A Place for Wild Things – Expanding a Corridor of Conservation

This spring, Skagit Land Trust was gifted a 56-acre mosaic of forest, wetland, and open meadow near Sedro-Woolley. The land sits just north of Northern State Recreation Area on Hansen Creek, and connects to a broad patchwork of protected lands. A nearby mature stand of second-growth forest, managed by the Department of Natural Resources (DNR), features marbled murrelet habitat. This acquisition provides another link in a development-free Chuckanut to Cascades Corridor. This corridor stretches from Blanchard Mountain and the Salish Sea to the Cascade foothills.

Dan Symonds, who donated the land, describes the area as peaceful, “as long as your dog doesn’t chase a bear up the road toward you!” Dan, who still lives next to the donated property, sees wildlife there all the time – including elk, bobcat, woodpeckers, and bear. Dan is on a first-name basis with all the local bears and has nicknamed them all Fred. In fact, one of the ‘Freds’ once broke into a freezer on Dan’s porch for a haul of frozen berries.

The property supports great habitat for native fish, with 1,120 feet of Hansen Creek running through it. Summer and winter steelhead, coho, and cutthroat trout have been documented in the creek. Both chum and odd-year pink salmon have access to this reach as well. Fall chinook are presumed present and historically called this creek home. This stretch of the creek is in excellent shape, with wide, intact native buff ers, accumulations of large wood, gravel substrate, and a healthy mix of riffles and pools – the structural variety that native fish depend on for rearing and spawning.

A special feature on the property is “Frog Hollow,” a small wetland alive with amphibian activity. In total, three wetlands lie within the property boundary, and two more straddle its edges. One of the wetlands extends onto nearby DNR land, reinforcing the property’s role as part of a broader wetland system rather than an isolated feature.

The bulk of the property is forested, dominated by deciduous red alder and black cottonwood. Tucked within the northern portion of the parcel are six acres of large conifers (below, left). Some of the big-leaf maples (below, right) are also genuinely majestic.

The forest floor supports an impressive spread of native plants: sword fern, horsetail, stinging nettle, salmonberry, thimbleberry, osoberry, red huckleberry, skunk cabbage, false lily of the valley (pictured right), bleeding heart, piggyback plant, and Pacific waterleaf, among others.

Dan acquired the land more than a decade ago to ensure the forest stayed intact. He and his sons spent years clearing the meadow, which had been used as a dumping ground and was littered with 17 abandoned cars, a shipping container, old refrigerators, and roughly 3.5 tons of scrap steel. They also removed invasive vegetation and planted over 1,000 conifers.

Skagit Land Trust is pleased to carry on the family’s tradition of stewardship and protect the land in perpetuity. The tranquil forest, wetland, and meadow will now remain a haven for salmon, elk, bear, and many other species as they make their way along Hansen Creek.