Hello!

We have a Whatcom County heron colony mystery that neither WDFW or Whatcom County staff have been able to provide the answer to.



There was at one time (last known WDFW records are from 1997, neighbor says "the herons left approximately 5 years ago after other neighbors selectively logged") a great blue heron colony of up to 50 nests north of H Street Road in north Whatcom County, in Township 41N, Range 2E, Section 33 (approximately 1/2 mile east of Markworth Rd). Neither WDFW or Whatcom County staff have acknowledged the disappearance of the colony. WDFW, in response to our inquiries, have dug up their old monitoring records from 1995 and 1997, and added this colony location to their official Priority Habitats and Species maps, saying it was an accident that the colony wasn't on the current maps.



Whatcom County, on the other hand, has a heron colony mapped along the Canadian border at the western edge of section 31 (same T & R), 2 1/2 miles to the west (north of Delta Line Rd), but knows nothing about how this location got on their map.



The mystery that we have been unable to solve is this question: did the colony that was once in section 33 simply move to section 31 when the disturbance happened? Where is the colony TODAY? Or, are there two colonies? We are working for several property owners up on H Street that want to make sure that the existing heron colonies are not impacted by proposed developments. To do this, we need to know where the herons are. The agencies are at a complete loss to answer these questions. Anybody familiar with the herons on H Street? Your help would be much appreciated!



Krista Rome, B.S.
Consulting Ecologist
Bellingham, WA
krista at cantrellassociates.com