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
- located in: thurston county
- related to: Indigenous people
- related to: Olympia Oysters
- related to: Shoreline Management Program (SMP)
- related to: Southern Resident Killer Whales
- related to: beach
- related to: beaches
- related to: butler cove
- related to: capitol land trust
- related to: city of everett
- related to: deschutes delta
- related to: deschutes estuary restoration team
- related to: deschutes estuary
- related to: east bay
- related to: east cooper point drift cell
- related to: eld inlet watershed
- related to: ellis cove
- related to: embayments
- related to: gull harbor north drift cell
- related to: gull harbor
- related to: mission creek drift cell
- related to: mtca
- related to: people for puget sound
- related to: priority species and habitats
- related to: puget sound acquisition and restoration
- related to: south puget sound
- related to: squalichew creek estuary
- related to: state owned aquatic lands
- related to: stillman creek
- related to: washington state department of ecology
- related to: wdoe
- related to: west bay watersheds