That's pretty cool. It seems like there should be a text file to go along with it though.
SFR Glacier Peak
- Thread starter Roper
- Start date
Sorta fishing-related
I searched everywhere. I know I read it somewhere though, and if I stumble on it again I’ll repost it.
Page 8 describes it (Skagit R flowed “up” the Sauk R and down the NF Stillaguamish R.) in this older document.
I find this stuff fascinating, the way glaciers ebbed and flowed and how these events shaped the current landscape.
Go to page 8 (page 18 in the scroll bar):
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Pink Nighty
Legend
Thanks for posting this! Outside of fish nerding geology nerding is my nerding love. Especially if it relates to fish nerding. Can you imagine the steelheading on the Skagit-sauk-stilly? Ropin hogs on the Skauguamish?
The various iterations of the nooksack/fraser are fascinating as well. Fraser has had its delta in lummi bay, birch bay and and all points in boundary bay. Nooksack used to flow north to abbotsford. The floods that cause these dramatic changes must have been terrifyingly powerful.
Can't wait to read it!
Paige
Wishing I was fishing the Sauk
Some amazing info in there, read most of it but will have to jump back in later!
Greg -
Thanks for posting that link! Decades ago, I had read that report and just reread it now. In my first read I mainly focused on the major main stream floods and the incredible magnitudes of those events (at least in terms of modern day flooding). Heaven help those in the Skagit valley if or when there is another event that can not be full captured by those upstream dams.
This read while those major events still jump out at the reader something more nuanced grab me this time. In all the information on the Skagit and its major upper basin tributaries (Cascade, Sauk, Suiattle ) on the annual peaks that happened in the spring and on into the summer - many of those peaks in May and June and even some in July and one in August compared to the annual peaks in the lower basin tribs. (Alder, Day, and East Fork Nookachamps) whose peaks were in the more expected fall/early winter period. I think that hydrograph goes a long ways toward explaining the dominance of late spawn timing steelhead for the basin. Spawning timed so that the hatching steelhead would emerge from the gravels after those higher spring/summer flows had abated. The hydrograph of those lower basin tribs is similar to that which produces what we think of the more normal/early spawn timing associated with western Washington (think OP coastal systems).
I guess it just goes to show that I still have not escaped my biological/steelhead nut past. Found it impossible not to relate that historical information with more recent observations/knowledge.
Curt
Thanks for posting that link! Decades ago, I had read that report and just reread it now. In my first read I mainly focused on the major main stream floods and the incredible magnitudes of those events (at least in terms of modern day flooding). Heaven help those in the Skagit valley if or when there is another event that can not be full captured by those upstream dams.
This read while those major events still jump out at the reader something more nuanced grab me this time. In all the information on the Skagit and its major upper basin tributaries (Cascade, Sauk, Suiattle ) on the annual peaks that happened in the spring and on into the summer - many of those peaks in May and June and even some in July and one in August compared to the annual peaks in the lower basin tribs. (Alder, Day, and East Fork Nookachamps) whose peaks were in the more expected fall/early winter period. I think that hydrograph goes a long ways toward explaining the dominance of late spawn timing steelhead for the basin. Spawning timed so that the hatching steelhead would emerge from the gravels after those higher spring/summer flows had abated. The hydrograph of those lower basin tribs is similar to that which produces what we think of the more normal/early spawn timing associated with western Washington (think OP coastal systems).
I guess it just goes to show that I still have not escaped my biological/steelhead nut past. Found it impossible not to relate that historical information with more recent observations/knowledge.
Curt
Really fascinating Curt. It’s interesting to think about how those historic events may have shaped the timing of the runs. Thanks for your insight.
Wakingflies
Just Hatched
If you plan on building and want a permit issued from Snohomish or Skagit counties you will sign a release form that you will not hold the government liable for living in the NF Stillaguamish and Sauk River Valleys when Glacier Peak blows.
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Before I moved to Montana. I saw what high water did to some of the summer homes that were on the Sauk river above Darrington. They were left hanging over the river. When the "S" rivers come out of the mountains in the spring time they are a sight to behold.
When did that start?
B
bennysbuddy
Guest
there was talk about that after the Oso slide & the lawsuits that were against Snohomish county for issuing building permits in the slide zone . I never hear that it became a requirement to get a building permit.
Maybe the reason why Snohomish County might require that one applying for a permit to sign a release that you would not hold the County liable is the increasing flooding frequency.
Consider in Snohomish County's 2004 report "Stillaguamish River Comprehensive Flood Hazard Management Plan" the following flood frequency levels were established at the NF Stillaguamish near Arlington USGS gauge.
The 50-year level (a flood with a 2% chance of occurring) of 39,000 cfs.
The 100-year level (a flood with a 1% chance of occurring) of 41,200 cfs.
The 500-year level (a flood with a 0.2% chance of occurring) of 45,300 cfs.
Those levels were established reviewing the 70 year record for that USGS station between 1929 and 1998.
Since that report was released in 2004 between the falls of 2004 and 2021 there were 2 years where the peak flood was between the 50-year and 100-year levels. another year where the peak flood was between the 100-year and 500-year levels and another 3 above the 500-year level That is a lot of very large floods in less than a 20 year period.
Maybe we should not be surprised the Chinook and steelhead are struggling in the basin.
curt
Consider in Snohomish County's 2004 report "Stillaguamish River Comprehensive Flood Hazard Management Plan" the following flood frequency levels were established at the NF Stillaguamish near Arlington USGS gauge.
The 50-year level (a flood with a 2% chance of occurring) of 39,000 cfs.
The 100-year level (a flood with a 1% chance of occurring) of 41,200 cfs.
The 500-year level (a flood with a 0.2% chance of occurring) of 45,300 cfs.
Those levels were established reviewing the 70 year record for that USGS station between 1929 and 1998.
Since that report was released in 2004 between the falls of 2004 and 2021 there were 2 years where the peak flood was between the 50-year and 100-year levels. another year where the peak flood was between the 100-year and 500-year levels and another 3 above the 500-year level That is a lot of very large floods in less than a 20 year period.
Maybe we should not be surprised the Chinook and steelhead are struggling in the basin.
curt
Wakingflies
Just Hatched
Back in 1994 for the Glacier Peak form, the Oso slide started a conversation and I haven't seen nor have been asked to sign one yet or heard of anyone being required to.
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