Salmon River Mingle and Muse

Salmon River estuary at twilight.\Photo by Jack Doyle.

The Sitka Center for Art and Ecology, located on the slopes of Cascade Head, has the Salmon River estuary spread below it.  A good deal of both the art and the ecology done there focus on the river’s marshes and mudflats.

The Sitka Center’s final “Mingle and Muse” session of the season, coming up on Thursday, Sept. 21, will focus on the estuary’s past, present, and future.  “Salmon River Transformation” will be the subject of hydrologist Kami Ellingson’s talk at 5 p.m. (mingle beginning at 4:30).  The free event is open to all.  Reach the center by traveling west on Three Rocks Rd. to Sitka Dr.

Ellingson will describe the transformations of the estuary from a free-flowing tidal system, to one heavily altered and diked, and back again to an increasingly natural system through extensive restoration efforts.  She will describe her experiences during the past decade that she has worked for the U.S. Forest Service on the tidal wetland restoration of the Salmon River estuary.  Her talk is “a fish story that is quantified by data collection.”

This is also a chance to contemplate the area’s recently renewed UNESCO Biosphere Reserve designation, which now not only includes the Cascade Head Scenic Research Area, but also the Cascade Head Marine Reserve and Marine Protected Areas, and the surrounding communities. The concepts of the biosphere reserve program are to not only protect and restore the core Salmon River estuary but expand the ideas of sound environmental management to the larger local community through partnership and cooperation with the community.  Learn more from Ellingson’s talk, or from the Forest Service publication, Restoring the Salmon River Estuary:  Journey and Lessons Learned Along the Way 2006-2014.

For more information, contact the Sitka Center, (541) 994-5485, info@sitkacenter.org.