Padilla Bay Reserve, Washington
State
Washington
State Partner
Washington State Department of Ecology
Acres
11,000
Est. Date
1980
The Padilla Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve’s 11,000 acres of diverse coastal lands are home to many species of birds and fish, as well as harbor seals and river otters. The Reserve is located on Washington’s Salish Sea at the saltwater delta of the Skagit River. Reserve staff work together with partners to prioritize coastal resource management through research, training, education, and monitoring programs.
Explore the impact of Padilla Bay in 2019, from their volunteer-based water quality monitoring program to their hands-on education programs for middle-schoolers.
Did You Know…
Algae of the intertidal and subtidal areas in the Salish Sea produce twice as much plant material as the most productive crops in the Pacific Northwest.
Latest News from the Padilla Bay Reserve
Recipe Challenge: Salish Salmon
We asked for your best estuary-sourced recipes, and Dennis Parent—retired commercial fisherman and volunteer with the Padilla Bay Foundation—delivered. His recipe for grilled Chinook salmon had our mouths watering and our spirits thinking about a trip to Washington.
Building the Blue/Green Workforce
An unprecedented number of young people want to work in the environmental sciences. Reserves around the System, in collaboration with the Hollings Scholarship Program, are helping them get the experience they need.
Talk NERRdy: Suzanne Shull
This month, NERRA’s correspondent-at-large Nik Charov interviewed Suzanne Shull, GIS specialist at Washington’s Padilla Bay Reserve. They talked about spaces, places, and ground truthing everything from eelgrass to David Bowie’s nudibranch-forward fashion sense.