East Sound (9,734 acres) (original) (raw)

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PART 2: SAN JUAN COUNTY CHARACTERIZATION REPORT

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CHAPTER 6: DESCRIPTIONS OF THE INDIVIDUAL PRIORITY WATERSHEDS

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East Sound | Friday Harbor | Westcott/Garrison Bays | Fisherman Bay | Roche Harbor | Mud/Hunter Bays | West Sound | Deer Harbor |False Bay

East Sound

Beneficial Uses Because of its wetlands, streams, lakes, and habitat areas, as well as large area of state parks, the East Sound watershed was ranked number one by the San Juan County Watershed Ranking Committee in its 1988 watershed ranking report. The East Sound watershed has many of the important wetlands found on Orcas Island. These include Crescent Beach wetland, a 5.5 acre brackish marsh adjacent to Crescent Beach, Otter's Pond, one of the most diverse wetlands in the County, and the Eastsound swale, which once was a large wetland but has been greatly diminished and altered by adjacent development.

The large lakes and many ponds found in the watershed also provide wildlife habitat and scenic values. Several sites within the watershed have been inventoried by the Nature Conservancy and ranked according to their significance for maintaining biodiversity within the county. The largest site is the Woolard Mountain - Diamond Hill area. The site is noteworthy as it is mostly undeveloped with several stands of virgin hemlock, which is the climax forest species for this site. An area on Entrance Mountain, recently purchased by the San Juan County Land Bank, was also identified as significant to the County for its unusually large stand of Sitka Spruce.

East Sound, itself, contains critical habitat for River Otter, Harbor seal and Pacific Herring and boasts a rich diversity of plant and animal species, including increasingly rare eel grass beds. The coastal portions of the watershed provide extensive areas of eagle habitat and many nests of Bald Eagle, Osprey, Great Blue Heron and turkey vulture are documented by Washington State's Natural Heritage Program. The depths of East Sound are fairly uniformly 90 feet throughout its six to seven mile length. State certified Oyster growing areas are actively used along Crescent Beach off of Ship Bay and the Buck Bay area has an active commercial shellfish operation. Hard-shell clams are located on the northwest and southeast portions of the sound. Areas located at the mouth and at the head of the sound on the eastern side are used for crabbing. Almost the entire sound is used for fishing. A small private fish hatchery for King salmon is operated inland about mid-way on the eastern side of the watershed.

The watershed encompasses Moran State Park which is among the largest state parks in Washington. The Class 1 Lakes, Cascade Lake (171.6 acres) and Mountain Lake (198 acres) provide recreation to the island's residents and visitors as well as drinking water for the Rosario and Doe Bay-Olga water systems. Summit Lake (10 acres), also in Moran State Park, is much smaller and shallower (only about 10 feet deep) and is a Class 2 lake. Other significant lakes in the watershed include Martin Lake (27.8 acres, Class 1), Ayer Reservoir (10.3 acres, Class 2) and Flaherty's Pond (2.5 acres, Class 2). Many small ponds are also distributed throughout the watershed which vary from Class 2 to 5.

Streams flowing to East Sound include a creek that flows from Cascade Lake to Cascade Bay, a creek that starts from Ayer reservoir and another creek that begins near the head of Crow Valley drains northeast into Judd Cove. Cascade and Cold creeks are year-round streams that support anadromous fish and have been established as a priority for Searun Cutthroat trout and Coho salmon by Washington State Department of Fish and Wildlife (1999). Many other creeks exist in the watershed, though the majority are seasonal.

Watershed Conditions Land use in the watershed is primary residential, with some forestry and agriculture. Eastsound Village, at the head of East Sound, is the second largest town in the county but is unincorporated. Land cover in the East Sound watershed is primarily forest land (70% of watershed), with some grass (14%) and scrub (15%) lands. Much of the forest land is harvestable timber. Most of the impervious areas are located in the village of Eastsound, the Village of Orcas, and Moran State Park. Moran State Park is one of the most developed areas in the County due to its network of roads, parking lots, and camping areas. Because of the heavy tree cover in the watershed, particularly in Moran State Park, impervious area is difficult to determine for the East Sound watershed.

Eastsound, the village, has the largest concentration of impervious area on Orcas. A stormwater collection system collects surface water from the streets and parking lots and pipes it directly to East Sound with no treatment, with the exception of the parking lots from Island Market which drain in to a constructed wetland provided for stormwater treatment. Contamination of the water from the storm drain entering Fishing Bay was documented in 1996 by Parsons and Ogier. The county has purchased property and conducted the design process to build a biofiltration facility in the Eastsound drainage.

There is a log rafting operation in Judd Cove at the head of East Sound. There are two small hazardous waste generators in the village of Eastsound. There is a solid waste facility with a septic pumpout (septage) disposal lagoon in the western portion of the watershed. There are two service stations in the watershed, one just east of Crescent Beach and one on the shore of Eastsound above Fishing Bay.

There are approximately 27 miles of major county roads within the East Sound watershed. These roads carry the highest traffic loads recorded in San Juan County. The Eastsound watershed has among the steepest topography found in the San Juan Islands with more than 35 percent of the area having slopes of 15 percent or greater. Many of the soils found within the watershed are ranked high for erosion potential which means that once the soil is uncovered, it has a high propensity to erode and travel down gradient, often affecting other properties, wetlands, lakes, ponds and streams. Much of the land with the greatest erosion potential is located within the state park but the southeast shore and to a lesser extent the southwest shore of East Sound are also prone to erosion. Moreover, while much of the watershed receives an estimated 7 to 9 inches of stormwater runoff per year, many of the higher elevation slopes receive between 9 and 13 inches of runoff and some areas around Mount Constitution have more than 27 inches of runoff per year. These levels of runoff indicate the necessity for measures to reduce erosion impacts.

The steep topography increases the limitations already imposed by poor soils for on-site septic systems. The majority of the watershed has poor conditions for septic suitability.

East Sound has one marina located at Rosario Resort in Cascade Bay on the east side of East Sound. The resort has 35 permanent and transient moorages available. Fuel service and a boat ramp are provided. No repair facilities are available and liveaboards are permitted. Rosario Resort also has a permit to discharge treated wastewater into East Sound.

There are few areas of active agriculture within the East Sound watershed. The majority of agricultural uses are found on the west side of the watershed, with small scale agriculture operations in other areas. Livestock are limited but do include llamas in the area of Dolphin Bay and sheep, horses, and cattle. Animals observed ranged from 1 to 2 (cattle and horse) and 3 to 7 (sheep and llama) animals per acre.

Results of the initial water quality survey of the East Sound watershed showed that most sampling locations met state water quality standards for all parameters. The locations that did not meet standards were the stormwater outlet in the village of Eastsound across from the Outlook Inn (O11), the creek to Judd Cove (O10) and two sites in the Buck Bay area (Pickett Springs, O1, and Cascade Creek, O2).

In follow-up monitoring performed during November through February (1997-1998) fecal coliforms were generally much lower but exceeded state standards in some samples. The Eastsound storm drain exceeded total suspended solids (TSS) thresholds on two occasions and one other small tributary to East Sound exceeded TSS the single time it was measured. On one occasion the Eastsound storm drain reached the upper limit (alkaline) of pH thresholds but all other results were within acceptable ranges. (See Chapter 5, Water Quality, for more information about sample results.)

In the Buck Bay area failing septic systems have been documented over the years where homes were built prior to the requirements for septic permits. Recent monitoring by the State Department of Health Shellfish Program show rising counts of coliforms in this area, although within state standards for shellfish growing.

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