Port Susan Bay holds some of the finest estuarine habitat in Puget Sound. Its marshes, vast mudflats and tidally influenced channels support hundreds of thousands of birds, several species of salmon, smelt, English sole and clams. Western sandpipers, dunlins and dowitchers swoop over the mudflats. Wrangel Island snow geese gather by the thousands in tidal marshes and on nearby farm fields. And hundreds of raptors, from peregrine falcons to short-eared owls, add to the drama.

The Stillaguamish River spills into the bay, mixing freshwater and saltwater to create extensive estuarine marshes that produce a vast quantity of decaying organic matter, which feeds the abundant invertebrate life in the tide flat sediments. These tiny creatures, in turn, feed the shorebirds and waterfowl that make Port Susan Bay and adjacent Skagit Bay important stops for migratory birds traveling along the Pacific Flyway.
 

Conservation Actions

• The Conservancy owns the 4,122-acre Port Susan Bay Preserve, which encompasses much of the Stillaguamish River estuary, including 166 acres of artificially diked uplands. The property is managed in a way that benefits the vibrant estuary system and its salmon, birds and other wildlife.
   
• An experimental project called Farming for Wildlife was inspired by the diked wetland. This pilot project seeks to increase the value of some farm fields as habitat for shorebirds and waterfowl.
   
• Conservancy staff and volunteers have made great strides to control Spartina anglica in Port Susan Bay. Much of the estimated 100 solid acres that infested more than 2,000 acres of estuarine mudflat and marsh in 1997 has been eliminated. Only about two solid acres still remain scattered across the area. Strong partnerships and innovative research continue to provide focused support in effectively controlling this invasive, non-native plant.
   
• Conservancy scientists are also researching effective estuarine restoration techniques, including building log jams in the intertidal channels to discover whether they improve habitat for juvenile salmon and other fish.

Visiting the Port Susan Bay Preserve

The Nature Conservancy offers free guided tours at Port Susan Bay each year from April to September. Guided tours will begin again in April 2009. 

To minimize disturbance to wildlife, visitation is allowed by occasional organized trips or other prior permission only. For more information, contact Kat Morgan at kmorgan@tnc.org or (360) 419-7059.