Skagit Audubon Members and Friends,
The Sedro-Woolley City Council has voted to request Skagit County’s permission to build 4 Little League ballfields in the very part of Northern State Recreation Area where at least 6 American Bitterns have regularly been observed. There are other places ballfields could be built, including right in Sedro-Woolley. The city’s contention that “the bitterns can just move somewhere else” says it all.
I know of no other place in Skagit County with as great a number and density of bitterns as Northern State Recreation Area, which is a county, not a city, park. The tall grass of Helmick Field adjacent to Hansen Creek’s wetlands has long provided ideal bittern habitat.
What can you do to protect the bitterns and the experience you value at Northern State?
First, as soon as possible, write, email, or call the Skagit County Commissioners to express your opposition to Sedro-Woolley’s request to build ballfields on bittern habitat. At this point, it’s not a good use of your time to write the Sedro-Woolley Mayor or Council. Our 3 County Commissioners will decide what happens.
If you walk the dike path around Helmick Field to enjoy the serene natural setting and to see and hear not just bitterns but other birds too, tell the Commissioners that you value that experience and don’t want to be walking alongside ballfields instead.
Tell your personal story. If you want Skagit County to be a place that values wildlife and the experience of seeing birds, which so many people enjoy, tell the Commissioners.
If you think it’s inappropriate for part of a county park to be dedicated to the recreational interests of just one of the county’s 8 cities and towns plus the many residents of unincorporated Skagit County, consider mentioning that.
Here’s the County Commissioners’ contact information: 1800 Continental Place, Mount Vernon, WA 98273 or e-mail commissioners@co.skagit.wa.us or call the Commissioners’ office at (360) 416-1300. (Commissioners Ron Wesen, Peter Browning, and Joe Burns)
Second, please attend the County Commissioners’ July 8th work session on this issue. The session is scheduled for 2:30 p.m. in the Commissioners’ Hearing Room at 1800 Continental Place, Mount Vernon, WA 98273. The Commissioners will hear from county staff but will not be taking public testimony or voting on this issue. I believe that will happen later, and it’s possible there will be opportunity for public comment before the vote.
If you need more information, please email me at conservation@skagitaudubon.org.
Please help preserve the experience we value at Northern State and the best American Bittern habitat we know.
Thank you
Tim Manns, Conservation Chair, Skagit Audubon Society