- Earth (Wikipedia)
Earth is the third planet from the Sun and the only place known in the universe where life has originated and found habitability. Earth is the only planet known to sustain liquid surface water, with ocean water extending over 70.8% of the planet, making it an ocean world. Most of all other water is retained in Earth’s polar regions, with large sheets of ice covering ocean and land, dwarfing Earth’s groundwater, lakes, rivers and atmospheric water. The other 29.2% of the Earth’s surface is land, consisting of continents and islands, and is widely covered by vegetation. Below the planet’s surface lies the crust, consisting of several slowly moving tectonic plates, which interact to produce mountain ranges, volcanoes, and earthquakes. Inside the Earth’s crust is a liquid outer core that generates the magnetosphere, deflecting most of the destructive solar winds and cosmic radiation.
- Fir Island Farm Reserve Wildlife Area Unit (wdfw.wa.gov)
The Fir Island Farm Reserve is a Game Reserve with over 200 acres of restored intertidal estuary and managed agricultural land in southwest Skagit County. The reserve attracts thousands of snow geese, swans, ducks and shorebirds in the fall through early spring. The unit is managed to provide an undisturbed feeding and resting area for wintering waterfowl adjacent to Skagit Bay. Hunting and trapping is NOT allowed on this unit, but a short trail along the dike offers views of Skagit Bay and opportunities for shorebird and waterfowl viewing. A recent restoration project completed in 2016 restored approximately 130 acres of farmland to intertidal estuary providing critical juvenile rearing habitat for Endangered Species Act-listed chinook and other salmon.