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2012 Spring | Climate Change, Education & Outreach, Natural Science & Restoration

Storm Watch and the Vulnerability of the Puget Sound

Student(s):

Katie McGillvray

Program or Department(s):

  • Program on the Environment
  • University of Washington

Site supervisor(s):

Roger Fuller

Partner(s):

  • The Nature Conservancy

Faculty advisor(s):

Nate Mantua, School of Aquatic & Fisheries Sciences, University of Washington

I worked for The Nature Conservancy on an EPA-funded project to understand how climate change has affected the Puget Sound environment and community. I accomplished a literature review, as well as compiling data on storms and floods throughout the Puget Sound’s history. I then created GIS maps within ArcMap to show how wetland land cover has decreased around specific river deltas within the Puget Sound region. Due to this habitat loss, buffer zones for storms and floods have decreased therefore impacts are more severe. By increasing the amount of wetlands within restoration projects around the Sound, impacts may be alleviated.