On Tuesday, Sept 30, in the evening at Hillcrest Lodge in Mt. Vernon, the Skagit Conservation District held their annual Awards banquet .. A grand schmooze-fest and BBQ beef-rib dinner served up by the Skagit County Cattlemen. That place holds about 200 seated at tables, and it was full … a successful event. Some nice door prizes are awarded, courtesy of a variety of donors. Plenty of local dignitaries and wanna-be dignitaries were there too. The Conservation District (which has been in business here for over 60 years) presents all kinds of awards and recognition to volunteers, staff, and participants of the many conservation-related activities and classes that go on over the year. The grand finale is presentation of the Harry Taggart Inspirational Award – a well-kept secret until it is announced at the banquet.
This year the award was presented to Ann and Jack Middleton, a most worthy couple who have been involved in so many activities and projects this past year.
There was also a special Community Leadership award presented to Frances Ambrose, the recycle and compost lady who has just retired from Skagit County after 17 years. Frances, Ann, and Jack all live out in the Bayview area!
I ran into the farmer that has the serve-yourself corn trailers out along Chuckanut at about Josh Wilson and at Allen-West. About another week and a half of good corn he says! He does not care if people peel back the husk a bit to see the kernels, as long as they don’t leave a lot of them. Not much of a problem. Neither is theft. In fact he sometimes finds some nice sized bills in the box, more than enough to cover what corn a person would take. Hooray for the farmer and for all you good clients … that’s a real treat of the Natural Skagit!
I’m attending the Watershed Masters Class on Wednesday evenings out at the Padilla Bay facility, with about 25 others. So far we have had two evening classes and a field trip. Here is a synopsis – hopefully to encourage some of you to plan on this next fall.
On the first night, Kristi Carpenter from the Conservation District gave us an overview … Kristi is the Public Information and Education Coordinator for the Conservation District, which sponsors the class along with several partners. She began the Watershed Masters more than 10 years ago and continues to make it go! We also got a good introduction to what a watershed is, what is in one, how they work, and why they are important to know about. Then we learned the various watersheds that make up Skagit County, with each of us paying special attention to the one we live in – our Place.
After a break we had a fascinating talk and picture show by John Harris, the reigning historian of the Skagit River, particularly the Skagit above Sedro-Woolley. Many of you have heard John tell his stories and have read his books. John is an important man with an important mission.
On the following Saturday we took a field trip with Kurt Buchanan, a retired WDFW biologist who has never let retirement stop him from working. He took us through part of the Trumpeter Creek watershed just east of Bakerview Park in Mount Vernon. Kurt was active with the crew that rehabilitated all that area many years ago and it was quite amazing to hear about and see the change from a ditch in a field to a salmon stream in the woods.
Then we went to Pomona Grange Park where the fish hatchery is on Friday Creek … on old 99 at about Bow Hill Rd. There we learned about a healthy stream and a lot about the bugs and fish and etc. that like it there – and what makes a stream healthy. Some Chinook salmon (part of the Samish River run) were there getting ready to spawn. There was a dead one and Kurt graciously showed us a complete dissection of a spawned out salmon and a lot about the internals … fascinating … errrmmm.
At the second evening of class we heard from Rick Haley who is the Water Quality Monitoring person for Skagit County. He showed us where all the various water quality sampling sites are around the county and shared a lot of the data with us. We were pretty surprised to see how much improvement is needed in our lakes, rivers and streams. There was an energetic discussion with Rick!
After a break, we heard from David Beatty, a retired Fisheries Professor and one of the founders of the Skagit Fisheries Enhancement Group. We had a very informative picture show and talk about the five species of salmon in our watersheds, and especially the unique life cycle of each of the five. Also of great interest was the information about the challenges salmon face here, some of the causes, and some of the actions for helping them. And he gave us a stern challenge to get involved in the action … with some concrete ways we each can Dig In!
The Local-Organization-You-Might-Want-To-Be-Involved-With this week is … is … hoo boy, I’ve just about run out of them. Any ideas/suggestions out there?
Here are some near-term activities to consider:
Sat. Oct. 4 Native Plant Nursery Workday 9:00am – 2:00pm Marblemount Ranger Station Potluck lunch.
Sat. Oct. 4 Spawner Survey Workshop 9:00am – 1:00pm Northern State, Sedro-Woolley Learn to monitor stream restoration sites for spawning salmon, must be able to do weekly monitoring late Oct. – January. Register (or more info)
Sat., Sun. Oct. 4, 5 Skagit Valley Farm Tour 10:00am – 4:00pm 10th annual – 13 farms! http://www.farmtour.com for more info, map.
Sat. Oct. 11 Friends Of The Forest annual Benefit 6:00pm – midnight Fidalgo Bay Resort Tickets $50, event sells out fast. http://www.friendsoftheacfl.org for more info
Mon. Oct. 13 Skagit Co-op Speaker Series – “Healthy Farms – Healthy Puget Sound: Traditional Foods of the Pacific Northwest” 6:30pm – 8:00pm Skagit Valley Co-op (Bring your own bowl and spoon and have some “Skagit Soup” – monetary donations accepted.) or 360 336 1931 to rsvp
Sat. Oct. 18 Plant the Berm 9:00am – 2:00pm Falls Creek Rockfall Mitigation Berm on Rte 20 east of Newhalem. Meet at the North Cascades National Park nursery office near the greenhouse. Then carpool to work site. Please sign up in advance …
Many similar events and activities and opportunities are posted on the GoSkagit Event Calendar. Check it often!
(This blog is a service of the Skagit Conservation Education Alliance (SCEA) http://www.skagitwater.org Your comments will be helpful. New ideas to consider, and changes we should make are especially welcome. Corrections and further enlightenment will help as well. You can email to . Thank you.)
