Washington State Lake Protection Association - WALPA

A pair of barred owls strengthen their connection through mating calls, close perching, and affectionate preening

Barred owls are native to eastern North America, reaching the Pacific Northwest around the 1970s, likely facilitated by European settlement and human-caused climate change. Today, they’re an invasive species within Washington, Oregon, and California.

Their presence displaces northern spotted owls, a smaller and less aggressive threatened species that depends on similar habitat and food sources.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service approved a long-term barred owl management strategy across parts of Washington, Oregon, and California allowing the removal of barred owls in specific areas to help reduce pressure on spotted owl populations.

Owls sit near the top of the food web, so changes in owl populations can reflect changes happening throughout an ecosystem — from forests to wetlands to lakes. Healthy forests help regulate water temperature, reduce erosion, and filter runoff before it reaches streams and lakes. When ecosystems become unbalanced, the effects can ripple far beyond just one species. Wildlife interactions like this are reminders that forest health, water quality, and biodiversity are all tied together.

In the 1950s, locals called it Lake Stinko. Post-WWII suburban growth was pumping 20 million gallons of sewage into Lake Washington every day, throwing its nitrogen-to-phosphorus ratio dangerously out of balance. A grad student's water sample revealed a toxic blue-green algae bloom — and his old adviser, limnologist W.T. Edmondson, figured out exactly why. What followed was a nine-page report the city ignored, two elections, three years of political fighting, and ultimately the largest pollution control project in U.S. history. The result: water clarity jumped from 2.5 feet to 10 feet, and by 1976 the algae was gone. Every eutrophication study in the Western world carries a trace of Lake Washington's story.
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Swamp lantern (skunk cabbage) is one of the first signs of spring in our wetlands — melting snow, attracting early pollinators, and signaling a healthy watershed.

For generations, Indigenous communities have understood its value, using it for food preparation, storage, medicine, and more — a reminder that these ecosystems hold both ecological and cultural significance.

When wetlands thrive, our lakes and streams do too!