Development of a Rapid Assessment Tool for Nearshore Habitat in Hood Canal, Puget Sound, Washington

Rapid assessment methods do not exist for the nearshore marine environment in Puget Sound. The goal of this nearshore tool is to rapidly assess function change in the nearshore environment from both built and restoration projects. We define the nearshore environment, determine the valued ecosystem components (VEC) to address, habitats to evaluate, and questions to use in the evaluation. Answers to these questions feed into calculators for each VEC and are used to generate an overall function score for that VEC. The strength of the tool is that a baseline assessment followed by evaluation of changes resulting from a project, generate changes in function scores and function acres that can be used to compare projects, both those with positive and negative impacts. In 2014 we collected data on 90 sites in Hood Canal and Whidbey Island to calibrate tool. Through an iterative analysis process we evaluated and adjusted the weights of individual indicators associated with each VEC. Calibration data allowed us to make decisions about how to weight questions, which questions to add or drop, and variability between assessment teams. The result is a scientifically-based tool that can be readily implemented and accurately characterizes site-specific resources.