Draft assessment of coastal water resources in Ebey's Landing National Historical Reserve, Washington

Klinger, T; Fluharty, D; Byron, C; Evans, K

Ebey’s Landing National Historical Reserve (EBLA) protects a cultural landscape that reminds of 19th Century exploration and settlement in the Puget Sound region of Western Washington. Designated in 1978, the 17,400 acres in the reserve include rolling uplands, woodlands, prairies, and is bounded on the west by a strip of coastal cliffs open to Admiralty Inlet and on the east by a wide protected bay. Whidbey Island, on which EBLA is located, is a large island surrounded by the deep fjord-like estuary of central Puget Sound. More than 100 historic structures are represented on the national register and display the architecture characteristic of this area over 100 years ago. EBLA is managed by a “trust board” on which nine individuals constitute the “superintendent” and represent a partnership between the National Park Service, the town of Coupeville, Washington State Parks and private landowners. Approximately 90% of the land is privately held and administered by state and local jurisdictions and the remainder is owned by or under easement to the National Park Service or Washington State Parks. The purpose of this report is to review existing knowledge about the water resources and their significance in the context of management of EBLA. We identify existing information concerning water resources and monitoring relative to this task. We assess gaps in information as well as document concerns relative to water resource management now and in the future. In order to perform this assessment, we review the site itself, its hydrology and water resources including associated biological resources. The key foci are on water quality data sources, water quality impairment and sources of pollutants including non-point sources. In addition to water quality assessment we examine other areas of concern including harmful algal blooms, non-native and invasive species, harvest and collection of organisms, habitat modification, shoreline development and zoning, water withdrawals, erosion, effect of Elwha Dam removal, oil spills, land and water-based recreation, tsunami hazard and climate change as they relate to management of EBLA. Based on available data, there appear to be no major unrecognized water resource problems. However, we recognize a moderate degree of uncertainty in this assessment due to data limitations.