Greener Shores, Happier Homes:
A new pilot project helps homeowners safeguard the shores on which they reside
The densely forested coastlines of the Pacific Northwest have been significantly altered over the past centuries. Bulkheads and other man-made “armored” structures currently line over 25 percent — and in some regions as much as 60 percent — of shorelines from the Strait of Georgia to southern Puget Sound. Now, Washington Sea Grant and partners in Washington and British Columbia are collaborating with shoreline property owners to maintain or re-establish some of the critical functions of these beleaguered habitats.
Green Shores for Homes, an Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)-funded pilot project, will help property owners with developing or retrofitting their shoreline parcels in a more sustainable manner. “By providing technical guidance and incentives, we hope to benefit both homeowners and the ecological functions of shorelines,” says Katrina “Kat” Hoffman, coastal resources specialist with Washington Sea Grant and coordinator of the Green Shores for Homes program.
Beaches and their intertidal zones are ideal places for sand castles, long walks and bare toes. But by linking terrestrial and marine food webs, they are also essential to the survival of many plant and animal species. At low tide, clams, mussels and other bivalves are exposed for hungry gulls and oystercatchers. At high tide, surf smelt, sand lance and other forage fish deposit their eggs on mixed sand and gravel beaches, while juvenile salmon edge closer to shore to feed on insects falling from overhanging trees and brush.
In addition to providing nutrition for sea life, those remnant forests of Douglas fir, western red cedar, madrone, salal and fern stabilize banks, buffer the effects of storms on upland areas and provide habitat for birds and mammals. Felled trees, snags and other forms of large woody debris are also important contributors to coastal habitats, conferring significant ecological benefits to nearshore life. Early Salish peoples recognized the value of such interactions between land and sea: by floating bundled conifer branches in shallow waters, they could harvest large quantities of nutritious herring eggs.
These shoreline habitats rely on the natural erosion of coastal bluffs and upland areas to supply sediments and nutrients to keep them “alive.” However, structures such as bulkheads or seawalls can inadvertently interrupt natural beach processes, causing more overall harm than good.
Is it possible to maintain or improve the vital functions of shorelines while supporting the growing population of people who choose to live near the water? “Hopefully,” says Hoffman, who believes that both local jurisdictions and individual homeowners must work to address the issues. “Even with well-crafted federal, state and local shoreline development regulations, there can still be significant cumulative impacts from single-family homes on shoreline parcels throughout the Puget Sound,” she says. “Through technical guidance and incentive-based approaches, Green Shores for Homes will address this issue in a new way, allowing shoreline homeowners to invest in choices that feel right for them and the shorelines they appreciate.”
The Green Shores for Homes program is completely voluntary and will help participating homeowners evaluate suitable options for improving their properties by providing information on sustainable shoreline design and guidance on how to reach specific target levels within the program. These guidelines and targets are similar to the LEEDTM building standards used to evaluate the environmental performance of Green Buildings, but with a shoreline-centric approach. “The local jurisdictions that are piloting this program have committed to assisting willing homeowners who meet the high standards of the Green Shores for Homes program,” says Hoffman.
Assistance could come in the form of expedited permit processing, educational outreach, planning guidance or extra hands to help with implementation. Projects that might be recognized in the Green Shores for Homes ratings system include planting native vegetation, diverting stormwater runoff, removing a bulkhead, creating a pocket beach, reducing artificial lighting of the shoreline or even changing the orientation of a dock to alter the effects of shading for juvenile salmon and submerged aquatic vegetation.
The inspiration for Green Shores for Homes came from two places. A previous iteration of the Green ShoresTM program, initiated by the Stewardship Centre of British Columbia, focused on mixed-use and commercial shoreline development in British Columbia, while an effort called “Green Shorelines” led by the City of Seattle generated shoreline restoration design, cost and permitting information for homeowners interested in contributing to a healthier Lake Washington. When key players from both initiatives met at an Urban Waterfront Revitalization conference in 2008, they immediately recognized the programmatic synergies and were eager to collaborate. Although the Salish Sea knows no political borders, trans-boundary partnerships like these are rare but crucial for the ecological health of the region.
Hoffman convened a trans-boundary working group in 2009 to initiate brainstorming, which eventually led to the idea of Green Shores for Homes. A subsequent grant proposal solidified partnerships among the City of Seattle, San Juan County, a federation of Canadian Gulf Islands under the jurisdiction of Islands Trust and a technical team of scientists and engineers led by Victoria-based Archipelago Marine Research Ltd.
In March 2010, the EPA awarded more than $500,000 to the City of Seattle and San Juan County, along with partners Washington Sea Grant and Archipelago Marine Research Ltd., to develop the Green Shores for Homes ratings and credit system. The grant will fund the development of incentives to encourage shoreline homeowners to participate, in addition to trainings for homeowners, builders and developers in Seattle and San Juan County. Each jurisdiction will tailor incentives to meet specific local needs and capabilities. It will be up to each homeowner or developer to determine what credits are attainable on their property, and project staff will work to help them understand their various options.
One of the first tasks for this project is to map and classify shoreline areas amenable to the Green Shores for Homes approach. These maps will serve as decision-making aids for project staff, property owners and professionals in the building industry. “We do not want a project to fail, so we will not encourage people to take actions that would lead to detrimental erosion. Not all shorelines are the same,” says Maggie Glowacki, a shoreline planner with the City of Seattle. “Many property owners are wary of erosion risks due to armoring removal and are very interested in learning how to improve their property without this loss.” While some property owners could remove a bulkhead, the best bet for others may be to cultivate a diversity of native trees, shrubs and grasses.
Although the Washington State Shoreline Management Act of 1971 created new regulations for shoreline development, many shoreline properties were developed prior to the passage of this legislation and, as such, do not necessarily conform to current standards. Furthermore, “when one person installs a bulkhead, there often is a domino effect in which properties adjacent to bulkheads can become vulnerable to increased erosion, requiring action by other homeowners, as well. So you often see multiple seawalls in a given local area,” offers Hoffman.
Instead of succumbing to the cascading effect of building bulkheads, communities can protect and restore shorelines through other means. In 1998, a dozen property owners on Samish Island were faced with chronic beach erosion and serious storm damage despite the long-term presence of a concrete seawall. They considered rebuilding a larger seawall, but after research and community discussion, they chose a softer alternative, employing beach nourishment to restore the sand, gravel and logs that had once marked this shoreline. Not only did this successfully restore fragile intertidal habitat and the natural movement of sediment on their beach, but it has also proven remarkably effective at addressing the original erosion problem.
“I’m looking forward to working with Sea Grant, and Kat has been a great motivator to get us going,” notes Brian Emmett of Archipelago Marine Research Ltd. and coordinator of the technical team.
Hoffman herself is quite inspired by this project. “It is so encouraging to see a trans-boundary partnership dedicated to benefiting the Salish Sea ecosystem and our communities,” she says. “Political leaders in British Columbia and Washington have signed commitments to collaborate on coastal and ocean issues, but these efforts aren’t always obvious to folks working ‘on-the-ground.’ With Green Shores for Homes, local jurisdictions are facilitating collaboration in a way that should benefit homeowners and the Salish Sea ecosystem on both sides of the border.”
For more information about the Green Shores for Homes project, contact Katrina Hoffman at 360.416.7048 and kathoff@uw.edu.
By Megan McPhaden, Spring 2011 WSG Science Writing Fellow