Winter floods have changed the landscape at the Conservancy’s Port Susan Bay Preserve. What can we learn from how the estuary reacts to this storm?

December flooding swamped Snohomish County, and breached dikes, drowned roads and filled fields in and around the Conservancy’s Port Susan Bay Preserve, at the mouth of the Stillaguamish River.

Port Susan Bay Preserve is popular with birders, who come to see shorebirds during their fall and spring migrations. Access is by permission only.

Flood Effects

Water filled the fields east of the preserve, and flowed over the old dike into the preserve field. The preserve’s sea dike held, although staff will be looking for signs of erosion in the rock walls. All the flood water covering the delta made the ducks happy – there were 60,000 to 80,000 gathered in the flooded fields along the river, said Roger Fuller, a Conservancy ecologist.

What The Conservancy is Doing

The Conservancy continues to plan for restoration work at the preserve, and the flooding will help inform the plans, said Kat Morgan, the Port Susan Program Manager. “This was a big flooding event for the whole community,” she said. “We have an opportunity to look at strategic places where restoration might alleviate some of the more challenging effects of flooding on the community.”

Nature picture credits (top to bottom, left to right): Photo © Douglas King (Port Susan Bay Preserve); Photo © Kat Morgan/TNC (Port Susan Bay).