Ocean/ENVIR 260, Autumn 2007
Field Trip 1, Bear Creek & Snoqualmie River
Name
Bear Creek Basin
1) (1 pt.) According to the Watertenders’ Salmon ID card, what life-cycle stages of which
salmon should be present in the Bear Creek watershed at the time of our field trip?
2) (1 pt.) Name the major rivers and water bodies that salmon spawning in the Bear Creek Basin
traversed to reach there from Puget Sound.
3) (1 pt.) What is the relationship of freshwater mussels to salmon in streams? How are mussels
an indicator of water quality?
4) (1 pt.) List two reasons that there is ample groundwater in the Bear Creek Basin and King
County in general.
5) (1 pt.) What is the status of salmon spawner returns to the Bear Creek Basin in 2007? What
are possible explanations for this observation?
6) (1 pt.) How many sockeye spawners could the Bear Creek Basin theoretically support? What
is special about the life cycle of the sockeye salmon that explains the difference in the
number of sockeye compared to chinook?
7) (1 pt.) What are the differences between “hatchery,” “natural,” and “wild” fish in the Bear
Creek Basin? Why does this matter to scientists and fishery managers?
8) (1 pt.) What is meant by water quality? What properties are used to gauge water quality?
9) (0.5 pts.) What is the condition of water quality in the Bear Creek Basin, and why?
10) (0.5 pts.) How has land use in the Bear Creak Basin changed over the last 150 years?
11) (1 pt.) What are impervious surfaces, and why are they a source of concern?
12) (1 pt.) Describe some other ways in which residential and hobby-farm land development in
the Bear Creek watershed can affect water and sediment quality. (See the water quality index
page http://dnr.metrokc.gov/wlr/waterres/streamsdata/wqi.htm)
13) (1 pt.) Why are benthic invertebrates monitored in the Bear Creek Basin, and what is their
condition? (See the stream bugs page http://dnr.metrokc.gov/wlr/waterres/Bugs/index.htm)
Revised February 13, 2016
Ocean/ENVIR 260, Autumn 2007
Field Trip 1
Page 2
Snoqualmie Wetland Mitigation Bank Site
14) (1 pt.) Give a general definition of wetlands and describe three general types of benefits they
provide.
15) (1 pt.) Which types of government agencies regulate wetlands, mainly under the authority of
which federal law?
16) (1 pt.) What is wetland mitigation, and when is it required?
17) (1 pt.) What is wetland mitigation banking and why is it considered superior to conventional
wetland mitigation?
18) (1 pt.) Describe several ecological and economic benefits of mitigation banking.
19) (1 pt.) Describe the location of the Snohomish Basin Mitigation Bank and the area for which
it is intended to serve as a bank?
20) (1 pt.) What was the natural condition of the site, how was it historically altered, and what is
being done to restore it?
21) (1 pt.) What is the status of the mitigation site construction, and what benefits have been
observed so far?