Photos: Touring the Edmonds Salt Marsh
Friday, March 23, 2018
 |
| Edmonds Saltwater Marsh |
Text and Photos by Janet Way
An informative evening tour of the beautiful Edmonds Marsh was held on March 22, 2018.
Over 35 members of various organizations, such as Pilchuck Audubon, Sierra Club Snohomish Group, and Save Our Marsh, joined together for an informative tour and conversations.
 |
| Point Edmonds condos overlook the salt marsh |
The Edmonds marsh is the only significant saltwater marsh of this size in any urban area between Everett and Tacoma.
 |
| Susan Paine of Edmonds led the tour |
It is home to many wildlife species such as Great Blue Heron, Cooper’s Hawk, Anna’s Hummingbirds, coyotes and could be a refuge for salmon if a creek there is successfully daylighted.
Students from schools such as Edmonds-Woodway High School have successfully revegetated the edges with native species like salmonberry.
According to NOAA,
Salt marshes are coastal wetlands that are flooded and drained by salt water brought in by the tides.
They are marshy because the soil may be composed of deep mud and peat. Peat is made of decomposing plant matter that is often several feet thick. Peat is waterlogged, root-filled, and very spongy.
Because salt marshes are frequently submerged by the tides and contain a lot of decomposing plant material, oxygen levels in the peat can be extremely low — a condition called hypoxia. Hypoxia is caused by the growth of bacteria which produce the sulfurous rotten-egg smell that is often associated with marshes and mudflats.
Contact Sierra Club Snohomish Group for more information.
Posts
2 comments:
the marsh is truly a treasure. Has their been negative impact on it from the condo development above? (I know several trees were removed - hopefully the slope is stable).
Actually, the whole hillside was clear-cut. It was (IMHO) criminal. That huge deforestation has no doubt contributed to erosion and more contamination of the marsh. The developer got just a "slap on the wrist." The influence of developers in Edmonds has been devastating to our natural resources. Many of us are trying hard to rescue and repair much of the damage from developers and the Port.
Post a Comment