The
Stillaguamish Watershed drains 694 square miles of Snohomish
and Skagit Counties. The Stillaguamish River is mainly comprised
of the North and South Forks, which flow westerly from the foothills
of the Cascades. The headwaters of the North and South Forks
are Class AA waters. The North Fork changes to Class A at the
confluence with Squire Creek, and the South Fork changes to
Class A at the confluence with Canyon Creek. The upper watershed
is characterized by low-density rural residential, small farms,
and timber-harvesting land uses. The Mainstem of the Stillaguamish
(Class A) flows along a broad floodplain where the major land
use is commercial farming. Most of the flow exits out of Hatt
Slough into Port Susan. Some flow exits out through the old
channel and flows through the town of Stanwood where it either
empties into Port Susan or South Skagit Bay.
Since 1994, the Stillaguamish Tribe has been involved in monitoring
the water quality in the Stillaguamish Watershed as part of
their efforts to recover salmon. The Tribe has worked cooperatively
with federal, state, and local governments in order to attain
a coordinated process to spot potential water quality problems.
However, problems continue to occur as more demands on surface
and ground water increase. As a result, water quality is often
degraded from point and non-point sources. The Stillaguamish
Natural Resources Department has developed a monitoring project
plan for the Stillaguamish Watershed in order to ascertain problem
sites and shares its data with other agencies and parties involved.
The
Stillaguamish Natural Resources Department maintains an accurate
water quality database for selected sites on the North and South
Forks and selected tributaries, the Mainstem and selected tributaries,
and Port Susan. The Department collects a variety of water quality
data. Currently, water quality samples are collected on a quarterly
basis. Water quality data such as temperature, conductivity,
dissolved oxygen, turbidity, total suspended solids, alkalinity,
hardness, and fecal coliform are among the parameters the Stillaguamish
Natural Resources Department collects and shares with other
agencies.
