- Hike to Cape Alava (washingtonlandscape.blogspot.com)
Last week I had a couple of work adventures on the Olympic Peninsula. I was very prepared to get wet, but rain shadowing resulted in the first day being just light rain. The second day was outside the path of most of the rain. When I finished up I had just enough time to get over to Lake Ozette and take a hike to the ocean at Cape Alava.
- Cottonwood Island Wildlife Area Unit (wdfw.wa.gov)
The Cottonwood Island Unit is a unique forested property that is representative of a historic habitat type that would have been more widespread along the lower Skagit River Valley. It provides valuable mature cottonwood forest habitat for a variety of forest birds and raptors, primarily buteos and eagles. The remnant of Cottonwood Slough also provides off-channel habitat for salmonids during certain times of the year and has been evaluated for potential habitat restoration projects.