Illabot Creek

Illabot Creek provides exceptional spawning and rearing habitat for summer and fall Chinook, Coho, Chum, Pink salmon, Steelhead, and one of the largest populations of Bull Trout in the Skagit River watershed. Numerous side channels along Illabot Creek also serve as important spawning and rearing habitat for fish. Three of the fish species native to Illabot Creek are listed under the Federal Endangered Species Act: Chinook Salmon, Native Steelhead and Bull Trout. The populations of Chum and Pink Salmon supported by Illabot Creek are some of the highest concentrations in the Skagit River watershed.

The Illabot Creek Conservation Area provides important habitat for bald eagle populations that winter along the Skagit River and feed on winter salmon runs. The Skagit River supports some of the highest concentrations of wintering bald eagles in the continental United State. Land immediately adjacent to the protected property is part of the Skagit River Bald Eagle Natural Area: a mosaic of public and private lands protected and managed to support wintering populations of bald eagles along the Skagit River. 

The Illabot Creek Conservation Area is one of many Skagit Land Trust properties along the upper Skagit River watershed set aside for conservation. The properties directly border land owned by the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife (WA DFW) to the north and west and land managed by Washington Department of Natural Resources (WA DNR) to the south. Properties managed by Skagit Land Trust and other conservation organizations in the area create a patchwork of protected riparian lands along the Skagit River. 

Illabot Creek Conservation Area protects a mature riparian forest along the Skagit River and Illabot Creek. Flooding is an important ecological process that creates a diversity of habitat types including woodlands, shrublands, wet meadows, and marshes: all of which are adapted to specific flooding cycles. The protected forest provides important ecosystem functions including improving water quality, providing shade to cool stream temperatures, and serving as a source of large woody debris to the Skagit River. Illabot Creek Conservation Area provides habitat for many species of wildlife including beaver, cougar, black bear, coyote, deer and ruffed grouse.