future gen-erations of salmon. A good time was had by all, and Beach Watchers once again showed everyone how important their work is in protecting Island County marine habitats.

Scott Chase, BW Class of 2002, Shore Stewards coordinate

Sound Gardening Workshop Held on Camano What better way is there to spend a sunny spring day than touring two lovely shoreline gardens? That’s exactly what over 40 people from Camano and Whidbey Islands did on April 28 at a Sound Gardening Workshop at the Camano Multipurpose Center. The workshop, sponsored by Puget Sound Action Team and planned by Beach Watchers, Shore Stewards, and WSU Waste Wise, started with an 80-minute presentation by Tim Walsh from the Department of Natu-ral Resources in Olympia. Tim is an expert on shoreline and bluff processes (as well as earthquakes and tsunamis), and he gave a wonderful talk about the causes of bluff erosion and slides, and what measures can be taken to prevent them. Scott Chase removed his Beach Watchers shirt to reveal his Waste Wise shirt beneath, and gave a brief talk on composting and mulching. This was followed by a super presentation on the use of native plants for bluff stability,

given by Sue Hoekstra. Sue and her husband Duane (both BW Class of 2003) gave a similar talk at Sound Waters this year to great acclaim, and share a passion for showing people how proper plantings and practices can minimize the chance of future slides.

Following lunch, the workshop participants left to tour two bluff gardens that showed how beautiful a garden can be with extensive use of native plants. Donna Wiedrich-Scott (BW Class of 2006) spent many weeks preparing her yard and garden for this tour, and the sun came out to make everything sparkle! A number of participants had questions, which were answered by Donna, Sue and Duane Hoekstra, and Barbara Brock. After touring Donna's gardens, everyone headed south to tour the bluff gardens of Barbara and Wes Brock (both BW Class of 2002). The Brocks have replaced their lawn with native plants, and everything was stun-ning, helped no doubt by the weeks Barbara also spent getting her garden in order. The workshop showed shoreline landowners how they can not only use native plants for bluff stability, but also how they can mini-mize or eliminate the use of fertilizers and pesticides to ensure the health of the nearshore habitat. Preparations are now being made for a fall workshop on Whidbey Island, so be sure to check the Beach Log for an an-nouncement of date and location!

Scott Chase, BW Class of 2002, Shore Stewards coordinator

Donna Wiedrich-Scott, in sunglasses, points out features in her garden of native plants.


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Sea Grant Leadership Visits Beach Watchers Friday the 25th was a special day for the Beach Watch-ers program. After three years of making a major in-vestment in the WSU Beach Watchers program, fund-ing up to a third of its annual operations costs, Sea Grant officials got a quick look at who we are. Invited for a special tour devised by Kristen Cooley and Don Meehan, University of Washington Sea Grant director Penny Dalton and outreach coordinator Pete Granger spent most of the day learning about us.

The day began in a bit of sunlight (surrounded by fog everywhere else) at Ala Spit, where the Juvenile Salmon Monitoring team gathered to collect data and to share with Penny and Pete how this work is conducted. Eric Beamer of the Skagit River Systems Cooperative, who heads up the scientific effort there, was on hand to share his love of a great team of Beach Watchers volun-teers.

Following the “on the beach” experience, we headed to Coupeville to sit down with a select group of Beach Watchers who represent leadership in a number of projects. This session was designed to allow Penny and Pete to hear from each of the volunteers about what they are doing. We hope to do this again some time with a completely different set of volunteers, as we only touched the tip of the iceberg. The main things they got from the experience were a sense of the com-petency of our volunteer team and the passion we have about making a difference here.

The last event, a fun one for the two of them and the lunch group, was a tour of Penn Cove Shellfish op-erations. Neither Penny nor Pete had ever experienced this type of production, and they really enjoyed it. It also demonstrated the connection our program has with the commercial value of clean waters. We are very grateful for the excellent support that Ian Jefferds and his staff, especially Tim Jones, at Penn Cove Shellfish, give to us.

A huge thank you to all who showed up, some at the last minute, to interact with Penny and Pete. We love you guys!

Don Meehan

Dig clams the right way This summer join Beach Watcher Eugene Thrasher to learn the correct way to dig clams. He will be leading groups on two beaches–Double Bluff and west Penn Cove. The schedule of dates and times for each of the beaches is printed below.

Each session will cover how to take the right size clams and replace tiny ones so they'll continue to grow and not die. Also include are clamming rules, guidelines, techniques, and limits, as well as some clam lore, plus preparation and cooking tips.

Come with a clamming license (sold at hardware stores). Wear clothing and footwear that can get wet and sandy, and bring a shoveling tool and one bucket per digger. Trenching shovels work best. Hand trowels are not recommended. For more information call the Washington State University (WSU) Extension office at (360) 240-5558, or Beach Watchers at (360) 679-7391.

Schedule:

Date Place Time Tide June 16 Double Bluff 10:30 a.m. -3.3 June 30 Penn Cove 9:30 a.m. -2.3 July 14 Double Bluff 9:30 a.m. -2.8 July 28 Penn Cove 9:00 a.m. -1.8 August 11 Double Bluff 9:00 a.m. -1.8 August 25 Penn Cove 8:00 a.m. -0.9

Double Bluff Beach is south of Freeland, reached

from the highway by Double Bluff Road. West Penn Cove is at Zylstra Road and SR 20.

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“In the end we will conserve only what we love; We will love only what we understand;

We will understand only what we have been taught.”

~Baba Dioum, Senegalese ecologist

DEADLINE FOR NEXT BEACH LOG July 6, 2007

Thanks to Joyce Terrell for providing many of our Beach

Log Illustrations

THANKS TO

OUR SPONSORS

Town of Coupeville

If you would like to learn more about the Beach Watcher Program, please con-tact Kristen Cooley, Program Coordinator at 360-679-7391 or [email protected].

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Documents

Beach Log JUNE 2007 - Sound Water Stewards · Beach Log JUNE 2007 Page 2 The Double Bluff-Wahl Farm team had an incredible -3.8 foot tide on May 18th and with that much beach exposed,