Aerial view of the Big Beef Creek watershed
looking west toward Hood Canal
Aerial view of the Big Beef Creek watershed
looking west toward Hood Canal
The Big Beef Creek Field Station offers opportunities for teaching and research in fisheries and many other fields. The creek flows westward to an estuary that connects with Hood Canal through a narrow canyon with forest typical of western Washington. The predominant trees are Douglas fir, western red cedar, and Pacific rhododendron.
The forest is second growth and about 30-50 years old. The flora and fauna are typical of the lowland humid rain forests of the Pacific Northwest; they include over 100 species of birds and several larger mammals such as beaver, bobcat, mule deer, raccoon, opossum, and skunk, with evidence of black bear. Big Beef Creek is an indicator stream for Coho salmon in Hood Canal. In all, the facility is an immensely rich resource providing rain forest , freshwater streams , bogs and swamps , estuary and salt marsh , and tide flats. These habitats are not duplicated at Friday Harbor Labs , and thus the two stations complement each other.
A series of beaver dams has created about 20 acres of swamp and alder forest that add to the diversity of freshwater wetlands . Emerging from the swamp , the creek flows over a weir and into a small estuary with mud flats , grassy meadows, and a small salt marsh . The estuary drains into Hood Canal through a channel crossed by a causeway (with road).
Beyond the causeway, the UW owns about 40 acres of tidelands-- mostly mud flat , rich in marine invertebrates. Four cabins on UW waterfront property adjacent to these tidelands makes overnight field trips practical for small groups, a fifth cabin and two-bedroom house is being renovated. The station is secluded because of the steep sides of the canyon. In the past, the field station's primary function has been as a natural habitat for fish research for the School of Fisheries. Three species of salmon still spawn in its streams.
Teaching and research activities include natural history, artificial rearing studies, and whole-life-history studies of organisms that alternate between fresh and salt water. Emphasis is on behavioral and ecological studies and the effects of increasing urbanization in the Puget Sound basin. Studies on artificial propagation are expected to enhance fish stock production and help develop culture techniques for endangered and threatened fish species.
Approximately three miles north of Seabeck, WA (eastern shore of Hood Canal)
Gordon George, Facilities Manager
phone: (360) 692-9227
e-mail: gordyg@u.washington.edu , School of Aquatic and Fishery Sciences.
Sharon Frucci, Administration
phone: (206) 616-4172
e-mail: sfrucci@u.washington.edu, School of Aquatic and Fishery Sciences
Station phone: (360) 692-9227
Station e-mail: bbc@u.washington.edu
Postal address: 9744 Manley Road, Seabeck, WA 98380
Research grants and contracts, general operating funds.
Research: Ecological and behavioral studies of salmonids, nutrition studies, artificial rearing studies, tagging studies, avian habitat studies, food preference studies, habitat preference studies.
Instruction: The Center for Streamside Research (College of Forest Resources) and the Animal Behavior Program (Depts. of Zoology and Psychology) use the uplands for research and teaching. Graduate studies and field trip instruction.
Non-UW: National Marine Fisheries Service, US Fish & Wildlife Service, Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife, Hood Canal Salmon Enhancement Group.
Negotiable.
Telephone with answering machine: (360) 692-9227
FAX: (360) 613-0311.
By road.
