The Timber/Fish/Wildlife (TFW) program at the Skagit River System Cooperative interacts with agencies and forest landowners in the Skagit and Samish River basins to help protect fish and wildlife habitat as well as cultural resources from negative impacts of timber activities.

This work is informed by two key recognitions: 1. Past timber practices have significantly impacted fish habitat and other resources. Logging and forest road construction have been ongoing for over a century, yet awareness of environmental consequences has only been fully appreciated within the last several decades, during which forest practices and regulations have improved tremendously. The TFW program strives to ensure that goals of these improvements are met, by providing: a) familiarity with local fisheries resources, b) technical expertise on relevant watershed processes, and c) monitoring and applied research.

Left: A managed forest landscape in the Samish River basin. The TFW program seeks ways that timber harvest can best coexist with healthy fisheries and other tribal resources. Right: A recently-replaced stream passage culvert that now allows fish from the Skagit River to access upstream tributary habitat. The TFW program provides technical support, specifically fish and habitat assessments, to assist these projects.

2. Managed forests, in many cases, contain healthy habitats. Forestry is a less intensive form of land use than agriculture or urban development, and allows many protections as well as decades of inactivity between harvest cycles. We focus our efforts on making sure that high-quality habitats are protected and habitat-forming processes are allowed to continue toward recovery.

Left: SRSC biologist Mike Olis works on a headwater stream study designed to help assess protection needs during logging. Right: The floodplain of Finney Creek, an important Skagit tributary that is recovering from past logging impacts. The TFW program has led projects that accelerate the improvement of streamside forests, and thus fish habitat for upcoming decades and centuries.

TFW Staff:
Curt Veldhuisen, Program Director/Hydrologist
Jeff Phillips, Watershed Scientist
Mike Olis, Field Biologist