View our latest posts: From the Field

Spawner Survey Successes! East Fork Walker Then and Now: How to Protect our Rivers for all Inhabitants. | Project 4 of 30

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East Fork (EF) Walker is a tributary of the Nookachamps Creek. E.F. Walker drains water from the surrounding agricultural lands, logging areas, and ORV trails, making it flashy during storm events and creating high sediment loads. Like many of our monitoring projects, we began our restoration efforts by replacing a perched culvert with a bridge on a private road crossing.

By removing blackberry bushes and planting native vegetation along the upper portion of the stream, we helped stabilize the bank, created cover and shade for salmon, and provided nutrient input for macroinvertebrates (an important food source for juvenile salmon).

This project was completed in 2015 with the hope that our restoration efforts will improve fish passage, and result in a higher return of spawning salmon.

Spawning Coho Salmon, November 2020

Every year, we recruit a team of volunteer citizen scientists to walk streams and conduct spawner surveys on streams like EF Walker. Volunteers are trained and assigned to streams in early October and commit to walking their stream and collecting data until the salmon run has ended. Skagit Fisheries has been monitoring EF Walker for the past 6 years to analyze our impact. Our data showed a huge increase in salmon, carcasses, and redd activity since the start of our project in 2015.

While it is always exciting to hear the good news for salmon, we are also excited to hear stories from our surveyors about the impact our healthy streams have on greater ecosystems. EF Walker is also home to bald eagles, great blue herons, beavers and other animals that take advantage of the rich riparian ecosystem.

On January 2nd, 2021 our spawner surveyor Chad Verbitsky, and his daughter, Audrey walked EF Walker as they normally do on Saturdays.

Chad and Audrey were thrilled to see a duo of bald eagles up close. They saw the adult eagle take off, but the juvenile eagle stayed put on a branch.

Chad and Audrey saw the juvenile struggle to move, and finally flew over the trail–until it nose dived into blackberry bush.

The eagle tried to fly away but was unable to.

Chad called the first animal rehab organization he found online, who told him to put the eagle in a box. This suggestion did not sit right with Chad as despite the fact that the eagle was a baby, it was still a big bird of prey with dangerous talons. Chad then got in touch with Sarvey Wildlife Care Center, located in Arlington, WA. Sarvey was able to dispatch someone to help with the eagle. Just as the dispatcher approached the eagle to help it break free of the blackberry, it flew away. Chad was told that often younger birds deplete their energy when hunting for salmon and need to rest before they can fly off.

While we are happy that our baby eagle was able to fly away, we are glad that Chad contacted someone that can help him. If you see a hurt animal, please do not handle the bird yourself. Instead, contact a wildlife rehab center that is dedicated to saving the lives of sick, orphaned, injured, or displaced wild animals, so that they may be successfully returned to their native habitat.

 

 

A Refuge for Swans and More, Close to Home| Project 3 of 30

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Just a quick jaunt outside of the bustling metropolis of Mount Vernon and you’re at DeBay’s Slough, a side channel of the Skagit River.  The property, now 629 acres, was dedicated by WDFW in 2001 as a place for the public to view overwintering trumpeter swans and other wildlife.  A swan flying over the area in 1900  would’ve seen a large S-curve in the river at this location.  Straightening the river at the S-curve to improve navigation about a century ago created DeBay’s Island and the corresponding Hart Island to the north of the river.

1860s*
2021

A large field ringed ¾ of the way around by forest, this site provides habitat for many creatures in addition to swans.  On a recent mid-February morning red-winged blackbirds were calling, as they so often are near water.  In a stand of dead trees the “peek peek” of a downy woodpecker could be heard.  The ubiquitous Stellar’s jay was cackling, and trumpeter swans could be heard softly trumpeting from the slough as well as in the air.  A small flock of mourning doves took up residence in a cottonwood tree, and a pair of bald eagles perched in a tree high above it all, surveying their breakfast and lunch options.

SFEG has been working in partnership with WDFW to assist with riparian restoration on multiple sections of DeBay’s Slough.  Restoration plans for the property call for partially reforesting a small portion of the property along the water.  Restoring this site will improve function of floodplain and riparian forest, while protecting side channel habitat for salmonids. Several plant species already onsite such as wild roses, Oregon grape, and Douglas spirea provide food for many insects, birds, and mammals.  

Additional planting efforts will add deciduous and evergreen trees to the mix.  In partnership with WDFW, SFEG will hold volunteer planting parties here on Saturday, February 27, and March 6, 2021.  Small volunteer groups of 5 will be spread throughout the property in morning and afternoon shifts in order to comply with state-mandated Covid-19 safety guidelines.  Sign up here!

More information about the DeBay’s Slough Swan Reserve can be found Here

 

 

*Detail of a section map originally prepared by Department of the Interior, General Land Office, Surveyor General’s Office, Olympia, Washington Territory.  Surveyors began on Fir Island in 1866 and finished with the Sauk River Valley in 1885. This detail was taken from a compilation of the GLO’s work and was researched and developed by Skagit County Residents Larry Kunzler and Leonard Halverson, May 1994.

 

Utopia: Heaven on Earth| Project 2 of 30

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By Lucy DeGrace

Utopia: an imaginary or indefinitely remote place, according to merriam-webster.com.  Synonyms: heaven, paradise.  During a recent sunny break in our rainy February it sure felt like heaven, as we strolled along the path in this grassy field-turned forested wetland, between side channels and marshes, listening to a cacophony of birds greeting the morning.

 A Skagit Land Trust property, the Utopia Conservation Area protects over 87 acres of creeks, wetlands, and forested habitat within the Skagit River floodplain.  It was acquired in 2012 and 2014 primarily to protect the salmon habitat found in Wiseman Creek/Black Slough and the Skagit River. Prior to Land Trust purchase, the land had likely been used for grazing and hay production. Plans for the property include restoration of the lowland forest and understory as seen in the numerous plantings done over the years. Management of invasive species, both plant and animal, are also a necessary part of the stewardship of Utopia.

Recently-planted evergreens amid a backdrop of mature alder and cottonwood along the slough

SFEG has been a partner in restoration at Utopia, over the years bringing hundreds of volunteers and students to the site for stewardship opportunities.  We’ve shared Earth Days, Junior Stream Stewards service field trips, and Saturday planting parties, and have developed a wonderful synergy in our partnership toward restoration.  Thousands of native plants have been planted over the years, and the varying ages of the restored areas are allowing a rich array of wildlife to make use of it.

Elk, deer, beaver, and coyote are among the mammals that frequent the area. Evidence of elk was apparent in the young trees that had been shredded by the bucks who rub the velvet from their antlers on these conveniently placed scratching posts.  Beaver presence was revealed in a severely damaged tree along the slough.

Abundant bird species and amphibians are attracted by the wetlands found on the property. The evergreen stands are great places to find owl pellets, compacted coughed-up bits of the owl’s latest meal. The Skagit Land Trust holds an annual amphibian monitoring volunteer training at this property, known for its varied and abundant frogs and salamanders.  Sadly, our visit was a few weeks too early to hear the Pacific tree frog, also known as the Pacific chorus frog.

This marsh becomes a nursery for thousands of frogs and salamanders each spring

What we did hear, when walking along Wiseman Creek/Black Slough were gregarious Steller’s jays feeding upon the berry-producing shrubs planted along the banks.  The ever-present red-winged blackbirds, American robins, and chickadees announced their presence in the dense vegetation along the water. Thickets of native willow and rose provide cover for these songbirds as they seek out insects and seeds.  Several wood duck boxes have been installed on trees along the water’s edge and are used every year.

As we prepared to depart, we were delighted by a bald eagle perched in a tree over the slough, and a few trumpeter swans softly announcing their presence as they flew overhead.  The variety and abundance of wildlife making their homes here is gratifying to see. Habitat restoration is about so much more than just salmon!

Low-impact public access is allowed, although biking, horseback riding and motorized vehicles are prohibited. At this time, fishing is allowed in season and with appropriate licenses. Learn more about this property at https://www.skagitlandtrust.org/properties/utopia.aspx