Watertype Assessment Project Summary
West Sound Watersheds Phase III

During the 2014-2016 water type field seasons, Wild Fish Conservancy crews performed water type assessments on 72 streams that flow directly into Puget Sound on Bainbridge Island and Key Peninsula (Kitsap and Pierce Counties, Figure 1), adding to previous (Phase I and II) West Sound watertyping efforts. WFC conducted water type surveys using the protocols and definitions provided in WAC 222-16-031 and Section 13 of the Forest Practices Board Manual. WFC collected data only on properties where permission to do so was granted. During this phase of the project WFC requested permission from property owners to access 3050 parcels. Of these, access for the WFC staff to perform the survey on their property was granted for 379 parcels. Additionally, survey data were collected from within public right-of-ways. The survey encompassed 275 miles of streams.

WFC documented stream channel location and characteristics, fauna, riparian condition, and restoration opportunities via GPS and photographs. Wetted width, bankfull width, channel gradient, and other data were recorded at each GPS point and are visible, with photographs, by clicking on the points in the interactive map. We present more than 3500 photographs (with associated channel condition descriptions) on the interactive web-based GIS.