{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://web.archive.org/web/20160907084401/https://delbene.house.gov/media-center/in-the-news/illabot-creek-awaits-president-s-pen-to-become-wild-and-scenic", "Illabot Creek awaits presidents pen to become wild and scenic", "2014-12-17", "2014", "2014-12", "Democrat", "House", "WA", "Suzan DelBene", "D000617", "web.archive.org", null, null, "legacy", "ROCKPORT \u2014 After a half-dozen years of trying, Skagit County\u2019s Illabot Creek is a pen-stroke away from being designated a Wild and Scenic River.\nCongress passed a National Defense Authorization Act Friday that includes the designation. All that remains is President Obama\u2019s signature.\nThe designation has been a goal for conservation groups, local and state officials for many years, but efforts to pass it as separate legislation have previously failed. This time, it was added to the $585 billion Defense bill.\n\u201cIt\u2019s super, super exciting for those of us involved in all things Skagit River that this is going through,\u201d said The Nature Conservancy\u2019s Bob Carey, director of strategic partnerships. He lives in Mount Vernon and has been involved in Illabot Creek conservation efforts since 1998.\nHe said conservation goals for the Illabot go back two decades before then, when the Skagit River bald eagle population was at its lowest. And the fish activity in the stream goes back even further, finding a place in the stories of the Skagit Valley\u2019s Native American tribes.\n\u201cOne of the reasons that so interests me in Illabot Creek is having spent time on it and seeing that it\u2019s one of the few places in the state that you can still really see what the old-timers meant when they would say they could once walk across the backs of salmon,\u201d Carey said.\nIllabot Creek starts in the Mount Baker-Snoqualmie National Forest at 7,500 feet. It connects with the Skagit River between Rockport and Marblemount at 500 feet above sea level, and along the way it provides critical habitat for threatened fish species and other wildlife.\n\u201cIt\u2019s basically home to every species of salmon and salmonids in the Skagit Basin,\u201d state Department of Fish and Wildlife biologist Brett Barkdull said. \u201cIt gets a lot of use by bull trout and steelhead, chums, pink salmon, coho, Chinook and the whole works, basically.\u201d\nThe Illabot offers stable spawning habitat and gets some of the highest-density returns of a wide variety of fish species.\n\u201cOne of the reasons that fisheries folks were so interested in supporting this designation in the first place is because there really isn\u2019t any place that has the variety of spawning and the kinds of numbers that we see in Illabot,\u201d Barkdull said. \u201cIt\u2019s kind of the shiny little star in the Skagit Basin as far as fish production goes.\u201d\nBecoming a recognized wild and scenic river will prevent construction of dams or other structures that would impair the free-flowing nature of the creek.\n\u201cWe\u2019re thrilled about it. This has been a long time coming,\u201d Skagit Land Trust Executive Director Molly Doran said. \u201cA lot of partners have been working on this for years, so it\u2019s great to see it coming together.\u201d\nThe Nature Conservancy and The Wilderness Society said Illabot Creek is an important piece of the greater Skagit River watershed, which has been recognized as a Wild and Scenic River since 1978.\nWhile the wild and scenic designation has gained local, state and national support over the years, the stream has been a focus for local restoration projects, as well.\nOn the same day Congress moved the defense bill forward, the Skagit Land Trust finalized a $100,000 conservation easement on a 100-acre property adjacent to Illabot Creek.\nIn September, the Skagit Land Trust and Skagit River System Cooperative each received\u00a0grant money\u00a0from the state\u2019s Salmon Recovery Funding Board for projects that would benefit fish in the watershed.\nCooperative Restoration Director Steve Hinton said the latest congressional action is good news.\n\u201cIt\u2019s been a watershed that\u2019s had a lot of attention over the years in how it\u2019s been one of the more functioning and intact watersheds, so certainly the wild and scenic designation is merited,\u201d he said.\nUsing a $1.1 million grant from the state, the cooperative is building two bridges and removing 850 feet of dike to restore natural sediment deposits that contribute to the creek\u2019s alluvial fan. Hinton said the project is focused on the stretch of Illabot Creek along Rockport-Cascade Road.\nThe proposal to designate Illabot first made its way to Congress when U.S. Rep. Rick Larsen and Sen. Patty Murray\u00a0introduced a bill in 2009.\nLarsen joined local officials in August that year to\u00a0tour the stream. County Commissioner Sharon Dillon says the experience was memorable.\n\u201cWe saw the fish, but you could also see there were deer and elk. I didn\u2019t see \u2014 thank goodness \u2014 a bear or wolf or coyote, but you could see evidence that they had been there,\u201d she said. \u201cI thought it was an awesome idea, and then after I saw the area I thought, \u2018OK, this is a great place to protect to keep the area pristine.\u2019 \u201d\nThe bill didn\u2019t pass Congress in 2009 or in 2011.\nThis time, Illabot Creek made its way into the national defense bill as one of several unrelated public lands measures. Joining Murray and Larsen, Sen. Maria Cantwell and U.S. Rep Suzan DelBene supported its passage.\n\u201cIt took three separate tries over six years, but with perseverance and many dedicated local partners, Illabot Creek will remain wild and scenic for generations to come,\u201d Larsen said in an email Monday. \u201cWhen we preserve open spaces like Illabot Creek, we protect salmon spawning waters that support healthy fish populations. We protect the clean and free-flowing waters that join the Skagit River.\u201d", 1, "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z", "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://web.archive.org/web/20160907084401/https://delbene.house.gov/media-center/in-the-news/illabot-creek-awaits-president-s-pen-to-become-wild-and-scenic"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 1.2939791195094585, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}