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2020 - A year to remember!
2020 was a year to remember. Our lives changed drastically as we tried to reduce the spread of COVID-19 and keep our communities healthy. We cannot thank you enough for your support this year as we navigated this situation together. Even in this difficult time, 57 volunteers at 30 different lakes safely monitored the health of our important natural resources.
There has also been no better year to demonstrate the value of your work for our communities. We saw a huge spike in Snohomish County residents recreating at local lakes as indoor gatherings were limited, and residents commonly asked us for the health status of various lakes. Your data was invaluable in educating the public.
Each year we like to send a newsletter to recognize your great work, share some fun lakes-related information, and give you an update on our other projects. To start we'd like to welcome our one new volunteer this year as we limited onboarding: Bob at Serene!
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 Marisa in the field
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 Jen in the office
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 Katie & Emmett at home
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Volunteer Workshop Moves to Zoom
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In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, this year's workshop will be held online on Thursday, April 29th from 6:30-8:30 pm. We will not conduct the "training" part of the workshop as in year's past, so the timeframe is slightly shorter than normal and we would like everyone to attend. We will share more details this spring, but the goal will be to make this as technologically smooth and interactive as possible.
Plans for site visits and equipment drop offs are also in the making with more details to come.
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2021 Shoreline Surveys are Underway
Every 10 years Snohomish County conducts surveys to assess the health of lake shorelines. Healthy shorelines are simply lake edges planted with shrubs, trees or perennials instead of lawn to the water's edge. A healthy shoreline provides many benefits for water quality and aquatic habitat. Native plants filter pollution and provide homes and food for critters like ducks, turtles, frogs, and songbirds. Healthy shorelines also help lake residents as they prevent shorelines from eroding due to wave action. And even more, tall vegetation discourages geese from hanging out and making "deposits" in your yard!
The importance of having healthy shoreline vegetation wasn't recognized when most lakes were developed. This led to lawns, beaches, and bulkheads becoming the norm for many lakefront homes. Newer development no longer allows complete removal of shoreline vegetation, rather it's required that only a limited amount of the vegetation can be removed to create corridors for lakefront access. Softshore armoring techniques that provide habitat and still protect lake shorelines are now recommended instead of bulkheads.
Our shoreline surveys help us to assess the current health of our lakes and are used in your lake report cards. The surveys also help us track changes over time to see if the county's critical areas regulations are working. Finally, the survey results show improvements that landowners are making by conducting shoreline restoration. So far over 63 residents have replanted their shorelines or committed to preserving their already healthy shoreline through the LakeWise program!
You can learn more about shoreline restoration at www.lakewise.org, or email lakes@snoco.org.
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 Long-time volunteers Steve & Nancy have a beautfiul vegetated shoreline at Martha N
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 Altered shoreline at Stevens
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eDNA in Snohomish County and Beyond
From microscopic algae to your favorite fish to catch, you know from your time as a volunteer that lakes are full of life. Now imagine that you could take a few drops of that water and with a little lab work identify all the species present in the lake. It sounds a bit like science fiction, but by using environmental DNA, known as eDNA, scientists are revolutionizing our ability to manage and protect ecosystems by detecting what species are present both in water as well as on-land environments.
So what is eDNA? Thinking back to your high school biology class, you may remember that DNA is the genetic code of life stored in the cells of every organism. Organisms constantly shed cells through skin, feces, mucous, etc. The DNA in these cells is like a calling card for that species. With advanced molecular biology techniques, scientists can amplify the DNA material or make many copies of it. They can then compare known segments of DNA from organisms to the DNA present in the water. This technique is significantly less time intensive than standard surveys like microscopic identification, snorkel surveys or electrofishing as multiple species can be detected with one small water sample. It is also very useful for identifying rare or difficult to find species and to find new invasions of invasive species.
Snohomish County Surface Water Management has successfully used eDNA sampling to look for rare or threatened salmon in our local streams. So far, we have found the results to be mostly reliable confirming the presence of rare fish in some streams and identifying them in previously unknown streams. These results will help us to better target our restoration efforts and to ensure construction projects are timed to prevent harm to these fish. Given the success of this project, we have been looking to applications for lakes such as early detection of invasive organisms such as Eurasian watermilfoil or invasive New Zealand mud snails.
While this new technology is promising, there are still several limitations. It is expensive and takes significant time and effort to establish reference DNA for each species of interest. eDNA can also degrade quickly so the timing and location of a sample could result in missing the presence of a species. Most concerning, there appears to be large differences in sensitivity for types of organisms. For example, a recent study by the Freshwater Ecology and Conservation Lab at the University of Washington suggests that eDNA does not work as well for aquatic plants in lakes. Read more here. The lakes group will continue tracking advances in eDNA in hopes that it will one day be a powerful tool to help prevent the spread of invasive aquatic species.
 eDNA sampling backpack at stream in Snohomish County
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Celebrating Outstanding Service
We'd like to recognize the following milestones from this year:
15 years - Gordon (Crabapple) & Solveig (Crystal)
10 years - Bill & Henri (Roesiger N) & Kristine (Roesiger S)
5 years - Mandy (Cassidy) & Andy (Nina)
 Bill and Henri monitoring at Lake Roesiger (north basin)
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What is an international project on lake levels learning in Washington State?
Two years ago the lakes program became a partner in the Lake Observations by Citizen Scientists & Satellites (LOCSS) project. This NASA-funded project is a partnership between the University of WA, UNC-Chapel Hill, and Tennessee Technological University. The project goal is to better understand changes in the quantity of water in lakes through satellite imagery. To ground truth the imagery to real lake levels, the group has installed lake level gages in 82 lakes on three continents. They then rely on citizen scientists, including Snohomish County lake volunteers, to submit lake level readings which can be seen on their project website. Thanks to your efforts, the project has frequent data from the nine lakes with gages installed in the County. You can now see their early findings in a recent article. We appreciate your efforts and know that you are helping to understand changes in water retention at lakes worldwide.
 LOCSS lake level plate at Flowing Lake County Park
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Flowering rush threatens Washington waters
Flowering rush (Butomus umbellatus) is an invasive aquatic plant native to northern Europe and Western Asia. It was first documented in North America in 1897 in Canada’s St. Lawrence River. Flowering rush has since spread to many states and provinces along the U.S. - Canada border, often because of its sale as an ornamental pond plant.
Why it matters
Once it spreads, flowering rush will crowd out native plants, creating a single-species stand. In addition to impacting native plants directly, it destroys the habitats of native animals — including salmon — that depend on native plants for food and shelter. Dense growth in canals and rivers will slow flow, causing irrigation issues and flooding.
Flowering rush provides habitat to the snails that host the swimmer’s itch parasite during part of its lifecycle. Read more here.
 Flowering rush. Photo credit - WA Department of Ecology
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Lakes Goodwin and Shoecraft are popular destinations for fishing, swimming and boating. Unfortunately, these two lakes suffer from an infestation of invasive, Eurasian watermilfoil. Unlike beneficial native plants, milfoil grows aggressively creating large mats that harm lake health and interfere with recreation. Since the 1990’s, SWM has partnered with lake residents to control milfoil through diver hand-pulling and herbicide treatments. We are happy to share that in 2020 only 40 plants were found in Lake Goodwin and 1 plant in Lake Shoecraft, a record low number! This success will benefit lake users and the aquatic life.
See the project website for more details.
 Divers prepare to survey and remove invasive milfoil from Lake Shoecraft.
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County Council Approves Creation of New Department of Conservation and Natural Resources
On January 20, Snohomish County Council passed the required code changes in ordinance 20-081 to officially create a new Department of Conservation and Natural Resources (DCNR). Executive Somers proposed creating the new department September 29, 2020 to consolidate multiple county functions, offices and departments into one organization to achieve more of our environmental sustainability goals.
Effective January 30, SWM officially moved into the DCNR from Public Works, joining the Parks, Recreation and Tourism department, Energy and Sustainability, and Agriculture offices. Although our department has a new name, SWM services as your stormwater utility will remain the same and we do not expect any changes to the volunteer program.
Learn more here and let us know if you have any questions or concerns.
 The new Department of Natural Resources and Conservation works in support of sustainable and livable communities and a clean and healthy environment.
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