(24 June 1978) . In each bay, the creeks were sampled at equal intervals as 

 measured along the curves o£ the creeks, using the small corer (four 

 samples per station) , the large corer (one sample per station) , and the 

 aquatic sweep net (one sample per station) . The small corer samples were 

 10 centimeters deep and captured small surface crustaceans and worms. 

 Large corer samples penetrated 30 centimeters to sample larger and deeper 

 dwelling species such as bivalves. Small corer samples were screened on a 

 0.5-millimeter sieve and the large corer samples on a 2-millimeter sieve. 



The mature high marsh transect was 480 meters long and included five 

 stations spaced at 120-meter intervals. Station 1 was located at the creek 

 mouth, where the bottom is 28 meters wide and 0.8 meter below the level 

 marsh. Stations 1, 2, and 3 were located below a dike, and stations 4 and 

 5 above the dike in a tributary creek. The creek at station 5 was 1.1 

 meter deep and 0.7 meter wide. Aquatic sweep net samples were taken only 

 at stations 1, 2, and 4. 



The sedge transect was 400 meters long with eight stations spaced at 

 50-meter intervals. The creek bisects the sedge marsh, and drains in 

 opposite directions from a shallow center area (station 5) . Maximum creek 

 width was 10 meters, and maximum depth was 0.7 meter (station 8). At 

 station 5, the creek forms an 8-centimeter-wide depression in a sparsely 

 vegetated, dark muddy area. Because of time constraints, stations 4 and 7 

 were not sampled. Two small tidal creeks in the sedge marsh were sampled 

 by aquatic sweep net on 6 April 1978. The creeks are about 0.5 meter wide 

 and 0.5 meter deep and form part of the dendritic system that flows into 

 the major creek. 



■ Drift nets (Table 3) were set in the lower regions of the creeks in 

 the sedge and mature high marshes to collect animals that represent avail- 

 able fish food. Large drift net samples were collected in a small, den- 

 dritic creek in the sedge marsh on 19 December 1977, and at the bayward 

 mouth of the large tidal creek on 16 October 1978 and 26 April 1979. A 

 "small creek was also sampled on 6 February 1978 using the small drift net. 

 Large drift net samples in the mature high marsh were collected at a single 

 location in the lower region of a major tidal creek on 17 October 1978, 1 

 November 1978, and 12 April 1979. A small drift net sample was obtained in 

 a small tributary on 12 April 1979. 



e. Tidal Flats . Infaunal samples were collected by large and medium 

 corers (Table 3) over 30- by 60-meter grids located on tidal flats adjoining 

 the low sand (Netarts Bay) and sedge (Siletz Bay) marshes. The grids were 

 marked at 1 -meter intervals producing 1,800 potential sample areas. Ten of 

 these were randomly selected for each set of samples. At each area, a 10- 

 centimeter-deep medium corer sample and a 30-centimeter-deep larger corer 

 sample were collected. Medium corer samples were screened on 0. S-millimeter 

 sieve and the large corer samples on a 2-millimeter sieve. 



3. Fish Studies . 



Fish were collected with seines and an otter trawl from several marsh 

 habitats and in the open bay of each estuary. A comparison was made of the 

 species composition and food habits of the bay fauna and the marsh fauna. 



