King County's 1996/1997 Beach Assessment

Golden Gardens Park, Seattle

Site Description

Golden Gardens, a Seattle City Park, is located just north of the Shilshole Marina in Seattle. The swimming beach that forms the west edge of the park was not included in the survey. The beach on the north end of the park is relatively steep down to about the +3 foot level, where it becomes level and sandy. At the +1 foot level and below, eelgrass beds and small tide pools become common.

The park also includes a narrow strip of property between the Burlington Northern tracks and Puget Sound. A sea wall constructed to protect the tracks has minimized erosion. Even so, there is evidence that landslides have reached the beach since its construction. This provides some replenishment of fine materials, but not of the coarser material preferred by the commercial clam species.

A small stream drains onto the south end of the swimming beach, but it does not appear to be forming an alluvial fan.

Intertidal Inhabitants

On the slopes of the beach, there appears to be little intertidal life, perhaps because the beach shifts with the seasonal changes and because this is a highly used, very accessible beach. There is evidence of a large population of burrowing animals in the eelgrass beds but few clams. There is a large number of piddocks living in the clay and buried logs on the northeast section of the beach.

Invertebrates

No invertebrate survey has been conducted on this beach, but one is scheduled for 1997.

Clams

A clam survey was conducted only at the north beach and not at the swimming area which is often artificially replenished with sand. While the plot we surveyed was more than 700 feet long, the area containing clams was only about one and one half acres. Of the 25 holes dug, only 20 contained clams. The clams were sparsely scattered over the beach, although they were more numerous on the south end of the assessment area. A total of 164 clams were found at this beach. The average population density was eight clams per square foot, but the size of the clams, which averaged 1.6 grams, was the second smallest for the beaches surveyed. The yield was also the second lowest with 15 grams per square foot.

Numerically, the clam population was dominated by butter clams (48%) and little-neck clams (24%). By weight, cockles dominated the sample (74%). Since so much of the beach was sandy, the preferred habitat of cockles, it follows that they would be dominant. Of the 110 butter clams and littlenecks collected, none were of legal size.

Check out the following graphs for more information about the clam population:
Numeric composition of clam population
Weight composition of clam population
Numeric distribution of clam population
Biomass distribution of clam population

Seaweed

The algae surveyor found 16 species, the fifth highest of the eight beaches surveyed. Sargassum was found on this beach. The lack of suitable substrate significantly limited the diversity of seaweed found on this beach.

Use

Overall, it seems that the condition of this beach typifies the effects of unrestricted harvesting on an urban beach. The beach is close to an urban population and very accessible. While it can't be said with certainty, it is likely that it is a victim of past harvesting. Local residents stated that there formerly was a substantial clam population. Even where the substrate seemed suitable for clams, they were few and small. Not only does the clam population suffer, so do, many of the other invertebrate species such as the Dungeness, red rock, and shore crabs as well as limpets.

This park is one of the most frequently used parks in the area. It is used for beach-combing, sun bathing, and swimming. Since there are few clams and little substrate for attachment by marine algae, harvesting pressure is minimal.

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Updated: 11/02/98