By: John Chelminiak, North Cascades Initiative Director, The Wilderness Society
A cold December morning in the Pacific Northwest is usually a time to head out the door for skiing or snowshoeing. But there we were, in temperatures just below freezing, carrying a six-person raft down the bank of the Skagit River in the North Cascades. The American Bald Eagles were back on the Skagit, in one of the largest concentrations of wintering bald eagles in the Continental U.S., giving us all another opportunity to see what makes this such a special place.
Dave Button, owner of Pacific NW Float Trips, has been leading float trips in Washington and Alaska since 1974. He asked The Wilderness Society to join him on this float because a camera crew from the local Fox Network affiliate would be coming along. Connecting people with the North Cascades is an important element of our strategy to preserve this remarkable ecosystem and the opportunity for a couple minutes of television time is a great way to get that message out.
We had several boats and about eighteen people on the float in mid-December. Shortly after pushing off, we spotted our first bald eagles on the branches of a tree on the south shore. The stark white head and tail make them easy to spot in the maple and cottonwood trees along the river banks. Soon we were paddling back and forth, south bank to north bank, and floating ever so quietly past these incredible birds.
The bald eagle is our national symbol. They are about three-feet tall and have a wing-span of six feet. Looking above us, a half dozen were soaring in the sky looking down on the river. The river through this stretch runs fairly slow and the water is cold and crystal clear. Chum salmon carcasses can be seen just under the water line. They returned earlier in the fall and spawned. Now, they are nutrients for the birds and a big reason so many of the eagles choose the Skagit to winter.
The Skagit River flows out of the North Cascades and rolls into Puget Sound about fifty miles north of Seattle. Its part of the Skagit Wild and Scenic River System and the waters come from almost 400 glaciers in the Mount Baker Wilderness to the north and the Glacier Peak Wilderness to the east. The Baker, Cascade and Sauk-Suiattle Rivers are also part of the National Wild and Scenic River System, guaranteeing that they will continue to be freeflowing rivers in the future. The Skagit watershed covers 3,100 square miles and TWS is working with the National Park Service and other conservation organizations to designate another section of the river as part of the Wild and Scenic River System.
We spotted over 100 bald eagles on this cold Saturday, as many as four perched in one tree at a time. Snow started falling as we began paddling toward shore and the end of our morning on the river. My nine-year old Megan looked at me and gave the ultimate fourth-grade compliment, “That was pretty cool, dad.”
These are incredible birds, our nation’s symbol, and another reason that the North Cascades of Washington State is one of our National Treasures.
