
Where does the MRC monitor?
Jefferson MRC volunteers monitor three sites for forage fish spawning activity:
- a shoreline restoration site at Fort Townsend State Park, in partnership with Point No Point Treaty Council biologists
- an index site in Discovery Bay near Adelma Beach, to provide long-term data for WDFW's database
- another index site in Dabob Bay, also in partnership with WDFW.
Beach samples are collected monthly, processed and analyzed. Both sand lance and surf smelt eggs have been found across these sites during the late fall and winter months. This long-term effort helps fill data gaps about population dynamics and response to restoration efforts.