Bird Watching Just Got Better at Dugualla Bay Preserve

The restored estuary at Dugualla Bay Preserve. Photo by Matt Ferguson/ferglandfoto.

The Land Trust’s Dugualla Bay Preserve on northeast Whidbey Island has grown to 201 acres with purchase of 77 acres of tidelands, beach and uplands. The acquisitions from three landowners were made possible by a grant from Washington’s Salmon Recovery Funding Board and a partial donation of land value by Dunlap Towing Company.

Dugualla Bay Preserve protects high-priority nearshore habitats beneficial to salmon, including eelgrass beds and herring and smelt spawning areas. It’s also just a day’s migration for juvenile salmon leaving the Skagit River Delta.

Next time you stop by the Dike Road parking area to view birds or take in the expansive scenery, you’ll find a new informational kiosk. Later this year, interpretive signs will be installed to highlight restoration successes — one an estuary and the other a freshwater wetland. Just be sure to bring your binoculars to better see the shorebirds and other critters that call this place home!