Feeder Bluff Survey

In 2005, the MRC contracted Jim Johannessen of Coastal Geologic Services Inc. to complete a comprehensive survey of feeder bluffs and accretion shoreforms along the entire shoreline of Whidbey and Camano islands.

The forage fish that form an essential link in the marine food chain rely on beach gravels of a specific character for optimum spawning conditions. Much of the Island County shoreline, with its glacially-carved high bluffs, provides a constantly replenishing supply of these gravels through natural erosion unless human activity interferes. We engaged Johannessen to map these feeder bluffs and related accretion shoreforms on both islands.

Johannessen not only conducted new field work but also reviewed historical data, aerial photography, maps and atlases. He compared the Beach Watchers' bulkhead inventory with the location of feeder bluffs to help assess the degree of impairment - sediment impoundment - for each drift cell.

Johannessen also developed a protocol for quantitative analysis of individual segments of feeder bluff. This included development of a systematic analysis that assesses the relative input of different size sediment from bluff to beach as well as the amount of mapped beach habitat (such as forage fish habitat mapped by others) maintained by the sediment input. The protocol, when implemented, produces a ranking for specific feeder bluff segments that indicates the relative value of the segment for the overall integrity of the mapped habitats.

The new information better equips the MRC to prioritize future restoration and conservation opportunities. During the course of Johannessen's survey he identified more than 100 sites worthy of future consideration. 

This information has been incorporated and updated into subsequent reports on feeder bluff mapping, available below.

Reports

2017 Feeder Bluff Restoration Assessment for Island and East Jefferson Counties

2013 Feeder Bluff Mapping of Puget Sound

2005 Island County Feeder Bluff and Accretion Shoreform Mapping

Tools

Feeder bluff mapping can also be visualized through the online mapping tool developed by WA Department of Ecology, Coastal Atlas: https://fortress.wa.gov/ecy/coastalatlas/tools/Map.aspx

More Information

• Encyclopedia of Puget Sound article on feeder bluffs