May 12 and 13, Tulalip Inn’s Pacific Rim Ballroom in Marysville, WA

Program

Program information will be posted as it takes shape.

Tuesday May 12, 2009

8-9 am

Registration & Continental Breakfast

9-9:05 am

Opening Conference

Fran Wilshusen
9:05-9:25 am

Welcoming

Mel Sheldon Jr., Chairman, Tulalip Tribes

Blessing

Marie Zackuse, Vice-Chairman, Tulalip Tribes
9:25-10:00 am

Introduction to Conference & Keynote

Terry Williams, Commissioner of Fisheries and Natural Resources, Tulalip Tribes
10:00-10:30am

Break & Poster Session

10:30-11:45pm

Tulalip Tribes Management Activities

12-1 pm

Lunch

Speaker: Honorable Chairman Joseph Pavel, Skokomish Tribe,  Tacoma City Cushman Dam Settlement

1-2 pm

Nearshore and Marine Session

2-3 pm

Forestry Session

3-3:30 pm

Break & Poster Session

3:30-4:30 pm

Restoration Projects/Monitoring Session

4:30-5:00 pm

Environmental Cleanup and Restoration Progress through the Puget Sound Initiative

  • Darrell Phare, Northwest Indian Fisheries Commission
  • Tim Nord, Washington Dept. of Ecology
  • Dawn Hooper, Washington Dept. of Ecology
5:00-5:30 pm

Exploring the Relationship between Science, Policy, and TEK

  • Honorable Chairman Brian Cladoosby Debra Lekanoff, Swinomish Tribe
  • Eric Beamer, Skagit River System Cooperative
5:30-5:45 pm

Conference Close

Fran Wilshusen

5:45-6:30 pm

Informal Social Gathering

6:30 pm

Dinner

Entertainment: Tulalip Drummers & Dancers

Wednesday, May 13, 2009

Technical Work Sessions…. Tulalip Restoration Field Trip

7:30-8:30 am

Registration & Continental Breakfast

8:30 – 10:30am

SSHIAPHydro Training

 - Tyson Waldo, SSHIAP North Sound Area Biologist

The workshop will give an overview of SSHIAPHydro, and then will proceed step-by-step through loading the data system, setting it up, entering data, and using the data system for analysis. Each attendee will be given an illustrated manual that they can refer to during the workshop, and that they can use after the workshop when they load and begin using SSHIAPHydro on their own computers.   Due to ArcGIS licensing constraints, the workshop is designed to flow through trainer demonstration with the trainees using the illustrated manual to follow along.   The objective of this workshop is to provide a comprehensive introduction of the SSHIAPHydro GIS data management system to the Tribes.

10:30-10:45am

Break & Poster Session

10:45 – 12:30pm  

Tribal Water Quality Database Training

Ron McFarlane, SSHIAP/WQ GIS Analyst

A standardized enterprise level database has been created to assist the tribes in transferring their data from existing formats into a common format.  The database schema has a common structure with EPA’s WQX schema and uses the same domain values, to facilitate the transfer of data to the EPA.

This training is intended to familiarize the user with the adopted schema, database population sequence and options; as well as import/export tools and interfaces.  Introductory setup of the Microsoft SQL Express 2008 database and configuration will be covered, as will utilization of the Tribal WQX Microsoft Excel Template.  This training is lecture only and will be followed by a more detailed (hands on) training at a near term future date.

12:30pm – 1:30 pm

LUNCH

1:45pm – 4:00 pm

Tulalip Restoration Site Field Trip

Tour Guides:

  • Kurt Nelson, Senior Stream Ecologist
  • Maria Calvi, Restoration Biologist
 

Coho Creek Project

Coho Creek is a tributary to Quilceda Creek, a watershed experiencing increasing urbanization. Coho Creek is a third order channel primarily used by coho salmon, chum salmon and cutthroat trout. The 2005 Snohomish Basin Salmon Recovery Plan considers Quilceda Creek degraded and places it in a group of sub-basins requiring restoration, specifically focusing on habitat restoration and reconnection. The Salmon Recovery Plan also recommends actions that benefit multiple species. The project reestablishes salmon use in an area that has not seen anadromous salmon for over 50 years. The project creates and enhances both spawning and rearing habitats in this Puget Sound lowland stream and would benefit coho salmon, chum salmon, and cutthroat trout within this sub-basin.  The Coho Creek Restoration Project aims to restore and enhance 6,000 feet of stream channel, 8 acres of riparian forest and improve connectivity to adjacent forest communities. The project will also restore natural hydrologic connection and functions to sub-basins forest, wetland and streams. Restoration involves excavating 6,000 feet of stream channel replacing a ditch that Coho Creek currently occupies, constructing riffles or spawning areas, installing large woody debris, and replanting streambanks and adjacent forest.

Qwuloolt Estuary Restoration Project

The Qwuloolt Estuary Restoration Project represents a broad-based interagency and community effort to restore historic tidal processes and a functioning estuary intertidal marsh system to 350 acres of isolated floodplain within the lower Snohomish River estuary.  The project will also restore natural hydrologic connection and functions to two stream systems and provide unrestricted fish access to 16 miles of upstream spawning and rearing habitat.  Restoration work will involve removing levee along Ebey Slough, installing setback levee to protect adjacent properties located in the floodplain, filling ditches, excavating stream and tidal channels, and conducting native riparian planting.

The Qwuloolt Project is exceptional in both scale and value to the lower Snohomish River estuary system and salmon recovery in Puget Sound.  The Snohomish River basin represents one of the few rivers in Puget Sound where the trend of estuary wetland decline may be significantly reversed.  Most of the estuary was cleared, drained, and cutoff from tidal and riverine influences by an extensive network of levees, however, lands were not converted to industrial urban development.  These conditions provide the opportunity for almost complete restoration of an historic estuarine system in Puget Sound.  Multiple resource assessment and watershed planning efforts within the region have identified the Qwuloolt project as a priority for intertidal marsh restoration and salmon recovery.  The 2005 Snohomish Basin Salmon Recovery Plan hypothesizes that the quality and quantity of rearing habitat in the nearshore, estuary, and mainstem rivers is the primary factor limiting Chinook Salmon and Bull Trout.  The Qwuloolt project will have a direct benefit on these federally threatened species, as well as Steelhead Trout, and other salmonids by restoring access to limited fresh to salt water critical transitional estuary habitat and by significantly improving access to miles of stream rearing and spawning habitat.  Specifically, the Qwuloolt project will contribute to restoration of 350 acres of the 2,700 acre target for estuarine habitat restoration as outlined in the Salmon Recovery Plan and improved fish access to 16 miles of upstream habitat.

Posters

  • THE IMPORTANCE OF SITE SELECTION AND TREATMENT INTENSITY FOR LARGE-WOODY-DEBRIS PROJECTS IN THE MASHEL RIVER, A TRIBUTARY TO THE NISQUALLY RIVER, WA (USA).
    • Florian Leischner, Christopher Ellings, Jennifer Cutler, Nisqually Indian Tribe, Olympia, WA. Kimberlie Gridley, South Puget Sound Salmon Enhancement Group, Olympia, WA.
  • A 59 Year Record of Environmental Streamflows in the Deschutes River
    • John Konovsky, Environmental Program Manager, Squaxin Island Tribe
  • Restoration on the Pysht Esturary
    • Randall McCoy, GIS Analyst, Lower Elwha Klallam Tribe
  • NWIFC-SSHIAP – Stormwater Data Search....Now what?
    • Marilu Koschak, Mid/South Sound Biologist
  • ESRI
    • David Gadsden, NW Federal Account Manager, Olympia, WA
  • Billy Map NWIFC-SSHIAP
    • Ron McFarlane, GIS Analyst
  • Recent Trends of Timber Harvest and Conversion Rates in WRIA'S 5-6-7; An Analysis of FPA's for 2005-2008
    • Brett Shattuck & Derek Marks, Tulalip Tribes TFW Program
  • TulalipHydro: A LiDAR-based model of drainage features in the Tulalip, Quilceda, Battle and Allen Creek Watersheds
    • Nick Weatherly, GIS Technician; Todd Zackey, Coastal Geographer
  • Seafloor Mapping and Habitat Characterization of the Salish Sea
    • Gary Greene, Director, Center for Habitat Studies, Moss Landing Marine Labs and Director, Tombolo, Orcas Island, WA