What is ShoreZone? Part 1 Overview & Description

1. What is ShoreZone? Part 1 Overview & Description • Prepared for: • The Nature Conservancy, Alaska Field Office • Prepared by: • Mary Morris, Archipelago Marine Research Ltd. • & John Harper, Coastal & Ocean Resources Inc. • June, 2010

2. Acknowledgements Thank you! Alaska Department of Fish & Game & The Nature Conservancy for providing the funding for this project

3. Part 1. Outline • Introduction to ShoreZone • Overview of ShoreZone methodology • Examples of observed and derived attributes • Example of mapped data

4. Key Contacts for Team ShoreZone • NOAA • Cindy Hartmann Moore (NOAA Fisheries, Juneau) • Mandy Lindeberg (NOAA Alaska Fisheries Science Center, at Lena Point, Juneau) • Steve Lewis (NOAA Fisheries, Juneau) & lead for the NOAA ShoreZone website and database distribution • The Nature Conservancy • Laura Baker (Juneau) • Alaska Department of Natural Resources • David Gann (Juneau) • Cook Inlet Citizens Advisory Council • Susan Saupe (Anchorage/Kenai)

5. Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation Alaska Department of Fish and Game Alaska Department of Natural Resources Alaska Ocean Observatory System Alyeska Pipeline Service Company Archipelago Marine Research Ltd. Coastal and Ocean Resources Inc. Coastwise Services Cook Inlet Regional Citizens Advisory Council Exxon Valdez Oil Spill Trustee Council Kachemak Bay National Research Reserve Minerals Management Services, Coastal Impact Assistance Program National Park Service NOAA National Marine Fisheries Service, Alaska Region and Alaska Fisheries Science Center North Pacific Research Board Prince William Sound Regional Citizens Advisory Council Prince William Sound Science Center Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines, Ocean Fund The Skaggs Foundation The Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation Sitka Tribe of Alaska Southeast Alaska Petroleum Resources Organization The Nature Conservancy US Coast Guard USDA Forest Service US Fish and Wildlife Service University of Alaska Fairbanks University of Alaska Southeast ShoreZone Alaska Partners

6. A Partnership that Works ! The ShoreZone Alaska team was the recipient of the 2009 Coastal America Spirit Award The national award is for “action-oriented, results-driven collaboration process dedicated to restoring and preserving coastal ecosystems and addressing critical environmental issues.”

7. What is ShoreZone? ShoreZone is a coastal habitat mapping system that characterizes physical and biological resources of the shoreline. ShoreZone features: • georeferencedimagery • georeferenced data • searchable database

8. What is ShoreZone? Standardized Coastal Mapping System wave exposure geomorphology sediment texture intertidal/subtidal biota supratidal biota man-made features

9. Where is ShoreZone? ShoreZone includes: • all ~ 5,000 km Washington • all ~ 40,000 km British Columbia • ~ 45,000 km Alaska (in progress; 59%) Almost 100,000 km of contiguous coastline has been mapped – from the Columbia River mouth to Bristol Bay, Alaska.

11. ShoreZone Method:Coastal Imagery • Mapping is based on video and still imagery: • - low-altitude flights of < 200m • zero tides or lower • oblique camera view- spatially-referenced

12. Imagery is part of the dataset

13. How is ShoreZone mapped? from imagery to maps with database

14. Recorded trackline provides reference position to videography and photos Barrier Islands, south Prince of WalesIsland

15. ShoreZone Method: Digital Shoreline Trackline and imagery are used to segment digital shoreline into along-shore units: GPS flight trackline recorded at1-second intervals: 

16. 688 690 687 689

17. Upper Beachface Cobble-pebble over sand Beach Berm Pebble over sand Lower Beachface Boulder-cobble-pebble over sand Low-tide Terrace Sand-mud

18. dune grass rockweed eelgrass soft browns

19. Attributes for the whole unit Attributes within across-shore of the unit

20. ShoreZone:A Rigorous Geospatial Database

21. Biobands in ShoreZone A bioband is species assemblage with a characteristic colour and across-shore elevation. Splash zone lichen (VER) Barnacle (BAR) Blue mussel (BMU) Dark brown kelps (CHB) Islet, Kenai Fjords National Park

22. Saltmarsh Black lichen on boulders Blue Mussels on boulders Rockweed Green algae Barnacles Red Algae Eelgrass …across-shore zonation Northwest Prince of Wales Island

23. Biological Wave Exposure • derived from the combination of biobands present in the unit. HIGH energy Very exposed Exposed Semi-exposed Semi-protected Protected Very Protected LOW energy Souhwest of Sitka

24. Protected A characteristic assemblage of biobands and associated indicator species define each wave exposure category Sitka, AK area

25. Exposed Sitka, AK area

26. What biobands are recorded in ShoreZone? • salt marsh • intertidal algae • mussels • understory kelps • eelgrass • canopy kelps and more . . . .

30. 2,532 km or 45% Distribution of Eelgrass in Prince William Sound

31. Perry Island Eelgrass (1:54,000)

32. Perry Island Eelgrass (1:10,000) (>50%)

33. South Bay, Perry Island, Prince William Sound

34. Derived Attributes in ShoreZone • biological wave exposure • coastal class • habitat class • oil residence index

35. N Haida Gwaii Oil Residence Index derived from: the interaction of substrate permeability & wave energy

36. Exposed ORI = days to WEEKS Sitka, AK area

37. Protected ORI = MONTHS to Years Sitka, AK area

38. Habitat Suitability Development Siting Essential Fish Habitat Planning and Response ShoreZone Applications:A Spatial Framework for Coastal Habitat Management

39. Summary of ShoreZone Overview • based on low-tide imagery • a digital, georeferenced, searchable dataset of geomorphic and biological attributes. • imagery is web-posted, along with summary data tables and maps

40. Key Contacts • ShoreZone NOAA website at: • www.alaskafisheries.noaa.gov/habitat/shorezone/szintro.htm • the NOAA ShoreZone website & database distribution: • Steve Lewis (NOAA Fisheries, Juneau) • steve.lewis@noaa.gov (907) 586-7858 • contact at The Nature Conservancy: • Laura Baker (TNC Juneau field office) • lbaker@tnc.org(907) 586-8623