Wayne Watne is a Fish Biologist with the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW), a landowner along the Samish River, and a dedicated SFEG community member and volunteer.
https://i0.wp.com/www.skagitfisheries.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/wayne_watne_interview-1.jpg?fit=560%2C317&ssl=1317560Rose Sandellhttps://www.skagitfisheries.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/skagit_fisheries_logo_2022_green_edge-244x300.pngRose Sandell2021-03-03 14:45:182021-06-18 09:18:26Meet Wayne Watne | Fish Biologist
Help celebrate Earth Day 2021 by helping to free the trees from invasive English ivy! In partnership with Samish Island Camp and the Samish Indian Nation, we’ll remove invasive ivy from the ground and trees along Scott’s Point on Samish Island. English ivy climbs the native trees and eventually causes them to die, removing important coastal erosion buffers. By removing the ivy we’ll give these trees a new lease on life!
Sign up for a “Shift” 9:00-11:30 or 12:30-3:00
Bring your own gloves if you have them. If not, we will gift you some! All ages welcome, masks required. Dress for the weather!
Due to ongoing Covid-19 health and safety concerns, RSVP for this and all volunteer events is required, in order to maintain small group numbers. Each “Shift” will be limited to 25 people; volunteers will be in separate groups of 5 volunteers each.
We will be launching our INaturalist project at our Earth Day event! iNaturalist is a social network of naturalists, citizen scientists, and biologists built on the concept of mapping and sharing observations of biodiversity across the globe. We created a project folder for Earth Day volunteers to collect observations on plants and animals observed at Samish Island Camp! Instructions below:
https://www.skagitfisheries.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/skagit_fisheries_logo_2022_green_edge-244x300.png00Oncorhynchushttps://www.skagitfisheries.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/skagit_fisheries_logo_2022_green_edge-244x300.pngOncorhynchus2021-03-03 09:59:022021-04-20 11:12:56Earth Day Ivy Pull April 24
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.
https://i0.wp.com/www.skagitfisheries.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/image0-3.jpeg?fit=%2C&ssl=1Oncorhynchushttps://www.skagitfisheries.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/skagit_fisheries_logo_2022_green_edge-244x300.pngOncorhynchus2021-03-01 10:54:392021-06-18 14:54:12Spawner Survey Successes! East Fork Walker Then and Now: How to Protect our Rivers for all Inhabitants. | Project 4 of 30
Meet Wayne Watne | Fish Biologist
From the Field, InterviewsWayne Watne is a Fish Biologist with the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW), a landowner along the Samish River, and a dedicated SFEG community member and volunteer.
Earth Day Ivy Pull April 24
Upcoming EventsHelp celebrate Earth Day 2021 by helping to free the trees from invasive English ivy! In partnership with Samish Island Camp and the Samish Indian Nation, we’ll remove invasive ivy from the ground and trees along Scott’s Point on Samish Island. English ivy climbs the native trees and eventually causes them to die, removing important coastal erosion buffers. By removing the ivy we’ll give these trees a new lease on life!
Bring your own gloves if you have them. If not, we will gift you some! All ages welcome, masks required. Dress for the weather!
Due to ongoing Covid-19 health and safety concerns, RSVP for this and all volunteer events is required, in order to maintain small group numbers. Each “Shift” will be limited to 25 people; volunteers will be in separate groups of 5 volunteers each.
Register for Shift 1: 9:00-11:30am
Register for Shift 2: 12:30-3:00pm
Contents of our #EarthDay2021 goodie bags!
Join us and get a goodie bag of your own!
In addition to the contents of our giveaway bag, we will also be giving seed packets from Washington State Noxious Weed Control Board and cookies from Breadfarm!
INaturalist Project
We will be launching our INaturalist project at our Earth Day event! iNaturalist is a social network of naturalists, citizen scientists, and biologists built on the concept of mapping and sharing observations of biodiversity across the globe. We created a project folder for Earth Day volunteers to collect observations on plants and animals observed at Samish Island Camp! Instructions below:
Spawner Survey Successes! East Fork Walker Then and Now: How to Protect our Rivers for all Inhabitants. | Project 4 of 30
30/30 Projects, From the FieldEast 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.
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.