Peer Reviewed Publications

Conservation and recovery efforts for depressed populations of wild Chinook Salmon Oncorhynchus tshawytscha are improved by detailed classifications of basic natural history traits for juveniles across habitats. The Skagit River system in northern Puget Sound provides a unique opportunity to study the … Continued

Tidal channels are structurally and functionally prominent features in tidal marshes, so their restoration is central to marsh restoration. Prominent design questions in tidal marsh restoration include: How many tidal channels can a restoration site support, and thus, how many dike breaches should … Continued

Despite decades of restoration work, Chinook Salmon Oncorhynchus tshawytscha in the Pacific Northwest remain under the protection of the U.S. Endangered Species Act (ESA). Chinook Salmon in the Skagit River basin play a vital role in the abundance and recovery of the … Continued

To identify potential actions for conserving Chinook Salmon Oncorhynchus tshawytscha in the Skagit River, Washington, we used a 16-year time series of streamflow data, adult escapement, and out-migrant abundance to understand how out-migrant abundance and life history diversity were related to spawner … Continued

Identifying factors that influence anadromous Pacific salmon (Oncorhynchus spp.) population dynamics is complicated by their diverse life histories and large geographic range. Over the last several decades, Chinook salmon (O. tshawytscha) populations from coastal areas and the Salish Sea have exhibited … Continued

Habitat restoration planning and design can be informed by information on spatial patterns in habitat use, which can be obtained from temporally and spatially extensive monitoring efforts. Using records from long-term monitoring in four tidal deltas, we modeled how landscape … Continued

9 Abstract Effective tidal marsh restoration requires 10 predictive models that can serve as planning and 11 design tools to answer basic questions such as which, 12 if any, plant species will colonize a proposed resto- 13 ration site. To … Continued

Channel meander dynamics in fl uvial systems and many tidal systems result from erosion of concave banks coupled with sediment deposition on convex bars. However, geographic information system (GIS) analysis of historical aerial photographs of the Skagit Delta marshes provides … Continued

Hydraulic geometry and related analyses are often used to investigate tidal channel geometry and evolution and inform marsh restoration. An alternative approach is presented that avoids calculating tidal prism and allows analysis of additional channel metrics. It relies on scaling … Continued

The amount of large woody debris (LWD) in Pacific Northwest estuaries has declined dramatically since Euro- American settlement in the mid 19th century. Little is known about the ecological significance of estuarine LWD. This ignorance impairs protection and restoration of … Continued

We describe a process for evaluating proposed ecosystem restoration projects intended to improve survival of juvenile salmon in the Columbia River estuary (CRE). Changes in the Columbia River basin (northwestern USA), including hydropower development, have contributed to the listing of … Continued

Consideration of fundamental channel processes, together with map-based and field investigations, indicates that stream channel type influences salmonid spawning distributions across entire channel networks and salmonid abundance within channel reaches. Our analysis suggests that salmonid spawning patterns in mountain drainage … Continued

Forest management-driven increases in landsliding may impact aquatic habitat and water quality, yet it is difficult to disentangle the effects of hydroclimate from evolving land-use practices when interpreting landslide rate fluctuations over decadal timescales. We compiled shallow landslide inventories starting … Continued

Wood influences channel morphology in headwater streams by creating steps and pools in the longitudinal profile and trapping sediment. We used field data from 32 headwater stream reaches in the northwestern Cascade Mountains to test the hypotheses that 1) larger … Continued

Riparian forests attenuate solar radiation, thereby mediating an important component of the thermal budget of streams. Here, we investigate the relationship between riparian degradation, stream temperature, and channel width in the Chehalis River Basin, Washington State. We used lidar data … Continued

Scaling relationships in landforms are a signature of locally stable, self-organized critical states, which in tidal marshes result from the interaction of hydrodynamics, sediment dynamics, and biota. Empirical scaling relationships for tidal channel planform were developed for reference tidal marshes … Continued

Beaver (Castor spp.) are considered a riverine or lacustrine animal, but surveys of tidal channels in the Skagit Delta (Washington, USA) found beaver dams and lodges in the tidal shrub zone at densities equal or greater than in non-tidal rivers. Dams … Continued

Shoreline armoring is widespread in many parts of the protected inland waters of the Pacific Northwest, U.S.A, but impacts on physical and biological features of local nearshore ecosystems have only recently begun to be documented. Armoring marine shorelines can alter … Continued

The decline of salmon populations has intensified tidal wetland restoration efforts throughout the Pacific Northwest, but few results are available monitoring the trajectory of these efforts over time. In three oligohaline tidal wetlands, dike removal restored tidal influence to provide … Continued

Tidal marsh restoration generally involves dike breaching rather than complete dike removal to restore tidal inundation. Dike removal more completely restores hydrodynamic processes, but dike breaching is more economical. Thus, without a clear demonstration of the ecological benefits of complete … Continued

Tidal channels are central elements of salt marsh hydrodynamics, sediment dynamics, and habitat. To develop allometric models predicting the number and size of tidal channels that could develop following salt marsh restoration, channels were digitized from aerial photographs of Puget … Continued