budd inlet ecosystem
left|300pxLike most South Puget Sound Inlets, Budd Inlet contains multiple Beaches and Embayments, and is anchored by a large estuary complex at its head. Budd Inlet is the most populated inlet in South Sound. The head of Budd Inlet is dominated by the City of Olympia which surrounds both the Deschutes Estuary and East Bay which receives flow from the Indian-Moxlie Creek Watershed. The rest of the inlet shoreline is formed of five significant beach drift cells including clockwise from the NE, Gull Harbor North Drift Cell, Priest Point North Drift Cell, Mission Creek Drift Cell, East Cooper Point Drift Cell, and West Bay Drift Cell. Several smaller drift cells flow into three embayments, Ellis Cove, Gull Harbor and Butler Cove which receive a large portion of the remaining freshwater from the watershed. The Embayments and portions of the Gull Harbor and Priest Point drift cells are the least developed. Much of the remaining shoreline is either armored or extensively modified. Budd Inlet is the historical home of the Steh’chass band of the Squaxin Island Tribe.
View in Coastal Atlas showing Drift Cells Map of Budd Inlet showing drift cells and lost barrier embayments NOAA Chart of Budd Inlet
Relationships
- related to: Shellfish hotline
- related to: Deschutes Watershed
- related to: Discovery Bay Ecosystem
- related to: south puget sound;eld inlet
- related to: Thurston County