1. Ocean/Envir 260
Lecture #3:
History, Political Geography

2. Puget Sound Ecosystem Definition of “ecosystem”:
An ecological community together with its physical environment, functioning as a unit.
Human concept, for management and understanding
Multiple scales: wetland, river, etc.

3. Puget Sound Ecosystem For this class, PS ecosystem = PS Basin
Not just marine areas

4. Puget Sound Ecosystem Not including Canada
Strictly for management purposes
Not including Fraser R. basin
Different terrain, climate
Boundaries of Salish Sea ecosystem
Even that excludes largest river system

5. Fraser River Largest contributor of:
Salmon
Freshwater
Sediments
Especially important influence on San Juan
Islands
Lecture #9
Comparative river flows,
Fig 3-8, Sound Science

6. Terrestrial ecosystems
Nature Conservancy ecoregions
Puget/Willamette/ Georgia “Trough”
N, S Cascades
Coastal mountains

7. Puget Sound Ecosystem
“Not only are ecosystems more complex than we think, they are more complex than we can think.”
--Jack Ward Thomas, architect of Northwest Forest Plan

8. Geologic foundation
“Civilization exists by geological consent, subject to change without notice.” --Historian/Philosopher Will Durant

9. Mountains South Cascades North Cascades Olympics
67 – 58 million years ago
Like Aleutian Islands
North Cascades
50 – 58 million years ago
Small tectonic plate, followed by San Juans, Vancouver Island
Olympics
24 million years ago
Scraped from top of plate, wedged between others

10. Plate Tectonics Small plates caught between Pacific, N Am
Active earthquake zone
Great thrust quakes along continental shelf
Downgoing slab explains PS depth; deep quakes
Shallow quakes along crustal faults

11. Glaciers Repeated events Young landscape, evolved with human presence
Past 2 million years
Last ~12K years ago
3K’ thick at Seattle
1 mile at Bellingham
Young landscape, evolved with human presence

12. Glaciers Dominant factor in soils
Dense “till” predominates in lowlands
Organic soils crucial for hydrology
Nutrient poor
Importance of salmon, alder
S Sound prairies unique

13. Climate Pacific gyre Key results: Mild, wet winters Dry summer
Characteristic forests
Importance of snow pack
River flows
Water supply
Dominant air circulation patterns;
Fig 3-2, Sound Science

14. Native peoples Coast Salish Common culture
“Salish Sea”: Modern, recently adopted term
“Whulj”: “The saltwater we know”
Major language groups align with some modern “tribal” designations
Map of Salish peoples

15. Native peoples “Tribes” was Euro- American construct
Villages based on family, resources
Organized into “tribes” for treaties
“Usual and accustomed” fishing grounds

16. Native peoples Cultures based on salmon NW native population:
Large, dependable source of protein
NW native population:
1770: 100K, 1870: 10K
Note treatment in
readings
Walkinshaw: “Pageant of discovery and…settlement”
Native American fishing weir

17. Landscape change 1850: 1900: Forest to water’s edge
Complex estuaries and floodplains
Beaver trapping already affected
1900:
Riversides, shorelines cleared
Floodplains diked, drained
Cities, harbor development
Lower Skagit Valley and Delta—most major changes by 1900

18. 20th Century Industrial, urban, suburban, rural development
Salmon losses
Permanent loss of forest
Fragmentation, alteration of what remains

19. Landscape change
“No plausible scenario” where change in next 50 years could equal last 150
Detailed Willamette study
Same result certain here
From Willamette River Basin Planning Atlas, Hulse, Gregory and Baker (2002)

20. Federal lands 40% of PS basin Much now protected for old growth
National parks, forests, recreation areas, wildlife refuges
Much now protected for old growth
Foundation for regional conservation

21. Watersheds Each with unique challenges
Isolate effects of development on river systems
e.g., Seattle => minimal effect on Skagit
Not counting dams…

22. Watersheds Land use key to ecological health
More, lectures #6, 13
Counties are key decision-makers
County, watershed boundaries differ
Political, management challenges
Almost all major watersheds cross multiple jurisdictions

23. Recap Ecosystem boundary partly arbitrary
Geology and climate at the foundation
Enormous change since 1850
Government boundaries complicate management