A Summer of Wild and Scenic Rivers

Steve and Theresa spend the summer making multiple trips to the Suiattle River for the Wild and Scenic River Project.

Wild and Scenic Rivers

For regular readers of this website, it looks like we haven’t been busy this summer, but the exact opposite is true. We’ve been so busy with our science projects, and the event’s in our personal life, that I just haven’t had the time to update things here. I’ll strive to do better.

Short Wild and Scenic Rivers Recap

Here’s a short recap of what is involved with the Wild and Scenic River Projects organized by Adventure Scientist. Wild and Scenic Rivers Act of 1968, enacted by the U.S. Congress to preserve certain rivers with outstanding natural, cultural, and recreational values in a free-flowing condition for the enjoyment of present and future generations. The Act established the National Wild and Scenic Rivers System to protect and enhance rivers found to be regionally and nationally significant. Rivers may be designated by Congress or if specific requirements are met, the Secretary of the Interior. Each designated river is administered by either a federal, state, or tribal agency, or as a partnership between any number of these government entities and local NGOs. Designated segments need not include the entire river and may include headwaters and tributaries. For federally administered rivers, the designated boundaries generally average one-quarter mile on either bank in the lower 48 states and one-half mile on rivers outside national parks in Alaska in order to protect river-related values. You can read more details in this article that I published when we first started our surveys.
wsr data
Theresa entering our data from the various field probe we take out in the field to measure parameters.

Our Wild and Scenic River Summer

So our summer entailed making 3 separate trips out to our collection site on the Suiattle River. As a matter of fact, doing the same evolution during the summer is easier as well as more enjoyable than doing it during the winter collections.

The only thing that was really different is that we did make some time to explore more of the Mt. Baker_Snoqualmie National Forest. We traveled as far as FS26 would take us which is the bridge that crosses Downy Creek. It’s my understanding that there was a washout further on. Also of interest was the Buck Creek Campground which was open and situated on the banks of its namesake. It’s a beautiful area and we have plans to explore more.

Support

Our mission is a labor of love, but it does come with overhead. If you’d like to support our efforts we’d certainly appreciate it. Currently, we’re actively participating in the following field research:

  • COASST Beached Bird Surveys
  • Wild and Scenic River Project

Thank you.

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Steve and Theresa spend the summer making multiple trips to the Suiattle River for the Wild and Scenic River Project.

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Working to provide opportunities for outdoor enthusiasts to make a difference as they play in the outdoors.
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Working to translate long-term monitoring into effective marine conservation solutions.
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Washington's Recent Fires

As summer gives way to winter, we’re already geared up for another season of monitoring and collecting. We’ve received our calibrated monitors and sampling gear, however, everything is at a standstill due to the late seasonal fires that erupted here in Washington.

As a matter of fact, one of the fires is along the north side of our access road FS26. It’s believed that the fire was sparked by lightning on August 30th. It seems to have consumed at least 2,300 acres. Checking the National Forest Update page it appears that as of October 17th they’ve closed FS26 for its entirety.

As of publishing this article I have a few inquiries out but haven’t heard back if perhaps our permit would allow us access to the river. I’ll post updates here as I receive them.

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