English Boom

English Boom covers over 500 acres and is located along the north shore of the east half of the isthmus that connects Camano Island to the mainland.  The shore is adjacent to the south end of Skagit Bay.  It consists of an extensive area of saltmarsh, mudflat and beach berm.  It is a complex system with saltmarsh and tidal channels on either side of a

long beach berm. Some channels are open to the bay but there is also seepage through the berm.  An area near the south end of the site has been diked and is actively farmed.  Spartina covers about 10% of the estuary (as of June 2001).

Source of fresh water

There is some fresh water from surface runoff.

Plants

Acer macrophyllum, Arbutus menziesii, Distichlis spicata, Elymus spp., Festuca sp., Grindelia integrifolia, Potentilla pacifica , Pseudotsuga menziesii. Rosa nutkana, Salicomia virginica, Spartina alterniflora, and Triglochin maritimum.

Man made obstructions to the estuary

An area near the south end of the site has been diked and is actively farmed. There is currently a road on the dike. A large number of decaying pilings remain from an extensive pier system. Steep slopes surround the marsh and have prevented development.  An informal trail occurs on the beach berm over most of the length of English Boom.

Description of the historic estuary

This area was once a long beach that had an extensive pier system.  In the 1880s, it was a saltmarsh connected by channels to Davis Slough.  Island County purchased about five acres of this beach in 1997.

Resources

Island County Estuarine Restoration Program

Prepared by Sheldon & Associates, Inc., June 2001

Puget Sound Creosote Awareness project

www.pscap.net/index_m.htm