Baker River (Washington)

The river system of the Baker River

Valley of the Baker River from the northeast

The Baker River is a 48 km long, flowing southward Zuflüss of the Skagit River in the U.S. state of Washington. It rises in the northern Cascade Range, north of Seattle and east of Mount Baker. With a catchment area of ​​about 700 sq km in a broad and deep valley, partly in North Cascades National Park, it is the last major tributary of the Skagit River before it flows into the Skagit Bay. The river flows near its mouth by Concrete and has two hydroelectric plants, which Puget Sound Energy belong.

River

The Baker River rises near Whatcom peak in the Cascade Range, in the northern part of the North Cascades National Park. From the Baker River Valley just northeast of Mount Shuksan at it flows south. Most of the time the river flows southwest through a steep glacial valley, where it receives several small glacial streams, the surrounding mountains. Much of the southern half is dammed up in artificial lakes, are both part of the Baker River Hydroelectric Projects. The first, pent up from the Upper Baker Dam, lake is 14 km long. ( The lake was originally a natural lake, until his level dammed up by the 95m high dam. ) The ' pent-up from the Lower Baker Dam, Lake Shannon begins just past Baker Lake and extends 12.1 km downstream. Behind the Lower Baker dam, the river no longer jammed down to a small weir with a fish ladder and flows about two kilometers in the Skagit River.

Most of the Baker Lake is located in the Mount Baker - Snoqualmie National Forest. The upper dam is located in Whatcom County and the Lower Baker Dam in Skagit County, north of Concrete. Both dams include Puget Sound Energy.

Natural history

The Baker sockeye salmon is the only surviving Rotlachspopulation in the catchment area of ​​the Skagit River. The Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife found that the Baker sockeye salmon were genetically different from other sockeye salmon. Around 1992, the status of the species was classified as "endangered". In 1985, only 92 adult animals were found. Since the 1990s, However, de population Has recovered somewhat, in part due to improvements in the smolt trapping and transportation System. A high of 20.235 fish were counted in 2003.

Before the Lower Baker Dam was built in 1925, had the fish access to the river and, more natural, Baker Lake. The annual Rotlachswanderung was estimated at the time to about 20,000 fish. The artificial expansion began around 1896, when the Washington State built a hatchery at Baker Lake. It was the first that was built for sockeye. The hatchery was closed in 1933. The former Upper Baker dam flooded the original 1959 Baker Lake and the surrounding valley, including the Leichhardt places of Baker Rotlachses. It artificial spawning grounds on the upper end of the new Baker Lakes were built. 1990, an additional artificial spawning ground at Sulphur Creek was built. All recurring sockeye are caught before the Lower Baker Dam and transported to the artificial spawning grounds.

The Baker River also has fish such as coho salmon.

Inflows

The tributaries of the Baker River are here Upriver seen listed (L = Left, R = Right).

  • Thunder Creek ( L)
  • Bear Creek
  • Rocky Creek ( R)
  • Sulphur Creek ( R)
  • Anderson Creek
  • Sandy Creek ( R)
  • Park Creek ( R)
  • Swift Creek ( R) Morovitz Creek
Washington (state) Whatcom County, Washington Skagit County, Washington Mile#Statute mile Town North-Cascades-Nationalpark
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