Seasonal Changes on the Confluence: A Year in the North Cascades

Far up the Skagit River, the Confluence property, a plot of land where Diobsud Creek and the river meet, sees extremes of weather and seasonal change. The mighty Skagit swells with life in the fall, and then drops to reveal banks vastly altered. Cottonwoods grow tall in a forest that floods, and serve as perches for Bald Eagles seeking out salmon, and a source of food for the beavers that travel this stretch of the river. With salmon runs, this stretch of the Skagit has been important to the Upper Skagit Indian Tribe, who have lived here since time immemorial. The garden ebs and flows in productive loam with the input of rain, sunlight, and a little help from the people who live there today.

This land is home to a learning community of resident graduate students. Alongside them is a community of plants and animals that change and move with the seasons. The lucky people who live at the Confluence have a unique opportunity to inquire into the changes they witness. From contributing to a community science project studying phenology to farming at the Confluence Garden, graduate students sink deep into place, and study the natural history out their front door during their residency. I, Brendan McGarry (C17), share here with you the seasonal changes I was lucky to engage in over the course of my residency as the Graduate Field Science Assistant 2017-19.

One of the great pleasures of the Confluence Community is All Cohort Day, when two cohorts engage in food, learning, and play at the terminus of one year of residency and the beginning of the next.

Winter

The North Cascades are very snowy, and Marblemount gets its fair share of snow (29 inches a year on average). This doesn’t stick around all winter, but it changes the landscape considerably during the winter.

Many birds leave the area during heavy snowfall, others arrive. During one snowfall in 2018, multiple Red-breasted Sapsuckers (Sphyrapicus ruber) showed up around the Confluence, pushed out of the surrounding hills by the harsh weather. Woodpeckers are one of the few species that can stick around during especially cold weather, because they are able to find food regardless of snow cover. Bald Eagles (Haliaeetus leucocephalus) and Common Raven (Corvus corax) are heard along the Skagit in winter, often there to feed on salmon runs. Many songbirds leave completely during the winter. Some migrate to Mexico and Central America, like tanagers and warblers. Others like Varied Thrushes (Ixoreus naevius) merely migrate down valley to a lower, milder climate.

Most small mammals slow down or retreat to a nice burrow. Some move about in the subnivean, the space between snow and the ground in winter. When snow thaws, we can see the subnivean runs of species like Townsend’s Voles (Microtus townsendii) in the matted grass. A Bobcat (Lynx rufus) was seen in the winter of 2017/18, as were multiple Coyotes (Canis latrans), which presumably live off these rodents and possibly Snowshoe Hares on surrounding mountains.

The Confluence is within the floodplain, and while there are conifers on the property and on surrounding hills, the dominant canopy cover is deciduous. Black Cottonwood (Populus tricocarpa), Red Alder (Alnus rubra), and Bigleaf Maple (Acer macrophyllum) are the most common trees along the shore of the Skagit making the forest much brighter and open during the winter. The understory is mostly composed of Indian Plum (Oemleria cerasiformis), Salmonberry (Rubus spectabilis), Common Snowberry (Symphoricarpos albus), and Red Elderberry (Sambucus racemosa), all of which lose their leaves as well. The difference between the forest lining the Skagit in winter versus summer is striking.

Spring:

Elevation and location make all the difference when spring finally happens. As residents at the Confluence travel back and forth to the Environmental Learning Center, they get to watch spring travel up the Skagit River. An Indian plum may be blooming with nearly fully formed leaves in late March in Marblemount, while a plant at the Learning Center might just be breaking buds.

Although blooms in the nearby alpine are more celebrated, spring flowers are happy reminders that sun will soon grace the Confluence again. Below are some images that I took during my spring at the Confluence. I used a portable light box to photograph these flowers on the plant. I incorporated this type of photography into my Curriculum Design Class project, using art and scientific inquiry as a method of engaging students in place.

Birds are easy to see and hear this time of year, and are often harbingers of spring. Successive waves of migrating birds move through the valley until migration slows in June. In March there were several days when Townsend’s Solitaires (Myadestes townsendia), a migrant from Mexico, filled the valley. They were followed by waves of Varied Thrushes returning from the lowlands. Early May seemed to be all about Yellow-rumped Warblers (Setophaga coronata). Some of these birds simply move through, others show up for summer to breed.

Summer:

The river level and flow drops significantly in the summer. This makes the river safer to paddle overall, but can expose rocks that make it more challenging to navigate in certain places. Because the Skagit is fed by both snowmelt and glaciers, it stays very cold year-round. This makes a dip very refreshing, but full-on swimming hard to handle. More exposed banks also offer opportunities to see what neighbors are visiting the shoreline.

Spending time in a special place like the Confluence leads to all sorts of discoveries. Though it can be assumed that birds singing around the property breed there, the evidence isn’t always as obvious as finding nests with young. In the summer of 2018, Vaux’s Swifts (Chaetura vauxi) nested in the old chimney of the Blue House. As the youngsters grew in size, they were audible through the walls of the house!

The Confluence doesn’t get the fall colors of the nearby alpine does. But between Bigleaf Maples, Black Cottonwoods, and Red Alders, fall can still be very yellow.

Brendan McGarry

I am a member of the recently graduated Cohort 17 and a Graduate Field Science Assistant for my work study position at the North Cascades Institute for the duration of the program. I am passionate about science education and communication, using creative outlets to connect people with the world around them. Being a part of the Field Science team encouraged me to pay even more attention. I am excited to find a career that helps people see themselves as stewards of the land, no matter where they live and in whatever form it takes.