Along Ediz Hook, a large spit that extends around Port Angeles Harbor, the Lower Elwha Klallam Tribe and partners started an eelgrass restoration project in 2017 that has flourished beyond their expectations.
The project began as mitigation for a pier the U.S. Navy built in 2018 for its submarine escort vessels. Working with Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) in Sequim, 3,500 eelgrass shoots were harvested from the pier site, then divided between test plots along Ediz Hook and in PNNL’s outdoor nurseries.
To the surprise of researchers, the eelgrass grew well in both locations, said Matt Beirne, the tribe’s natural resources director.
New shoots have been added to restoration plots in Ediz Hook every few years since then, bringing the effort to more than 30,000 transplants this year.
“We’ve been seeing really good growth of the eelgrass in the harbor, as well as where it has naturally reestablished itself,” Beirne said.
This spring, 8,000 plants were brought from PNNL facilities to the Ediz Hook shoreline, where citizen volunteers and staff from the tribe, PNNL and the state tied eelgrass shoots to rebar with jute twine, then handed them off to divers who planted them on the harbor floor. The twine and rebar degrade over time, and as the rebar oxidizes it releases iron, benefiting the plants, Beirne said.
While the mitigation project officially ends in 2025, Beirne hopes to expand eelgrass restoration to other parts of the harbor.
Before the Navy pier was built, the eelgrass in the harbor was negatively affected for decades by rafts of logs for a nearby mill, Beirne said.
“As logs decayed in the harbor, it’d cover up or bury the shoreline while also releasing chemicals like ammonia and sulfites, which adversely affected the growth of the eelgrass,” he said. The tribe has been helping restore the shoreline by replacing human-built structures with sand and gravel, which supports natural beach erosion and creates habitat for eelgrass growth through nearshore drift processes.
Eelgrass shoots grown in an outdoor laboratory await placement as part of a Port Angeles Harbor restoration project. Photos and story: Tiffany Royal
