Natural Systems Design, Inc. 3/24/2025

CITY OF EVERETT PUBLIC WORKS DEPARTMENT  SMITH ISLAND ESTUARY RESTORATION ADVANCE MITIGATION SITE: YEAR 7 MONITORING Page 7 | February 18, 2025 Task 4. Wildlife Use Monitoring The Project site is intended to provide habitat for a variety of wildlife species, including waterfowl and shorebirds. Per Tables 6-1 and 6-2 of the Advance Mitigation Plan, wildlife use monitoring is required in Year 7 and Year 10 to document the wildlife species that are using the project site. Subtask 4.1 Data Collection Wildlife monitoring will take place during both spring and summer sampling periods when maximum use by wildlife, including waterfowl and migratory shorebirds, typically occurs. Each monitoring period will extend across an entire day to capture wildlife use at both low and high tide conditions. NSD will conduct thirty-minute point count surveys at the survey stations utilized during the Year 5 data collection. The location of the fixed survey stations has been dispersed around the site to allow as many habitats as possible to be viewed during each survey. Year 7 stationing will be consistent to the extent practicable with the survey stations utilized during the Year 5 data collection. If such locations are physically accessible and can be walked without causing unnecessary disturbance to wildlife, biologists will also walk the western setback dike and the southern dike and will enter the site at selected locations chosen to provide access to several different vegetation communities to document any additional use. Wildlife observations will also be incidentally recorded during the delineation, hydroperiod, salinity, and vegetation field work (Tasks 1 and 2) to document wildlife species diversity and will be included with the specific wildlife use data presented in the Task 5, Monitoring Report. Subtask 4.2 Data Analysis NSD will document species and use per the performance standards specified in the Advance Mitigation Plan and will compare the species documented to that reported in the Year 1, 3, and 5 Monitoring Reports. NSD will prepare summary tables and figures for inclusion in the Monitoring Report (Task 5). ASSUMPTIONS:  The site can be safely accessed by foot for the wildlife use transects.  Site conditions are such that spring and summer wildlife use point count and pedestrian survey data collection can be accomplished within 1, 12-hour day including travel by a team of two biologists. DELIVERABLES:  Year 5 wildlife data analysis and summary tables for inclusion in Task 5, Monitoring Report Task 5. Monitoring Report Per Section 6.5 of the Advance Mitigation Plan, annual performance reporting includes submittal of the Mitigation and Monitoring Report to USACE and the Washington Department of Ecology by December 31 in each year in which monitoring occurs (Years 1, 3, 5, 7, and 10) or as specified by agency permits and following the completion of that year’s monitoring activities. NSD will prepare, QC, edit and compile a Year 7 Mitigation and Monitoring Report at the conclusion of Year 7 monitoring. The report will include a detailed discussion of the site’s development both compared to pre-breach conditions and compared to Year 5, including a detailed focus on estuarine