Introduction
Background
The Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW) and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) co-lead PSNERP, a General Investigation (GI) of Puget Sound. PSNERP was initiated to: (1) evaluate significant ecosystem degradation in the Puget Sound Basin; (2) formulate, evaluate, and screen potential strategies to address these problems; and (3) identify actions and projects to restore and preserve critical nearshore habitat. One aim of this multifaceted GI is to secure substantial federal funding (under the Water Resources Development Act or WRDA) for projects that restore the Puget Sound nearshore.
This report presents engineering design concepts for a suite of potential nearshore restoration actions that may be eligible for authorization through WRDA1. PSNERP will use the conceptual design information to assess the costs and benefits of each restoration action and formulate a comprehensive plan for restoring the Puget Sound nearshore. The plan will analyze future conditions with and without a strategic nearshore restoration project. This will allow the USACE and WDFW to compare the benefits of implementing nearshore restoration with the future conditions if no action is taken. The ecological and socioeconomic effects of restoration will be expressed in terms of change in ecosystem outputs. The USACE will use this information to select a portfolio of restoration actions that meet federal cost-effectiveness criteria. The selected actions will be evaluated further to verify their suitability for the National Ecosystem Restoration (NER) Plan proposed to be authorized for implementation.
All of the restoration actions described in this conceptual engineering design report will have the potential to provide important ecological benefits regardless of whether they are deemed appropriate for federal authorization. Some of the actions may be more suitable for implementation at the local level through non-federal programs or partnerships. Report authors and PSNERP team members anticipate that the design information provided by the report will support not only potential implementation of projects through WRDA, but also implementation through other federal and non-federal programs, authorities, and funding sources.
This report was prepared by a team of engineering firms led by Environmental Science Associates (ESA). WDFW hired this team to provide concept-level (10%) design services for an initial suite of candidate restoration actions. ESA’s team (referred to here as the Concept Design Team or CDT) includes ESA PWA (formerly Phillip Williams Associates, now a fully owned subsidiary of ESA); Anchor QEA; Coastal Geologic Services (CGS); KPFF; and Pacific Survey and Engineering (PSE). Completion of conceptual designs and review of the report was supported by PSNERP team members, project proponents who initially identified the potential restoration actions, and USACE technical experts.
1 This report uses the term action instead of project to denote individual restoration efforts that occur within a larger site. For some sites, such as the Skagit River delta, several actions may be proposed. The area where an action is proposed is referred to as the action area.