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Coastal EMAP Study Areas

OREGON: The first year's effort (1999) constituted an assessment of the condition of the small estuarine systems (< 250 km2 ) in Oregon and Washington. In 1999, seventeen of the Oregon sample locations are found in small estuaries that are part of the larger Columbia River Estuary. These include Youngs Bay (4 locations), Cathlamet Bay (6 locations), and smaller sloughs and tributaries such as Marsh Island Creek, Youngs River, Knappa Slough, Bradbury Slough, Wallace Slough, Clatskanie River, and Rinearson Slough. Samples outside the Columbia system were collected in Netarts Bay, Nestucca Bay, Little Nestucca River, Salmon River, Siletz Bay, Yaquina Bay, Yaquina River (2 locations), Alsea River, Yachats River, Siuslaw River (2 locations), Smith River (2 locations), Umpqua River (4 locations), Scholfield Creek, Coos Bay (6 locations), Coos River (2 locations), Catching Slough (2 locations), and Rogue River.

On this Page Oregon Washington Alaska Regional You will need Adobe Reader to view some of the files on this page. See EPA's PDF page to learn more.

In 2000, EMAP samples were collected from 50 locations in the lower Columbia River estuary. The sampled area included the entire length of the tidally-influenced portion of the river, which extends as far as Bonneville Dam. In the lower, more marine portion of the estuary, the 2000 samples will be combined with samples collected in 1999 from small systems on both the north and south sides of the river for a single environmental assessment.

In 2001, Oregon collected additional data from the small estuaries outside of the Columbia system.

In Oregon and Washington, sampling in 2002 focused on the intertidal zone, including low salt marsh, intertidal flats and shallow subtidal habitats of estuaries. Aquatic vegetation communities were added to the list of information collected at each location.

In 2003, Coastal EMAP moved offshore to sample the continental shelf habitat at depths between 30 and 120 meters off the shore of Oregon and Washington, to see these maps, - see the Regional portion of this webpage.

In 2004, Oregon returned to sample 43 sites in small estuaries. Maps for these sample locations will be available soon.

Maps:

• Oregon Coastal EMAP Estuarine and Intertidal data, 1999-2002 with site numbers (PDF)
• Oregon Coastal EMAP Estuarine & Intertidal data 1999-2002 without site numbers (PDF)
• Oregon Coastal EMAP - Coos Bay and Umpqua River Estuarine data 1999-2002 (PDF)
• Oregon Coastal EMAP - Tillamook Bay Estuarine & Intertidal data 1999-2002 (PDF)

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WASHINGTON
The first year's effort (1999) constituted an assessment of the condition of the small estuarine systems (< 250 km2 ) in Oregon and Washington. Eight of the Washington sample locations are found in the Columbia River Estuary system. Five are in Grays Bay and one each are in the Cowlitz River, Carrolls Channel, and Martin Slough.

Samples outside the Columbia System included Makah Bay (3 locations), Hoko River, Freshwater Bay (3 locations), Dungeness Bay, Discovery Bay (5 locations), Kalaloch Creek, Raft River, Quinault River, Conner Creek, Grays Harbor (7 locations), Grass Creek and Beardslee Slough (tributaries to Grays Harbor), and Willapa Bay (6 locations).

Note: these are all the sites where data were collected. Not all parameters could be collected at all locations. Fish tissue is the most commonly missing parameter due to inadequate tissue volume at some locations.

In Puget Sound, two separate cruises were conducted in 2000. A total of 71 stations were sampled. The stations extend from the southern end of the Sound north through the San Juan Islands, and across the border into Canadian waters.

The eighteen stations that were more than 90 meters deep could not be sampled with the conventional EMAP trawl gear. A fishing vessel was contracted and larger gear was used to collect fish from these locations. (A correction factor will be applied when the data are interpreted.)

EMAP was able to sample 71 stations in Puget Sound rather than the usual 50 locations, due to savings gained by using sediment data gathered as part of a similar project. A collaboration between Ecology's PSAMP (Puget Sound Ambient Monitoring Program) and NOAA's Status and Trends Program used a similar sample design and collected many of the EMAP measurements related to sediment chemistry, toxicity, and benthic community. EMAP revisited some of those locations to collect water column measurements and to trawl for fish.

The savings that resulted from not duplicating the sediment collection were used to increase the number of sample locations. On the sample location map, the red circles represent the revisited sites, while the triangles represent the locations that were sampled for all the EMAP measurements during 2000.

In Oregon and Washington, sampling in 2002 focused on the intertidal zone, including low salt marsh, intertidal flats and shallow subtidal habitats of estuaries. Aquatic vegetation communities were added to the list of information collected at each location.

In 2003, Coastal EMAP moved offshore to sample the continental shelf habitat at depths between 30 and 120 meters off the shore of Oregon and Washington, to see these maps, - see the Regional portion of this webpage.

In 2004, Washington returned to sample 44 sites, 24 sites in the Puget Sound and 20 in the smaller coastal estuaries. Maps for these sample locations will be available soon.

Maps:

• Washington Coastal EMAP Estuarine & Intertidal data, 1999-2002 with sites numbers (PDF)
• Washington Coastal EMAP Estuarine & Intertidal data, 1999-2002 without site numbers (PDF)
• Willapa Bay and Grays Harbor Estuarine & Intertidal data (PDF)
• Puget Sound Coastal EMAP Estuarine & Intertidal data 1999-2002 (PDF)

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ALASKA

The surface area of the coastal resources of Alaska dwarfs the coastal resources that exist in the remaining 49 states. For this reason, evaluation of the entire state with 50 stations was not considered. Instead, a 250-station design was developed, with 50 stations assigned to each of five biogeographic provinces. Because of the huge expanse of Alaska, the reduced sampling window in arctic regions and the unique fiscal and logistical challenges of sampling coastal resources in Alaska, it is not feasible to sample the entire state at a single point in time. South Central Alaska, including Cook Inlet and Prince William Sound was selected as the first of the provinces to be evaluated.

In 2004, South East Alaska Provence was sampled.

Maps:

• Alaska Coastal EMAP sampling, 2002, Estuarine areas

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REGIONAL
The maps below show the Coastal EMAP data for Oregon and Washington combined from 1999-2002. Also, in 2003, Coastal EMAP moved offshore to sample the continental shelf habitat at depths between 30 and 120 meters off the shore of Oregon and Washington, these sites are shown on the map below.

Maps:

• Oregon and Washington Coastal EMAP Estuarine & Intertidal data,1999-2002 (PDF)
• Oregon and Washington Coastal EMAP Estuarine & Intertidal data, 1999-2002 (showing the separate crews/years) (PDF)
• Washington/Oregon Coastal EMAP - Columbia River Estuarine data, 1999-2000 (PDF)
• Washington/Oregon off shore sampling sites - 2003 (PDF)

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Return to Western EMAP Coastal page

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