Illabot Creek - Skagit Land Trust

[48.49364,-121.516]

Property Type: Easement, Trust-Owned
Date Added: 2017

Rockport
362 acres
Open to the Public

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Conservation Story

llabot Creek Conservation Area protects a 162 acre stretch of ecologically rich riparian landscape in the upper Skagit River watershed near Rockport, safeguarding critical salmon spawning and rearing habitat for species like Chinook, Coho, and Bull Trout, as well as supporting abundant wildlife including wintering bald eagles.

Skagit Land Trust assisted The Nature Conservancy (TNC) in acquiring Illabot Creek Conservation Area with funds from the Washington State Salmon Recovery Funding Board. Illabot Creek Conservation Area is one of nine properties transferred from TNC to Skagit Land Trust in 2017. Together, these properties total 1,024 acres and expanded the lands managed by Skagit Land Trust by more than one third at the time of transfer.

You can read more about the land acquisition between TNC and Skagit Land Trust in our Summer 2017 Newsletter.

Illabot Creek Conservation Area borders a conservation easement that was donated in 2014 by private landowners Ken and Velma Perrigoue. This donation protects more than 2,000 feet of critical salmon habitat along the federally designated Wild & Scenic Illabot Creek in Rockport, WA. This partnership successfully protects the river shoreline and riparian area for salmon habitat while conserving the upper portions of the property as a working ranch, enhancing the ecosystem resilience and increasing habitat connectivity of this area.

Read more about the Illabot Creek Perrigoue Conservation Easement in the February 2015 news article from the Skagit Valley Herald to learn about the partnerships that made this conservation easement possible.

Site History and Ecology

Illabot Creek begins at 7,500 feet elevation in the southern portion of the Mount Baker – Snoqualmie National Forest and drains into the Skagit River in Rockport, Washington. Illabot Creek Conservation Area provides habitat for high populations of salmonid habitat, bald eagles, and space for ecosystem functions, such as flooding to take place.

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.

*Salmon carcass on the bank of Illabot Creek.*

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. 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 States. 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.

Illabot Creek Conservation Area is one of many Skagit Land Trust properties along the upper Skagit River watershed set aside for conservation, directly bordering land owned by the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW) to the north and west and land managed by Washington Department of Natural Resources (WA DNR) to the south. Protected lands 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.