Citation:

NELSON, W. G., H. LEE, II, J. O. LAMBERSON, F. A. COLE, AND P. J. CLINTON. Regional assessment of sediment contamination from marshes to the continental shelf: Results of the western component of the US EPA National Coastal Assessment. Presented at Seventh National Monitoring Conference - Monitoring from the Summit to the Sea, Denver, CO, April 25 - 29, 2010.

Impact/Purpose:

The US EPA National Coastal Assessment (NCA) program on the U.S. West Coast was designed as a pilot project to explore assessment of new components of coastal resources not previously incorporated in the NCA.

Description:

The US EPA National Coastal Assessment (NCA) program on the U.S. West Coast was designed as a pilot project to explore assessment of new components of coastal resources not previously incorporated in the NCA. The Western Regional component of the NCA program began with a two year assessment (1999-2000) of estuarine condition for the states of Washington, Oregon and California. The estuarine intertidal areas, including low emergent marsh habitats, of these states were sampled in 2002. In 2003, an assessment of condition of the continental shelf of these three states was conducted. This was followed in 2004 with a reassessment of estuarine condition largely equivalent to the 1999-2000 survey. The final NCA assessment of the estuaries of these three states was conducted in 2005-2006, with sampling effort divided approximately equally between the two years. The Western Regional NCA has therefore generated the first comprehensive, probability based data set which may be used to describe the condition of soft sediment benthic resources across the bathymetric gradient from low marsh to 120 m on the continental shelf. Integrated results for sediment contamination parameters (metals, PAHs, PCBs, pesticides) across this bathymetric gradient and across the 8-year span of the study will be presented.

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