Padilla Bay: A TLC Nature Break

With the breadth of biodiversity in the Puget Sound, we sent TLC digital photographer Steven Michael Vroom to Padilla Bay to capture a truly unique biosphere right in our own backyard. We hope you enjoy the two photo galleries of the Bay and the Upland Trail.

A Cultural History of Padilla Bay

Evidence exists of early Native American habitation in the general Padilla Bay-Skagit area for 5,000 years. Several prehistoric sites are found near Padilla Bay but none actually on the bay or bay margin. This lack of artifacts could be due to the extensive diking which occurred in the late 19th and early 20th century. Habitation by Native Americans elsewhere in Washington can be traced back some 12,000 to 15,000 years. The Noo-Wha-Ah and Swinomish were the primary tribes utilizing the resources of Padilla Bay. 

Spanish explorers traveled through Skagit and Padilla Bay in the 1790's and Padilla Bay was named after the Viceroy of Mexico. Many of the islands and landforms in northern Puget Sound were named by the original Spanish explorers.. 

In the early 1800's many Native American tribes were decimated by the European diseases brought by trappers, traders and settlers.. By the late 1800's many of the surviving native people relocated to the Swinomish Reservation just south of Padilla Bay along the Swinomish Channel. The Swinomish are the closest tribe to Padilla Bay, with their tribal center located in the southwest corner of the Swinomish Channel, adjacent to the town of LaConner. They have traditionally hunted and fished at Padilla Bay for hundreds of years. 

The earliest European settlers built log cabins on Fidalgo Island in 1858. In 1867, a trading post was erected on the Swinomish flats at La Conner, and shortly afterwards the agricultural and timber potential of the area was recognized. Also in 1867, a logging camp was established on Samish Island. In 1874 much of the area was served by a regular steamboat service as there were no roads in the area. Land access was limited to horse trails and short wooden plank roads.

Logging operations reached a peak between 1902 and 1909, when one of the state's largest companies bought or leased much of the land surrounding the bay. As settlers purchased and farmed the inexpensive "stump farms" and diking began in earnest, a strong agricultural movement began which thrives to this day. Today, Skagit Valley is one of the most fertile agricultural valleys in the world. It produces 25% of the nation's frozen peas and 85% of the cabbage and beet seeds. Fishing was and is an important part of the Padilla Bay scene. Crabbing and salmon harvesting occur on the bay's fringes but are not as productive as they were at the turn of the century. 

On the western fringe of the Reserve, intensive industry is highly evident. March Point harbors two large oil refineries. They refine crude oil into gasoline, stove oil, diesel and other products for use in the Northwest and elsewhere. Their waste waters are treated and the few minor spills they have experienced have been cleaned up without apparent impact. Near the highway at the southern end of the bay are fertilizer, seed and feed processing facilities which service the large agricultural valley. 

NOAA and Padilla Bay: A National Estuarine Research Reserve

Padilla Bay is an estuary at the salt water edge of the large delta of the Skagit River. It is about eight miles long and three miles across. 

Because the bay is filled with sediment from the Skagit River, the bottom is very shallow, flat, and muddy. It is so shallow that almost the whole bay is intertidal. This means that it is flooded at high tide but when the tide goes out the whole bay empties out, exposing miles and miles of mud flats. This condition allows unusually large eelgrass meadows to grow. There are nearly 8,000 acres of eelgrass in Padilla Bay.

Eelgrass is valuable because it is habitat for wildlife and commercially harvested animals. Eelgrass is used as a nursery by salmon, crab, perch, and herring. Eelgrass is also home for millions of worms, shrimp, clams, and other invertebrates which are food for great blue herons, eagles, otters, seals, as well as humans. This is why Padilla Bay was selected to be a National Estuarine Research Reserve.

Directions: 

Take Interstate 5 North from Seattle or South from Bellingham to exit 230, just north of Mount Vernon. Take Highway 20 West toward Anacortes about 6 miles. Turn right at stop light onto Bay View-Edison Road. (Farm House Inn Restaurant will be on your left.) Drive north about five miles, past Bay View State Park. The Breazeale Interpretive Center will be on your right, 1/4 mile past the state park.