The Salish Sea Science Roundtable speaker series continues on Tuesday, April 2 from 12:30 – 1:30 pm. The talk is hosted by the Puget Sound Institute and will look at how the Suquamish Tribe is using models such as MODFLOW and VELMA to manage groundwater and stream flows.

As climate change intensifies, more frequent heatwaves, reduced snowpack, changing precipitation patterns, and other ripple effects make it increasingly complex to manage groundwater and stream flows. Our salmon, farmers, and communities rely on these essential water resources. At the roundtable, Philip Murphy and Sono Hashisaki will share an approach being developed by the Suquamish Tribe that uses the existing Kitsap Peninsula MODFLOW groundwater model and EPA’s Visualizing Ecosystem Land Management Assessments (VELMA) eco-hydrology model to estimate biomass, stream flow, and water quantity to better inform management decisions. As part of this ongoing work, they’ll introduce initial simulations from the Big Beef Creek watershed, highlight lessons learned, and reflect on opportunities for the region more broadly.

Roundtables occur virtually on the first Tuesday of each month as a way to share emerging science that is shaping Salish Sea ecosystem recovery.