Volunteer Kayakers Needed for Invasive Weed Control Project

People For Puget Sound is again recruiting kayakers to be trained to locate and record infestations of the invasive weed, Spartina, in the north Puget Sound.

Rachel Benbrook returns for a second year as program coordinator and trainer for Spartina Survey Program trainings and paddle days in Skagit, Whatcom, Island and San Juan counties.

Spartina Survey Trainings, held from July through mid-September, are for paddlers interested in becoming survey volunteers.  Paddlers will receive a formal training on all things Spartina and be instructed on how to gather data on infestations.  Following these trainings, paddlers will be ready to conduct their own surveys.

Spartina Paddles are informal outings where participants and the Program Coordinator will work together to survey a key stretch of shoreline.   This is a chance for paddlers to see some Spartina and learn more about the survey program.

For a complete schedule of training dates and paddle dates, click here or call Rachel Benbrook at (360) 230-1353.

About Spartina and the Survey Trainings
Like so many other coastal regions on the planet, Puget Sound has been invaded by non-native, salt-tolerant Spartina grasses. Spartina anglica was planted in Puget Sound in the 1960s for dike stabilization. It grows in a variety of tide-influenced locations and aggressively displaces native vegetation and disrupts shoreline habitat vital to shorebirds, juvenile salmon, and shellfish. Controllers at the state and county level have identified and treated all large, known infestations. With eradication in sight, it is increasingly important for all Puget Sound shorelines to be surveyed for Spartina to locate any potential seed sources.

People For Puget Sound works closely with state and local agencies, including the Washington State Department of Agriculture and county Noxious Weed Coordinators, to prioritize shorelines for surveying by kayak. This close cooperation with the agencies that do Spartina control work has translated into a rewarding example of science in action.   In 2008, all new infestations located by People For Puget Sound surveyors were addressed by regional controllers before the end of the control season.

Last year, People For Puget Sound volunteer kayakers had the most successful year yet, surveying over 54 miles of Puget Sound shoreline and locating 196 square meters of Spartina, including previously unknown Spartina patches in San Juan and Whatcom County. 

Recent funding from the Northwest Straits Initiative allows us to continue this wonderful program again in 2009.   Priorities for this year include continuing surveys of Whatcom, Skagit, Island, and San Juan County shorelines.  We have also been asked this year to conduct surveys along the Hood Canal and in King County.  Additionally, there is potential to build an international component of this program- we have begun talking with partners in Canada about helping to establish a British Columbia survey program.