Grays Harbor Spartina Report for June 2009

The round 1 densiflora transects for June 2009 were completed at Bill’s Spit on the northwest side of the harbor (see attachment). Crews from the WDFW and WSDOA delineated 22 transects via compass reading and measurements. The total transect area is approximately 3.8 acres. Each 40 x 44 ft. “cell” within the transect(s) was surveyed and treated accordingly. Amounts of herbicide and plant numbers were recorded on field data sheets and transferred to the appropriate spreadsheet database.

A total of 1,894 plants ranging from small one stemmed plants to larger multi-stemmed “bushes” were treated. 17.16 gallons of herbicide was used throughout the 22 transects treating .17 acres of solid densiflora.

Crews will periodically survey the treated transect area for signs of “brown down” indicating an initiation of efforts for round 2.

Additionally, crews have surveyed the areas north and south of Bill’s Spit. Densiflora was found and treated at Damen Point (south of Bill’s Spit) and sporadically appeared from the transect area north and east to the Campbell Slough area (near the Humptulips River). These plants were treated and recorded via GPS data loggers. 2.76 gallons of herbicide was used for densiflora found outside of the transect area yielding .03 acres of solid densiflora.

ALTERNIFLORA

Concurrent to the densiflora surveys, patches of alterniflora were found and treated in North Bay at the northernmost point and at the mouth of Campbell’s Slough. Their size and vigor suggests that these particular patches were probably missed during last year’s surveys. As of July 1, .84 gallons of herbicide were used yielding .0084 solid acres of alterniflora.

JULY EFFORTS

The first week of July, crews continued to survey for alterniflora and densiflora from the Humptulips River south and east to Grass Creek/Bowerman Basin. With favorable tides the Elk River and Johns River areas will be targeted for survey and treatment. We are hopeful that the harbor wide survey for round 1 could be completed before initiating round 2 of the densiflora transects.