Digitized Historical Coast Survey Maps of Hood Canal and Strait of Juan de Fuca Available for Download

 The Point No Point Treaty Council and partners, including the University of Washington, have been piecing together the histories of Hood Canal and Strait of Juan de Fuca estuaries and shorelines as they appeared in the mid-to-late 1800s.  The main objectives of this project are to “re-construct” characteristics of the nearshore landscape as they existed prior to most development, using historical sources such as the United States Coast and Geodetic Survey topographic sheets (“T sheets”), and to compare these historical conditions to those that we see today.  Knowing what the nearshore looked like prior to shoreline development and learning how physical changes have taken place during the past 100-150 years can provide clues as to how various habitats may have functioned for salmon, forage fish and other creatures at that time compared with their function today.  The historical information gives restoration practitioners the necessary insight to help prioritize and design habitat restoration activities; and the public is granted a peek into the past, gaining a greater appreciation for the changes that have occurred in our estuaries and shorelines during the past several generations.  In order to recover salmon and the habitats that they depend on, we must know what these habitats looked like before they were degraded or lost altogether.  The State Salmon Recovery Funding Board (SRFB) and the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) have funded this project.

Geo-rectified images of the original T sheets are currently available for much of the Puget Sound and can be downloaded from the “UW Puget Sound River History” website (http:/riverhistory.ess.washington.edu).  The geo-rectified images are now being digitized using Geographic Information Systems (GIS) software to show historical shoreline features in several parts of Puget Sound, including the Hood Canal and Strait regions.  As part of our commitment to completing the historical project, the Point No Point Treaty Council is now making the T sheets for Hood Canal and the Strait available for download as digitized files.  The digital GIS versions provide a description of the various features of the shoreline landscape, including marshes, channels, forests, beach substrate, pastures, fences, and roads as they were in the 1800s.  An initial set of digitized historical T sheets for Hood Canal and the Strait are now available for download in GIS format (See below for link to table for selection of GIS shapefiles and metadata).  Additional digitized T sheets will be made available as they are completed.

 It is our hope that these interim products can assist those who are planning and implementing habitat restoration on the ground, and shoreline planners as they update Shoreline Master Programs and Critical Areas Ordinances.  Please check with us frequently for newly digitized T sheets as they become available or updated.  Let us know of any problems you might encounter in accessing the data, or suggestions you might have for improving our distribution of this data.  We are interested in your feedback.  Please contact Steve Todd at 360-297-6526 or stodd@pnptc.org.

 The following T sheets are currently available for download as GIS shapefiles.  These can be viewed in ESRI ArcView, ArcExplorer, ArcGIS, and ArcInfo programs.  All are in the projection of UTM, zone 10, NAD 27, meters.  Select from the table or map the shapefiles and metadata for the T Sheets that you are interested in downloading.    

Click this link to view available maps:  Area, T sheet number, Year of Survey, Scale, Additional Info…..