Whatcom Creek
Running through central Bellingham to the heart of downtown, Whatcom Creek has a rich cultural and ecological history that showcases the importance of protecting natural resources and the effects that we can have on the environment around us. Beginning in nearby Lake Whatcom, this creek travels a little over 4 miles before entering Bellingham Bay, draining nearly 8 square miles of land.
Home to fall Chinook, coho, chum, pink and sockeye, Whatcom Creek remains vital rearing and spawning habitat for local salmon populations. Development along the riparian areas of this creek makes it prone to low water quality levels caused by pollution, and major events such as the 1999 Olympic Pipeline Explosion have had drastic impacts on the local ecosystems.
Squalicum Creek
The Squalicum Creek watershed is one of the largest independent drainages in Whatcom County. It includes most of northern Bellingham, beginning at Squalicum and Toad Lakes and moving west to Bellingham Bay. Squalicum Creek is 9.7 miles long and the watershed drains 22 square miles of land. The main land uses include residential, forestry, commercial, agricultural, light industrial and some mining.
Landingstrip Creek
Landingstrip Creek is a tributary of the South Fork of the Nooksack River and is habitat for coho and chum salmon, as well as winter steelhead and cutthroat trout. Historically, land along Landingstrip Creek has been used for agriculture, and the creek was choked with reed canary grass and contained multiple fish passage barriers.
NSEA has been working alongside the Whatcom Land Trust to remove fish passage barriers and expand the riparian buffer to restore this salmon habitat.
