Stormwater, Salmon, and the Health of Puget Sound

Keynote Address by Dr. Nathaniel Scholz

Stormwater runoff is rapidly becoming the most important pollution threat to the nation's waterways. Major efforts to reduce runoff to the Chesapeake Bay, the Everglades, the Great Lakes and the Gulf of Mexico have largely failed to keep pace with human population growth and changing land uses. In the Salish Sea, stormwater runoff now carries the largest mass of toxic chemicals to the waters of Puget Sound. Toxic runoff originates from our doorsteps, lawns, streets, parking lots, highways, commercial and industrial facilities, and almost everywhere else people live and work.

Myriad regional efforts are now underway to reduce the impacts of polluted runoff on Puget Sound. Examples include pollution reduction via toxic source control, low impact development, redevelopment using green infrastructure, and best management practices to filter or otherwise remove contaminants from stormwater. Are these costly efforts working? Will they be enough to ensure a sustainable and resilient Puget Sound ecosystem for future generations? How will we know?

These questions are driving ongoing NOAA research on stormwater. Recent scientific findings are pointing to salmon as key sentinel species for understanding both the ecological impacts of stormwater as well as the effectiveness of toxic reduction strategies. This presentation will explore how salmon can mirror the success or failure of current strategies and more clearly frame the challenges that lie ahead.

Dr. Nathaniel Scholz

Nat Scholz is a marine conservation biologist with a research focus on pollution. A native of the central Oregon coast, his career began with graduate research in Boston University's Marine Program in Woods Hole, MA. After teaching marine science on a tallship schooner in the Caribbean, he went on to finish a doctorate in marine zoology at the University of Washington.

Nat is currently with the Northwest Fisheries Science Center in Seattle. The Center is the headquarters for NOAA's fisheries research in the Pacific Northwest. For the past decade, he has been leading a group that studies the impacts of toxic chemicals on the health of coastal watersheds and embayments.

Pollution research at the Center is designed to help NOAA (and many others) identify toxic hazards to both humans and aquatic life, to assess the effectiveness of pollution control strategies and habitat restoration projects, and to protect and recover endangered species. The science also supports NOAA's mission to anticipate and minimize pollution threats related to human population growth, coastal development, and climate change.

A list of scientific publications and information on the Center's Ecotoxicology Program can be found at
http://www.nwfsc.noaa.gov/research/divisions/ec/ecotox

Articles about Presenters and Topics

There are over sixty presentations at Sound Waters 2010.
Here are some articles relevant to a subset of the presenters
and/or their topics:

For a full list of presentations - see Sound Waters Central

Wildlife Art



Bart Rulon lives and works on Whidbey Island. He received a bachelor's degree from the University of Kentucky in a self-made scientific illustration major. He graduated with honors and became a full-time artist, focusing on wildlife and landscape subjects, specializing in birds.

Rulon's works have been exhibited in many of the finest exhibitions, museums and galleries displaying wildlife and landscape art in the United States, Canada, Sweden, Japan and England. His paintings have been included in 14 exhibitions with the Leigh Yawkey Woodson Art Museum, including 12 times with the Birds in Art exhibit and one each in their Wildlife: The Artist's View, Natural Wonders, and Art and the Animal exhibits. His work has been chosen for the Society of Animal Artists' annual exhibition Art and the Animal for 12 years since he became a member in 1993. His paintings have been included in the Arts for the Parks Top 100 exhibition and national tour seven times, and in 1994 he won their Bird Art Award. Other recent awards include the Henderson Area Arts Alliance Award at the 2000 Kentucky National Wildlife Art Exhibit, Featured Artist for the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation in 2001, and the Audubon Alliance Artist of the Year Award for 1998. His paintings of birds are included in the permanent collections of the Leigh Yawkey Woodson Art Museum, the Bennington Center for the Arts, and the Massachusetts Audubon Society.

Rulon is the author and illustrator of the books Painting Birds Step by Step (1996), Artist's Photo Reference: Birds (1999), Artist's Photo Reference: Water & Skies (2002), and Artist's Photo Reference: Wildlife (2003), and Artist's Photo Reference:Songbirds & Other Favorite Birds (2004) all published by North Light Books. His work has been featured in five other North Light Books: Wildlife Painting Step by Step (Patrick Seslar 1995), The Best of Wildlife Art (edited by Rachel Rubin Wolf, 1999), The Keys to Painting Fur & Feathers (edited by Rachel Rubin Wolf, 1999), Painting the Faces of Wildlife Step by Step (Kalon Baughan, 2000), and The Ultimate Guide to Painting from Photographs (2005). His work is also included in the book Wildlife Art (Rockport Publishers, 1999). Rulon's paintings have been featured on the cover and in the interior of many Bird Watcher's Digest issues. His illustrations of seabirds appear in the field guide All the Birds of North America (HarperCollins, 1997), and he was commissioned to paint a variety of birds for A Guide to the Birds of the West Indies (Princeton University Press, 1998).

Rulon's primary interest is in experiencing his subjects firsthand in the wild. He focuses on painting subjects and scenes he has experienced in the wild rather than trying to paint animals he's only seen in captivity. Rulon prides himself on the time he spends in the field researching his subjects, because this is what he enjoys the most about being an artist. His travels have taken him to new places every year including long trips to Africa, India, South America, and Alaska, and he has been all over the contiguous United States and Canada. On many of these field trips he uses a sea kayak or a custom made floating blind as tools to experience the behaviors of wildlife up close. Rulon says "all this extra effort pays off in the long run because I get to see the intimate details of an animal's life that most people never see." It's that personal experience that inspires him to re-create an image for others to enjoy, more than the act of painting itself.

Wild Mushrooms

While Scott and Kathleen Chase are best known locally as avid WSU Beach Watchers from Camano Island, they have some other irons in the fire. Scott Chase is coordinator of the spectacularly successful WSU Shore Stewards program of Island County, which boasts more than 500 members locally and is currently expanding throughout Puget Sound.


Scott's artist wife, Kathleen, is the other half of this persuasive team, backing him up and diligently staffing the Shore Stewards booth at community events on both Camano and Whidbey islands while Scott interacts with the crowd.

A more closely guarded but important secret is this couple's passion for wild mushrooms.

"We both became interested in mushrooms after buying our property on Camano in the early 1990s and finding mushrooms growing everywhere," Scott says. "We were wondering if any were edible. We joined Puget Sound Mycological Society in Seattle, where we volunteered and took classes on mushrooms.

"We cook with local morels in the spring, followed by oyster mushrooms, then chanterelles in the fall, and with other mushrooms we find throughout the year. Our favorite hunting area is in the foothills near Darrington."

Their class on mushrooms is both fun and educational. Scott and Kathleen will describe the mushrooms in your yard and the forests of Western Washington. They'll explain which ones are edible and how fungi interact with your trees and plants.

The Truth About Trash

Janet Hall could be called the conscience of WSU Extension. As coordinator of Waste Wise Volunteers, Hall was the one who blew the whistle a couple years ago on plastic water bottles at Sound Waters University, and who is constantly seeking better ways to live less wastefully.

Reduce, reuse, recycle is Hall's mantra. But her mandate from Island County is even clearer -- to reduce the quantity of solid waste that accumulates at the county's transfer stations, since all of it ultimately must be shipped at great cost to distant, off-island landfills.

"And while we're at it, let's remember Island County is a sole source aquifer," Hall points out. "We need to be concerned about what we're putting into the ground because it can get into our ground water, as well."

For Hall, waste is about lifestyle choices. And she is philosophical. She encourages more mindful and sustainable living that puts the focus on the quality, not the physical scale, of life and possessions.

Graduates of Hall's training, WSU Waste Wise Volunteers, gain a toolkit of strategies to manage their homes and gardens in ways that generate fewer discards and less damage to the environment. For some, the joy of establishing a thriving first worm bin for composting is the start of a grand new adventure in country living.

For many, managing their homes with more environmental sensitivity is the "think locally" piece of the much bigger challenge to "act globally." Recent weather aberrations have heightened the concern by many that things need to change in fundamental ways. The unusually windy island winter of 2006-7 may not be just an "off year" but a taste of more unsettled years to come as our climate adjusts to global warming.

"It’s not only scientists now but citizens who see the problem," Hall says. "More and more people want to know why it’s happening, how to prepare and how to help."

Many of the answers can be found in WSU Extension’s Waste Wise training. The course is offered free of charge to those who commit to give back equivalent hours of service in educating their own communities.

For years, Waste Wise training focused on household recycling, composting and sustainable living. More recently the training has grown broader to teach strategies to become more carbon-neutral.

"Much of what we do every day releases carbon into the atmosphere," Hall points out. "Carbon emissions add to global warming. By understanding the sources of carbon emissions, we can make personal choices to reduce or offset them."

Household recycling is a good example. "By recycling half of our household waste at home we can each save 2,400 pounds of carbon dioxide. And since recycled paper requires only 10 – 30 percent as much energy to manufacture, it makes sense to buy recycled paper products." She added that by avoiding heavily-packaged goods, homeowners can reduce their garbage by 10 percent and save 1,200 pounds of carbon dioxide.

More and more people are consciously down-sizing or making changes in their lifestyle that value quality of life rather than quantity of possessions. “Recycling is good and we should all practice it. But it’s even better if we can learn strategies to consume less and generate less household garbage and fewer discards.”

"Nobody expects perfection," Hall said. "Waste Wise is not about being perfect – it is about sharing knowledge, exploring ideas and the excitement of learning. Many graduates of past years’ training say they met others in the Waste Wise program who have become some of their most valued friends in the community."

Saving Natural Habitats Forever

What would possess a landowner to forego development rights to acres of Island County land worth thousands, if not millions, of dollars?

Harry Case, one such landowner said it well. "If we are going to save the environment, the little people are going to have to do something."

As executive director of Whidbey Camano Land Trust, Patricia Powell works every day with private landowners who are stewards of some of the islands' loveliest farms, prairie land, forests and beaches. The land has been in their families for a lifetime, perhaps generations, and they face agonizing decisions. Do they sell it for development and take the money? Or find a way to preserve the land they love so it is protected in a natural state far into the future.



As an expert in the tools and strategies of land preservation, Powell is a creative deal-maker who knows any solution must be a win-win for the landowner and the public. For more than 20 years the land trust has worked with landowners, community groups and public agencies. In 2006, the organization protected 3,257 acres -- twice as much land as in the previous 19 years combined!

Whidbey Camano Land Trust focuses on the most critical lands in the county's 118 watersheds and 200+ miles of shoreline. These areas provide natural habitat for wildlife and aquifer recharge to protect the islands' drinking water, plus nearshore habitat for birds and marine life, including nursery areas for forage fish and salmon.

They also work to preserve the islands' cultural heritage, which is reflected in working farms, trails and areas providing access and views to the public.
Since 1984, Whidbey Camano Land Trust has permanently protected over 5,300 acres critical to our islands natural systems. Learn how this local, nonprofit conservancy works effectively with willing landowners to protect and steward land, and discover ways you can help secure an enduring legacy of land.

Rosario…of Legends and Tidepools

By Sammye Kempbell
Reprinted from Beach Log, October 2008, published by WSU Beach Watchers


On May 16, 1995, during a -3.2 tide, 29 school buses and numerous vans and vehicles carrying an estimated 1,200 people came to visit the Rosario Tidepools. As Beach Watchers know, after this event the rocky tidepools looked like a barren moonscape due to the trampling and destruction that day.


Many things have changed for the better since that sad day. The park now requires groups to register before coming. They are greeted and given beach etiquette training before they are given a task to complete while there. There is now a (marked) trail running through the tidepools that they are asked to stay on. There are permanent signs explaining the story and trails. Education and recovery of the tidepools area are now the goals.

During the summer there are wonderful volunteers, mostly Beach Watchers, who give freely of their time and knowledge to educate and inspire the visitors. Some spend their time at the education table helping people. Others work down in the tidepool area.

Something so awesome happens when a 10-year-old begins to ask the most interesting questions. At first I wonder, "How will I answer his questions?" Sometimes it is beyond my knowledge. As beach naturalists we have to be honest and say we don't know, but we share what we do know. We also suggest books, websites and visits to the library.

With awe I watched a 2-1/2 year old little girl gently lift up the seaweed to discover what was hiding underneath. It was amazing when I saw her lying across a rock on her tummy, gazing into a tidepool, and then gently reaching in with a finger to touch something. It was enough to inspire me to continue to do what I do.

When I see a child bring his parents down and begin to teach them about this fragile ecosystem I am inspired to do what I do. I learn from the public every single day I am on the beach. In July we had a group of school children visiting from Montana. Oh my gosh! They were so lucky! A large pod of Orcas passed right by us that afternoon. How wonderful that those children got to see Orcas in the wild, among other wonders at Rosario.

Most of the people introduced to the trail system are really appreciative of the opportunity to do their part helping with the recovery. A few are challenging. I guess I like a little bit of challenge, as they inspire me to do what I do. Sometimes I think if I can teach enough people they will teach others and eventually most of us will understand. The education people get at Rosario can be shared on any beach. My hope is that the people with whom we interact will share with others what we have shared with them.

On the 4th of July weekend we interacted with 484 people. Now that took teamwork! I am so proud of the great volunteers who made that day a success. As beach naturalists we talked to 7,165 people in 2008. Most of that was done at Rosario Beach. Without knowing that the seaweed in the tidepools is the nursery for new life and the hope for recovery, damage occurs repeatedly. When the visitors number in the thousands, inadvertent destruction occurs. There are too many feet, contaminated hands from natural oils on our skin, sunscreen, hand lotion and bug spray, too many little crabs that fall too far from hands or that get crushed by a rock. So the efforts of our volunteers continue! I invite you to come and explore Rosario with me next summer.
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