By Suzanne Shull
Published Spring 2009

Padilla Bay researchers have mapped the vegetation in Padilla Bay (eelgrass, salt marsh and macroalgae) in 1989, 2000 and 2004. From a high resolution aerial photo, researchers can get a good idea of what grows where, but for better accuracy, they add "groundtruthing" - slogging across the mudflats with digital camera, clipboard, and a GPS unit. In order to create a 2008 updated map of the intertidal and subtidal vegetation in Padilla Bay, PBNERR staff, WCC crew, and a summer intern collected data this summer. Information about the type of vegetation, the composition of the vegetation, the percent cover as well as substrate type were recorded on datasheets at about 400 sites. Global Positioning Systems were used to get an exact position and a digital photo was snapped to document the habitat type. The data was collected by foot or by boat on low-tide days. This summer the overcast skies postponed the aerial image acquisition to September 11 at a +0.3' tide.