My North Cascades Story - A Nooksack Reception

A Nooksack Reception

By Rich Bowers
Northwest Coordinator Hydropower Reform Coalition
Bellingham resident, hiker and paddler

My first introduction to the Nooksack River was in February 2001, a few days before our family made a decision to move from the Washington DC area to Washington state. After a few days of looking for a new home in Bellingham, we decided to follow the river up the Mt. Baker Highway and see what our new watershed might offer.

What an eye-opener!  Glacial silting, eagles, endangered salmon, fluorescent moss covered trees, HUGE snow and a riverbed that changes constantly were all in evidence that first day.  Some might take this for granted.  But for our family, it was an immediate transformation from east to west. Right before Nooksack Falls (River mile 40.6) my then 11-year-old daughter said in an awed voice from the backseat, “I have to live here” and the die was cast.

We have each spent a lot of time along the river since then and we have learned that the North, Middle and South Forks of the Nooksack, encompassing more than 830 square miles and more than 1,000 stream and river miles, is the heart and highway to all of the experiences and resources to be had within Whatcom County, Mt. Baker-Snoqualmie National Forest, and the Mt. Baker Wilderness Area. We have learned that the Nooksack is truly a wild river (in every sense of the word) and a river worth protecting.

As with other areas of the North Cascades, there are on-going projects, efforts and campaigns that will keep this river wild: in 2009 Whatcom County removed a no longer needed dike along Canyon Creek, a major tributary of the North Fork that opened up 3.9 miles of previously inaccessible salmon habitat; the City of Bellingham is working with a number of partners to remove the abandoned diversion dam on the Middle Fork that would open up nearly 17 miles of habitat; and local organizations and individuals are working to permanently protect roughly 100 miles of federally owned land along all three Forks and tributaries under the Wild and Scenic Rivers Act. We hope you’ll help with these efforts.  It’s as simple as hiking up Yellow Aster Butte, “creekin” down the Clearwater, climbing Shuksan or Baker or earning turns in the Nooksack Cirque – and then telling others about your adventures.  Kind of like what this story is about!