Deming is the place for eagles

By Jack Kintner

If you want to see large numbers of eagles, one of the best places is from the Deming Homestead Eagle Park, the original site of the village of Deming, now located a few miles to the west.

The park is a pleasant river setting that provides several walking trails that wind and intersect through forested and open bottomland. The original homesteader, a man named Deming, sold his claim to the first postmaster, E.W. Owen, who named it in his honor when appointed postmaster for the new town in 1889, the year of Washington’s statehood.

When the Northern Pacific railroad came through in 1891 the town was moved near its present location about two miles to the west. In 1949 the homestead was sold to Peter and Martha Resnick who operated it as a dairy farm. Their son Hank donated it to the Whatcom Land Trust and the park was opened after a lot of effort on the part of local volunteers. It’s now operated by Whatcom County Parks.

Not that long ago, there were few eagles to be seen in the area. Reckless and uncontrolled over-use of the DDT pesticide by an uninformed public wiped out birds of prey, by compromising their ability to breed. In the early ’60s, the years DDT use reached its peak, there were less than 500 nesting pairs of bald eagles in the continental U.S.

Now there are many, and if your visit coincides with a salmon run you may see hundreds of the birds at one time as local groups and migrating flocks feed on the carcasses.

The return of large raptors to the northwest rivers was as dramatic as their disappearance. Eagle counts show a ten-fold increase in just 30 years. In June 2007, the eagle was taken off the Endangered Species Act’s threatened list. Once again, you can easily watch a bird in its wild habitat that once was rarely seen outside Alaska and northern B.C.

To get there, follow Truck Road (formerly the railroad right-of-way) as it turns south off the Mt. Baker Highway just east of the Highway 9 intersection and Milepost 15. The park lies along the road on the right side, marked by a small parking lot that provides access.

Look for unique salmon habitat structures installed along the riverbank. Your best chance to see resident or migrating eagles coincides with late fall chinook and chum salmon runs.