Volunteer to help maintain coastal habitat in beautiful Deception Pass State Park!

Help weed and water habitat restoration projects

Enjoy the sunshine!

Bowman Bay: Friday, August 7 10am-1pm

Consistent with SFEG’s Covid-19 protocol, and with  Washington State’s Safe Start Plan for Covid-19, until the state is in Phase 4, we ask that any volunteers    considered “High Risk” for Covid-19 please stay home.
 Work parties limited to 4 volunteers (plus 1 SFEG staff) at a time.

 Register Here- Limit 4 people per event

 

If 2020 were a normal year, we would have a team of interns and volunteers heading out amongst the conifers and shrubs to monitor the plants at our restoration sites. However, this year is anything but “normal”, so to make up for that, our team of Washington Service Corps members have begun monitoring instead!

Washington Service Corps members monitoring at Riverfront Park in Sedro-Woolley

Two sites were accomplished during their first week, Riverfront Park in Sedro-Woolley and Skagit Land Trust’s site Utopia. Everyone wears a mask at all times, and social distancing protocols are adhered to.

WSC Members monitoring at Utopia

The plants are checked for species, height, mortality rating, and anything else of note, including insect damage and whether they have protectors. We miss our volunteers but SFEG is still getting important work done!

One of the plots at Utopia

On a recent cool sunny day, SFEG staff visited a few Seattle City Light-owned properties upriver.  Hydroelectric dams, of which Seattle City Light (SCL) has three on the Skagit River,  impact salmon and to compensate for (or offset) this SCL buys lands and puts them into a conservation trust.

Bengt Miller, Stewardship Coordinator, along the Skagit River at the Illabot Creek property

SFEG stewards about 2,500 acres for SCL. These lands are managed for multiple use by wildlife and humans, though regular check-ins are required to ensure plants are growing and human use is light and as intended.

Some of the new trees planted at Illabot Creek

At the sites known as Illabot and Carefree Acres, staff assessed the growth of newly planted native species, planted a few additional plants, and documented some new and existing human impacts. 

A dilapidated outhouse at Carefree Acres hints its former homesite days

Along the way we scared up a ruffed grouse, and saw ample evidence of deer and elk using both properties.  Songbird houses have been installed too, since habitat restoration is about WAY MORE than just salmon!

Birdhouses made by volunteer Jack Middleton and decorated by local youth provide nesting habitat for a variety of birds at Carefree Acres