ABOUT THE TALK*
Skagit Land Trust’s Volunteer & Education Coordinator, Stacy Dahl, will introduce Skagit Land Trust’s conservation work and discuss the history and management of Skagit Land Trust’s March Point heronry — one of the largest remaining heronries on the West Coast of North America. Stacy will also discuss the ongoing community science projects focused on great blue herons on SLT properties.
SLT Board member and community science volunteer Anne Winkes will use stills and videos to give us a look at life in the March Point heronry during the 2025 breeding and nesting season. Anne will share some of the herons’ expected and unexpected behaviors, highlighting three nests that experienced success and failure as the adults worked to rear young to fledging.
*This presentation will resemble a sold-out talk Anne and Stacy gave in person for the Friends of the Salish Sea Lecture Series in February. The presentation in November will bring the story to a wider audience and will offer updates from the 2026 season — including a new heron behavior observed this year, a description of the herons’ reactions to the March Point Landfill Cleanup, and November 2026 nest count numbers.
ABOUT THE PRESENTERS
Anne Winkes is a Skagit Land Trust community science volunteer who has observed and recorded great blue heron behaviors throughout the breeding and nesting season every year since 2013. Anne observed at the Samish Island heronry from 2013 to 2017 and then, following the abandonment of that heronry, has observed at the March Point heronry from 2018 to the present. In addition to monitoring in the field, Anne has been part of the March Point Heronry wildlife camera observation team since its inception in 2022.
Anne is a member of the Skagit Land Trust Board of Directors and chairs the Trust’s Public Policy Committee. Following the abandonment of the Samish Island heronry, Anne became (and continues to be) a strong advocate for protection of Great Blue Herons in Skagit County.
Stacy Dahl is the Volunteer and Education Programs Coordinator at Skagit Land Trust. She has coordinated the Trust’s March Point Heronry Conservation Area community science projects since 2018.
Stacy planned and implemented the installation of three wildlife cameras at the heronry and developed protocols and volunteer training for the annual camera observation project.