Resources for Shoreline Landowners

Shoreline erosion can be a challenge, but it is a natural process. Here are many resources to assist you in making decisions about how to maintain and protect your property while also considering the benefits of natural shorelines:
Living on the Shoreline-Educational Information:

Your Marine Waterfront: A guide to protecting your property while promoting healthy shorelines – This booklet provides waterfront property owners tools for understanding causes of shoreline erosion and options for addressing erosion. http://wdfw.wa.gov/publications/01791/

Shore Friendly – Shore Friendly is a public information website for waterfront homeowners who care about the health of Puget Sound. It is funded through the National Estuary Program by the Washington Departments of Fish and Wildlife and Natural Resources. http://www.shorefriendly.org/

Restore America’s Estuaries: What are living shorelines? – “Living shorelines” is a term used to define a number of shoreline protection options that allow for natural coastal processes to remain through the strategic placement of plants, stone, sand fill, and other structural and organic materials. https://www.estuaries.org/living-shorelines

Encyclopedia of Puget Sound: Salish Sea Currents Magazine: The Encyclopedia of Puget Sound is a free, open access website where scientists, policymakers and educators find and share information about the state of the Puget Sound ecosystem — its species, its features, its health and its people. The website is a product of the University of Washington Puget Sound Institute.

Shore Stewards Guide for Shoreline Living – PDF
Soft Shoreline Stabilization: Shoreline Master Program Planning and Implementation Guidance – Booklet contains plant selection guide.

Friends of the San Juans: www.sanjuans.org

Shoreline Stewardship Guide: – PDF

Marine Shoreline Design Guidelines – The Marine Shoreline Design Guidelines (MSDG) were developed to provide a comprehensive framework for site assessment and alternatives analysis to determine the need for shore protection and identify the technique that best suits the conditions at a given site. The MSDG were created to inform responsible management of Puget Sound shores for the benefit of landowners and our shared natural resources. This is a technical document to be used by professional coastal engineers and consultants.http://wdfw.wa.gov/conservation/habitat/planning/ahg/

USGS Shoreline Armoring Impacts-State of the Science The US Geological Survey in the federal research and advisory agency for earth science issues. A scientific workshop was convened in May 2009, specifically to bring local and national experts together to review the state of the science regarding the physical and biological impacts of armoring on sheltered shorelines such as those of Puget Sound.

Native Plant Resources for Marine Shorelines:

Vegetation Management: Guide for Puget Sound Bluff Property Owners, by Elliott Menashe for Dept. of Ecology – PDF
Shoreline Management and Stabilization Using Vegetation, Greenbelt Consulting for the Coastal Training Program
Marine Riparian Vegetation Communities of Puget Sound, by James S. Brennan: PDF
Marine Shoreline Plants-Mason Conservation District: https://www.masoncd.org
Sound Native Plants – Marine Shoreline Species: PDF
Sound Native Plants – Native Plant Nursery: https://soundnativeplants.com
Sound Native Plants – Vegetation Workshop Slides
Washington State Native Plant Nurseries: Native Plant Nurseries 
Sample Planting Plans – Native Plant Landscaping Made Easy: Use Sample Plans

Drainage Management:

Surface Water and Groundwater on Coastal Bluffs: A Guide for Puget Sound Property Owners: https://fortress.wa.gov/ecy/publications/SummaryPages/95107.html

Coastal Processes, Geology, Shoreline Photos, Landslides:

WA Dept. of Ecology – Shorelands DOE maintains oversight over the County Shoreline Program and the shoreline permit process. They also maintain a large and informative website. New developments are planned for shorelines.

Gravel Beach Blogspot – photos from around Puget Sound by Hugh Shipman, Washington Dept of Ecology http://gravelbeach.blogspot.com/

USGS Landslide Hazards-The US Geological Survey operates an Internet site with a large amount of information, including landslide hazards.  http://geohazards.cr.usgs.gov/

DNR Landslide and Natural Hazards Map https://www.dnr.wa.gov/programs-and-services/geology/geologic-hazards/landslides#find-mapped-landslides

Reading the Washington Landscape (Blog) www.washingtonlandscape.blogspot.com

Maps and Mapping Tools:

Sound IQ- SoundIQ allows you to search for Puget Sound-area information and create custom maps. This mapping interface is flexible and should work on desktop, tablet and phone devices: http://www.iqmap.org/gc/Html5Viewer/?viewer=soundiq

NOAA Sea Level Rise Viewer- This mapping tool simulates various sea level rise scenarios (from one to six feet above the average highest tides) and the corresponding areas that would be impacted by flooding: http://coast.noaa.gov/digitalcoast/tools/slr

Washington State Geologic Information Portal- Using our interactive maps, you can create and view custom maps, find out more information about map features, and download map data for use in a geographic information system (GIS). In addition to a variety of geoscience layers that can be turned on and off, each interactive map has many base layers to choose from: http://www.dnr.wa.gov/geologyportal

USDA Web Soil Survey-Web Soil Survey provides soil data and information produced by the National Cooperative Soil Survey. https://websoilsurvey.sc.egov.usda.gov/App/HomePage.htm

Other (Miscellaneous articles, conference proceedings, research):

Puget Sound Nearshore Ecosystem Restoration Project- White papers: Technical Reports

King County DNR-Lots of great graphics and information about the nearshore environment. http://www.kingcounty.gov/services/environment/watersheds

Video about habitat restoration and sea level rise adaptation: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4jazzH-pCVs&feature=youtu.be

“A Place at the Table” – Video about shoreline restoration and removing shore armor https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sP0zUwKUBEs