“Willapa basin salmon responses to land management in the context of climate change” — Michele Buonanduci

As climate change alters freshwater, estuarine, and marine habitats, Pacific salmon need increasing levels of conservation action to maintain population health. Restoration is implemented within the broad-scale context of changing ocean conditions, yet we lack an understanding of the relative extent to which land-based actions can contribute to the resilience of salmon populations under climate change. We addressed this challenge using an integrated population model of chum salmon (Oncorhynchus keta) in the Willapa basin (southwest Washington, USA). We evaluated how chum population dynamics have varied with watershed-scale forest management, estuarine invasive species control efforts, and changing ocean conditions from 1984 to 2022. Overall, our findings illustrate the capacity for multiple conservation actions to contribute to salmon population health and suggest that watershed-scale forest management has the potential to bolster the persistence of salmon populations under climate change.

“Washington State’s Invasive Spartina Eradication Effort” — Chad Phillips

Spartina, commonly known as cordgrass, can disrupt the ecosystems of native saltwater estuaries. If left unchecked, Spartina outcompetes native vegetation and converts ecologically healthy mudflats and estuaries into solid Spartina meadows. As a result, important habitat for salmon, forage fish, invertebrates, shorebirds and waterfowl are lost, the threat of flooding is increased, and the state’s shellfish industry is negatively impacted. Since 1995, The Washington State Department of Agriculture has served as the lead state agency facilitating the cooperation of local, state, federal and tribal governments; universities; interested groups; and private landowners. The Spartina eradication effort has been highly effective — reducing infestations from a high of more than 9,000 solid acres in 2003 to 6.7 solid acres in 2024. 76 sites infested with Spartina have been successfully eradicated; however, significant work remains. The remaining infestations are distributed over 126 separate sites, meaning 62 percent of Washington’s 202 infestations are not yet eradicated. An emerging challenge is Spartina quickly spreading into and negatively impacting important salmon restoration projects in the North Puget Sound.

Michele Buonanduci, Postdoctoral Scholar, The Nature Conservancy & University of Washington

Michele is broadly interested in harnessing quantitative methods to address both fundamental and applied ecological questions. She completed her PhD in the Quantitative Ecology and Resource Management program at the University of Washington, where her graduate research focused on understanding the causes and consequences of forest disturbances (primarily bark beetle outbreaks and wildfires) across a range of spatial scales. Currently, she is working to quantify how fire regimes are changing across the western United States and to better understand the implications of those changes for Pacific salmon population health.

Chad Phillips, State Spartina Eradication Coordinator/Riparian Invasive Weed Projects Coordinator, Washington State Department of Agriculture, Plant Protection Division

Chad, a lifelong Washington resident, is passionate about protecting the State’s natural resources and the ecosystem services that support a strong and resilient environment. Chad is currently focused on supporting his staff, program cooperators, and moving Washington’s Spartina Eradication and Knotweed Control programs forward. He has extensive experience coordinating invasive species eradication efforts, including eradication of over thirty invasive insect populations and over seventy Spartina infestations. Pursuing his environmental passion, Chad attended Evergreen State College receiving a BA/BS in environmental studies/biology.

• Buonanduci et al., 2025 (Michele's open access paper on Willapa chum)

• The life cycle model for Pacific salmon Michele mentioned was developed by Eric Buhle and is described in this 2018 NOAA technical report

• WSDA's Spartina Eradication Program page (as linked at the end of Chad's talk)

Exploring how water temperature and pathogens shape the distribution of native and non-native trout in the Upper Klamath Basin | Jonny Armstrong

Empirical studies on disease, invasive species, and warming temperatures are often conducted in isolation, yet these factors likely have complex interactions that may lead to unexpected results. For example, temperature can mediate the impacts of pathogens on their host and host responses may depend on whether they co-evolved with pathogens. We hypothesized that fish pathogens in the Upper Klamath Basin may constrain the distributions of invasive brook and brown trout, indirectly benefiting native redband trout, which support important tribal and recreational fisheries. We used eDNA and spatial modeling to explore how the presence of six pathogens affected the landscape distributions of these three trout species.

Beer and Gasoline Don’t Mix—Do Bass and Steelhead? | Ian Tattam

For the past 10 years we have been investigating spatial overlap, niche overlap, and predation interactions between bass and steelhead parr (juveniles) in tributaries to the John Day River.

Jonny Armstrong — PI on project, Associate Professor, Department of Fisheries, Wildlife, & Conservation Sciences, Oregon State University

Jonny grew up in Southern Oregon and has long been fascinated by the region’s fish. He did his PhD with the University of Washington Alaska Salmon Program and was a Smith Conservation postdoctoral fellow at University of Wyoming. His research group integrates behavior, physiology, and landscape ecology to inform climate adaptation planning. Jonny’s work in the Klamath Basin benefits from collaboration with ODFW, the Klamath Tribes, Trout Unlimited and others, and is supported by the Northwest Climate Adaptation Science Center (NW CASC). 

Ian Tattam — Eastern Section Science Program Manager for Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife

Ian Tattam is an Oregon native who didn’t catch his first steelhead until age 10 (not for lack of trying before age 10 though).  He went on to receive a BS in Environmental Science from Portland State and an MS in Fisheries Science from Oregon State, and wrote his theses on Oregon steelhead for both degrees. Ian has worked on Eastern Oregon steelhead and salmon research for the past 23 years; 7 with Oregon State University and 16 with Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife.

Translating Lessons in Climate-Smart Invasive Species Management from the Northeast to the Northwest | Eva Colberg

Climate change and invasive species pose multiple intertwined challenges to management, requiring practitioners to be increasingly flexible, adaptive, and innovative. This presentation will begin with a brief overview of how climate change and invasive species interact, and then draw from a series of interviews with practitioners in the Northeast US to highlight examples of climate-smart invasive species management that can be broadly applied and relevant to the Northwest as well. 

Preserving and Restoring Native Ecosystems in a Changing Climate | Raymond Willard

This presentation will discuss practical solutions for creating and sustaining resilient native landscapes in the face of increasing population and climate change. Content will draw on case study examples and lessons learned in the design and ongoing management of 100,000 acres of roadside right of way in Washington State over the past 40 years. Practical solutions highlighted will include: the development and implementation of Geographic Information Systems (GIS), mobile technology for data collection, data reference systems for landscape asset management, Integrated Vegetation Management (IVM) techniques for managing invasive species and restoring native ecosystems, and communication strategies for public education and engagement.

Eva Colberg — Research Scientist, Northwest Climate Adaptation Science Center, Climate Impacts Group, University of Washington

Dr. Eva Colberg is a research scientist with the Northwest Climate Adaptation Science Center within the Climate Impacts Group at the University of Washington–Seattle. She recently moved from upstate New York, where she worked with invasive species managers and practitioners in the Northeast Regional Invasive Species and Climate Change (RISCC) Network for her postdoctoral research on climate impacts to invasive species management, and also served as the interim director of the New York Invasive Species Research Institute. In her new position, she is now coordinator of the Northwest Regional Invasive Species and Climate Change (NW RISCC) Network, and also connects scientists with managers to better prepare for emerging climate risks through the Northwest CASC’s annual Actionable Science "Deep Dives."

Raymond Willard, PLA — State Roadside Asset Manager, Washington State Department of Transportation 

Ray holds a Bachelor of Landscape Architecture from the University of Washington and has been practicing as a licensed landscape architect in Washington State since 1990. For the past 30 years Ray has worked on directing and developing WSDOT’s statewide roadside vegetation management program, and training maintenance crews in the practice of Integrated Vegetation Management. He is a Past President and Honorary Member of the Washington State Vegetation Management Association. 

At the national level, Ray has helped establish an active network of roadside managers from around the country to facilitate ongoing research and development of best management practices in transportation landscape design and maintenance. He is a past chair for the Transportation Research Board’s Standing Committee on Roadside Maintenance Operations and is currently the national research coordinator for the Standing Committee on Landscape and Environmental Design. He has also served on the board of the National Roadside Vegetation Management Association and as president of that organization in 2003.

Presentation 1 - Dr. Sally Hacker: For centuries, coastal dunes have provided humans with important services such as coastal protection, carbon storage, recreation, and biodiversity conservation. Dunes form at low-lying coastal margins where sand transported by oceanic waves and wind combine with vegetation to produce dynamic backshore structures. In this presentation, Dr. Hacker synthesizes field surveys and a suite of interdisciplinary experiments to examine the role of invasive dune grasses in the landscape level transformation of US Pacific Northwest sandy coastlines over the last century. She focuses on how this transformation has had intended and unintended consequences for coastal hazard exposure and other services under a changing climate.

Presentation 2 - William Ritchie: The Leadbetter Point coastal habitat restoration project aims to remove and control invasive Ammophila beachgrass with the goal of increasing streaked horned lark and western snowy plover populations and improving their reproductive success. Both species have been declining as dune-stabilizing invasive beach grasses encroach on available nesting habitat thereby creating a new ecological regime of densely vegetated coastal dunes. Habitat restoration is anticipated to be on a scale where dynamic ecological processes of disturbance (i.e., wind-blown sand) and recolonization by a native plant community allows the ecosystem to return to a more natural state requiring limited future maintenance. Sea-level rise is beginning to impact areas of the outer beach utilized by larks and plovers forcing them to move further landward. In anticipation that some nesting birds will need to move inland, this project allows for coastal dune ecosystem retreat thus providing habitat resiliency in response to a changing climate.

Dr. Sally D. Hacker

Professor. Oregon State University, Corvallis

Sally D. Hacker is a Professor at Oregon State University, Corvallis, where she has been a faculty member since 2004. Dr. Hacker's research explores the structures, functions, and services of natural and managed coastal ecosystems under varying contexts of global change. She has conducted research in rocky intertidal, estuarine, and coastal dune ecosystems. Her recent work has focused on the protective role of plants in mitigating coastal vulnerability from climate change. In addition to the textbooks Ecology (Oxford University Press) and Life: The Science of Biology (Macmillan), she is an author of numerous articles exploring themes in coastal ecology. Personal webpage: http://www.sallyhacker.org 

William Ritchie

Wildlife Biologist. U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Willapa National Wildlife Refuge 

Will has been a biologist at Willapa NWR since 2009 and has managed the natural resources program since 2012. His work involves inventory and monitoring of aquatic and terrestrial plants and wildlife including native pollinators, ecosystem restoration through removal of invasive plants and vegetation management, and conservation of rare or endangered species. Some habitat restoration projects include removing invasive Ammophila, Cytisus scoparius, and Ulex europaeus at Leadbetter Point, reestablishing coastal prairie on the Long Beach Peninsula, reconnecting tidal hydrology to the south Willapa Bay estuary, and enhancing conditions to promote late-successional forest on forestlands surrounding Willapa Bay. Throughout his career with USFWS and the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife, Will has worked collaboratively with partners to achieve consensus and attain desired goals.

Evelyn Beaury

Postdoctoral Research Associate. High Meadows Environmental Institute, Princeton University.

Many invasive species are on the move to new locations with climate change, and horticultural trade is one of the primary vectors that could unwittingly facilitate this movement. To assess the scope and scale at which horticulture could facilitate invasion, we compared the distribution of ornamental sales of invasive plants to where these species are currently invasive and could pose future risk with climate change. We found substantial evidence that invasive species are sold as ornamentals near existing invasions, within species' predicted ranges under current climate conditions, and within species' predicted ranges under a scenario of +2C climate change. Horticulture therefore presents a major risk of spreading invasive plants under both current and future climates, and we need to expand the geographic scale at which we are managing horticultural trade to reduce invasion risk.

Linda Hardison

Director. OregonFlora. Oregon State University.

Linda Hardison is director of OregonFlora, a program developing plant diversity data for the state of Oregon. Through their three-volume Flora of Oregon books and interactive website, OregonFlora’s floristic data—the taxonomy, description, distribution, and habitat of  >4,700 vascular taxa—informs multiple topics including gardening, restoration, and land management strategies impacted by rare species, invasives, human interactions, and climate change.