Blue Mountain

Location: Saxon Road, Acme
Size: 29 acres
Public Access: No (private property)(?)
Easement granted: April 2007
Easement type: Conservation
Grantees: Whatcom Land Trust

This 29-acre property is part of a privately-owned 40-acre parcel located near the Skookum Creek Fish Hatchery, along the South Fork of the Nooksack River.  The easement was granted to protect forever the natural values of the property, including both forest and wetland habitat.

Year-round springs emanating from a steep hillside create a significant wetland complex.  The water exits the property to the northwest, via a small creek which feeds into the South Fork of the Nooksack.  A mature, mixed-species forest contains Douglas fir, western hemlock, western red cedar, big-leaf maples and vine maple.

Among the species of wildlife that inhabit the area are Coho salmon, wood ducks, elk, bald eagles and owls.  The high quality, varied habitats provide important refuge for wildlife species that may be periodically displaced by commercial logging and agricultural activities in the local area.

The property is bounded by industrial forest land to the north, south and east, and rural residential and farm land to the northwest and west.  Whatcom Land Trust owns salmon habitat property nearby, and Nesset Farm, a future Whatcom County Park protected by a Land Trust conservation easement, lies northwest of the property.

An abandoned railway berm, now used as a recreational trail, crosses the property from southeast to northwest, and other trails loop through the property.