Edmonds Marsh

Thursday the 8th I visited the Edmonds Marsh. It has a recorded history dating back to the 1800's when it and what is now the city of Edmonds was purchased by George Brackett. He recognized its use for timber and it eventually became connect to the Northern Railway. It wasn't until 1970 that the oil company operating the fuel terminal up on the ridge began heavily reshaping the marsh for development. This reduced the marsh from 40 acres down to just 22.5 acres. The wetland has many properties to it that make it a unique environment. It is both a salt and freshwater marsh because of its source being two creeks and the location adjacent to the Puget Sound. The exchange of these waters creates a unique habitat due to the variation in salinity, especially for anadromous fish and the plankton that serve an underappreciated role in the food chain. One telltale sign of the shift between salinity can be observed by the types of plants that dominate which sides. For instance, the freshwater side is packed with cattail, which thrives in freshwater wetland, while the saltwater side is dominated by sedge.

The dominating tree that I noticed was the red alder. This tree was and still is very common throughout the Puget Sound area. All trees stood around the edges of the marsh but none inside of it, any that were looked to be long dead. I imagine this may have been because at one point the marsh's saltwater source was cut off for a long period, allowing for some trees to grow. But when the saltwater was allowed to reenter the marsh, the change in chemistry and salinity killed off the trees. Thankfully the death of a wetland tree does not signal the end of its use but the beginning of new ones. Bugs love to live within the walls of the bark and devour the deadwood, woodpeckers like the Pileated and Northern Flickers love to eat these bugs, and eagles and hawks prefer the dead trees, or "snags", as perches for their nests.


Wetlands play a big part in Western Washington ecology as they provide several crucial services. They serve as a big filter that collects and stores polluted material and harmful minerals like excessive heavy metals that sink to the bottom in the slow moving currents. They create a groundwater recharge that springs up after this filtration, offsetting much of the effects caused by urban runoff. They also provide a great rest stop for migrating birds that need shelter and sustenance on their way north and south. Because of this, I found it an interesting setup that there's both a dog park and a doggy daycare right next to this marsh as you'd think it might scare away more timid birds. These wetlands also are a fantastic environment for birds of prey such as hawks, eagles, and owls because of their diet of snakes and rodents, as well as plenty of waterfowl. I even saw blue heron when I was there but couldn't get a good pic of them.

While I was there I don't believe I saw any invasive species, save for a small amount of Himalayan blackberry. This leads me to believe that the restoration goal was to return the marsh to its original state which has little to no tolerance for invasive species. I didn't see any of the purple loosestrife that dominates wetland shores here. After learning about the important functions of wetlands I'm happy to see successful restoration or protection projects maintaining them. It was a cold trip but kind of interesting learning a little history behind the shoreline I've been frequenting for so many years. Wish there were more I could say about it, but that's about all. This concludes my final quarter here. Thanks for reading and take care Edmonds Community College!

the 'e' stands for edgy