Academy for Lifelong Learning presents – Invertebrates in a Kitsap County Estuary

Stream bugs have been used as a water quality indicator for many years in the Puget Sound region however this is not true for estuaries. Join me as I explore the possibilities for developing an estuarine water health index and view the preliminary results of invertebrate sampling in Clear Creek before and after the Bucklin Hill bridge replacement.

Chris Butler-Minor has been studying a variety of habitat aspects in Kitsap County lowland streams and their estuaries since 2009. She holds a BA in Environmental Policy and Planning from WWU – Huxley’s College on the Peninsulas and recently earned her Master’s degree in Environmental Management from Portland State University. Her master’s project focused on developing a habitat monitoring plan for the Clear Creek Estuary in order to document changes related to the replacement of the Bucklin Hill Bridge. Collecting  data on invertebrates present in the estuary before and after the old bridge’s artificial land berm has provided exciting insight into the value of sediment and nutrient exchange in tidally influenced estuaries of the Puget Sound.