The Skagit River System Cooperative (SRSC) has found evidence that beavers living in the tidal marsh are creating prime salmon habitat. The SRSC is the natural resources arm of the Swinomish and Sauk-Suiattle tribes.
Today, only about 6 percent of the tidal scrub shrub habitat is left in the Skagit River Delta, and that’s better than a lot of places where it’s gone altogether. (more…)
The Skagit Valley Herald (subscription required) had an article Sunday about a USGS project to map the ocean floor of Skagit Bay and Deception Pass to show how the seabed looks today and how it looked 150 years ago.
For the scientists with the Skagit River System Cooperative, an agency of the Sauk-Suiattle and Swinomish Indian tribes that works to improve the fisheries in the river basin, the maps of before and after may help them prove a theory.
Confining the river to two channels causes silt-laden fresh water to squirt like a “fire hose” into the Skagit Bay, said Greg Hood, senior restoration ecologist for the tribal cooperative.