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Data Set Info
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Data Quality
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Summary

Short Citation
Northwest Fisheries Science Center, 2024: Habitat - Pipers Creek Natural Drainage System monitoring for Seattle Public Utilities, https://www.fisheries.noaa.gov/inport/item/20565.
Full Citation Examples

Abstract

Relatively little scientific research or monitoring has occurred in the Pacific

Northwest or elsewhere on the biological effectiveness of restoration efforts in heavily

urbanized watersheds. With the overarching goal of improving ecological health of its

urban creeks, the City of Seattle is testing innovative approaches to stormwater

management. We report here on four years of pre-project monitoring data collected over

2006-2009 for one such technique: Natural Drainage Systems (NDS).

This low-impact development approach is designed to modify the quantity,

quality, and timing of stormwater delivery to creeks and other water bodies. Seattle

Public Utilities has proposed a large-scale NDS within the Pipers Creek basin of North

Seattle that will treat approximately 60% of the Venema Creek sub-basin. The focus of

NOAAs research effort has been to develop appropriate monitoring parameters and

collect baseline data to evaluate the effectiveness of this major restoration action. Our

selection of study parameters was guided by specific project goals and includes measures

of physical habitat, contaminant loading, and in-stream biota.

We found that the biological health of Pipers Creek is poor compared to forested

streams in the Puget Sound region, but comparable to other urban streams in the City of

Seattle. The fish community is dominated by cutthroat trout Oncorhynchus clarki; scores

for the benthic index of biological integrity (B-IBI) range from very poor to poor; and

diatom assemblages are composed of a relatively high proportion of species tolerant of

high nutrient levels, organic enrichment, and sedimentation.

Despite poor stream health, densities of cutthroat trout in three of our five study

reaches were higher than many urban streams and approaching densities of cutthroat

found in natural streams. This may be due to the migratory nature of cutthroat trout, as

about half these fish were detected migrating from our study area to lower Piper Creek or

Puget Sound.

Results from heavy metal sampling were inconsistent. Zinc concentrations in

soil, black fly larvae, and mayfly nymphs collected from Pipers Creek study reaches were

significantly higher than for forested streams. We did not detect any differences in

copper concentrations between urban and non-urban streams.

We hypothesize that in-stream biological health will improve relative to current

baseline conditions following Venema NDS implementation, with treated reaches

beginning to more closely resemble forested conditions. Based on statistical power

analyses, we recommend that post-project monitoring focus on rate and taxonomic

composition metrics rather than simple density measurements. Given the City of

Seattles considerable investment of restoration funds towards NDSs, it is critical that

post-project data be collected so as to explicitly test these hypotheses.

Habitat typing, channel geometry, substrate, temperature.

Distribution Information

No Distributions available.

Access Constraints:

NA

Child Items

No Child Items for this record.

Contact Information

Point of Contact
Sarah Morley
Sarah.Morley@noaa.gov
206-860-6780

Metadata Contact
Metadata Contact
nmfs.nwfsc.metadata@noaa.gov
(206) 860-3433

Extents

Geographic Area 1

-122.3727° W, -122.3727° E, 47.7109° N, 47.7109° S

Pipers Creek: Creek in Northwest Seattle that drains a 1,835 acre watershed into Puget Sound.

Time Frame 1
2006-04-03 - 2010-04-03

Item Identification

Title: Habitat - Pipers Creek Natural Drainage System monitoring for Seattle Public Utilities
Short Name: Habitat (Pipers Creek Natural Drainage System monitoring for Seattle Public Utilities)
Status: In Work
Publication Date: 2009-10-01
Abstract:

Relatively little scientific research or monitoring has occurred in the Pacific

Northwest or elsewhere on the biological effectiveness of restoration efforts in heavily

urbanized watersheds. With the overarching goal of improving ecological health of its

urban creeks, the City of Seattle is testing innovative approaches to stormwater

management. We report here on four years of pre-project monitoring data collected over

2006-2009 for one such technique: Natural Drainage Systems (NDS).

This low-impact development approach is designed to modify the quantity,

quality, and timing of stormwater delivery to creeks and other water bodies. Seattle

Public Utilities has proposed a large-scale NDS within the Pipers Creek basin of North

Seattle that will treat approximately 60% of the Venema Creek sub-basin. The focus of

NOAAs research effort has been to develop appropriate monitoring parameters and

collect baseline data to evaluate the effectiveness of this major restoration action. Our

selection of study parameters was guided by specific project goals and includes measures

of physical habitat, contaminant loading, and in-stream biota.

We found that the biological health of Pipers Creek is poor compared to forested

streams in the Puget Sound region, but comparable to other urban streams in the City of

Seattle. The fish community is dominated by cutthroat trout Oncorhynchus clarki; scores

for the benthic index of biological integrity (B-IBI) range from very poor to poor; and

diatom assemblages are composed of a relatively high proportion of species tolerant of

high nutrient levels, organic enrichment, and sedimentation.

Despite poor stream health, densities of cutthroat trout in three of our five study

reaches were higher than many urban streams and approaching densities of cutthroat

found in natural streams. This may be due to the migratory nature of cutthroat trout, as

about half these fish were detected migrating from our study area to lower Piper Creek or

Puget Sound.

Results from heavy metal sampling were inconsistent. Zinc concentrations in

soil, black fly larvae, and mayfly nymphs collected from Pipers Creek study reaches were

significantly higher than for forested streams. We did not detect any differences in

copper concentrations between urban and non-urban streams.

We hypothesize that in-stream biological health will improve relative to current

baseline conditions following Venema NDS implementation, with treated reaches

beginning to more closely resemble forested conditions. Based on statistical power

analyses, we recommend that post-project monitoring focus on rate and taxonomic

composition metrics rather than simple density measurements. Given the City of

Seattles considerable investment of restoration funds towards NDSs, it is critical that

post-project data be collected so as to explicitly test these hypotheses.

Habitat typing, channel geometry, substrate, temperature.

Purpose:

Raw/field data, Monitoring or sensor data

Notes:

Loaded by FGDC Metadata Uploader, batch 4691, 09-05-2013 16:23

Supplemental Information:

These data are available to the public

Report: City of Seattle Natural Drainage Systems Pre-Project Monitoring on Pipers Creek - Final Report (Final project report to funding agency)

Keywords

Theme Keywords

Thesaurus Keyword
UNCONTROLLED
PARR Exclusion Non-NOAA Funded
None aquatic invertebrate
None benthic
None ecosystem
None effectiveness monitoring
None food web
None growth
None habitat
None low impact development
None periphyton
None restoration
None salmon
None stormwater

Spatial Keywords

Thesaurus Keyword
UNCONTROLLED
None Pipers Creek

Physical Location

Organization: Northwest Fisheries Science Center
City: Seattle
State/Province: WA
Country: USA

Data Set Information

Data Set Scope Code: Data Set
Data Presentation Form: Document (digital)

Support Roles

Data Steward

CC ID: 386032
Date Effective From: 2015-10-01
Date Effective To:
Contact (Person): Morley, Sarah
Address: 2725 Montlake Boulevard East
Seattle, WA 98112
Email Address: Sarah.Morley@noaa.gov
Phone: 206-860-6780

Distributor

CC ID: 386033
Date Effective From: 2015-10-01
Date Effective To:
Contact (Organization): Northwest Fisheries Science Center (NWFSC)
Address: 2725 Montlake Boulevard East
Seattle, WA 98112
USA
Email Address: nmfs.nwfsc.metadata@noaa.gov
Phone: 206-860-3200
URL: NWFSC Home

Metadata Contact

CC ID: 386031
Date Effective From: 2015-10-01
Date Effective To:
Contact (Person): Contact, Metadata
Address: 2725 Montlake Boulevard East
Seattle, WA 98112
USA
Email Address: nmfs.nwfsc.metadata@noaa.gov
Phone: (206) 860-3433

Originator

CC ID: 386035
Date Effective From: 2015-10-01
Date Effective To:
Contact (Person): Morley, Sarah
Address: 2725 Montlake Boulevard East
Seattle, WA 98112
Email Address: Sarah.Morley@noaa.gov
Phone: 206-860-6780

Point of Contact

CC ID: 386034
Date Effective From: 2015-10-01
Date Effective To:
Contact (Person): Morley, Sarah
Address: 2725 Montlake Boulevard East
Seattle, WA 98112
Email Address: Sarah.Morley@noaa.gov
Phone: 206-860-6780

Extents

Extent Group 1

Extent Group 1 / Geographic Area 1

CC ID: 386038
W° Bound: -122.3727
E° Bound: -122.3727
N° Bound: 47.7109
S° Bound: 47.7109
Description

Pipers Creek: Creek in Northwest Seattle that drains a 1,835 acre watershed into Puget Sound.

Extent Group 1 / Time Frame 1

CC ID: 386037
Time Frame Type: Range
Start: 2006-04-03
End: 2010-04-03

Access Information

Security Class: Unclassified
Data Access Procedure:

At this time, contact the Data Manager for information on obtaining access to this data set. In the near future, the NWFSC will strive to provide all non-sensitive data resources as a web service in order to meet the NOAA Data Access Policy Directive (https://nosc.noaa.gov/EDMC/PD.DA.php).

Data Access Constraints:

NA

Technical Environment

Description:

Paper

Data Quality

Accuracy:

Medium

Quality Control Procedures Employed:

These data were collected and processed in accordance with established protocols and best practices under the direction of the projects Principal Investigator. Contact the dataset Data Manager in section 3 for full QA/QC methodology.

Data Management

Have Resources for Management of these Data Been Identified?: No
Approximate Percentage of Budget for these Data Devoted to Data Management: 10
Do these Data Comply with the Data Access Directive?: Yes
Is Access to the Data Limited Based on an Approved Waiver?: No
If Distributor (Data Hosting Service) is Needed, Please Indicate: No
Approximate Delay Between Data Collection and Dissemination: 0 days
If Delay is Longer than Latency of Automated Processing, Indicate Under What Authority Data Access is Delayed:

No Delay

Actual or Planned Long-Term Data Archive Location: NCEI-MD
Approximate Delay Between Data Collection and Archiving: 14
How Will the Data Be Protected from Accidental or Malicious Modification or Deletion Prior to Receipt by the Archive?:

The Northwest Fisheries Science Center facilitates backup and recovery of all data and IT components which are managed by IT Operations through the capture of static (point-in-time) backup data to physical media. Once data is captured to physical media (every 1-3 days), a duplicate is made and routinely (weekly) transported to an offsite archive facility where it is maintained throughout the data's applicable life-cycle.

Lineage

Lineage Statement:

Applied standard survey methods to generate cross section and longitudinal surveys.

Catalog Details

Catalog Item ID: 20565
GUID: gov.noaa.nmfs.inport:20565
Metadata Record Created By: Robert Marsicek
Metadata Record Created: 2013-09-05 16:23+0000
Metadata Record Last Modified By: SysAdmin InPortAdmin
Metadata Record Last Modified: 2022-08-09 17:11+0000
Metadata Record Published: 2017-03-06
Owner Org: NWFSC
Metadata Publication Status: Published Externally
Do Not Publish?: N
Metadata Last Review Date: 2017-03-06
Metadata Review Frequency: 1 Year
Metadata Next Review Date: 2018-03-06