Wetland wonders: WWU students discover a sense of place through plants

Western Washington University published this notice on 2026-10-06. The following highlights are selected excerpts from the full source.

Abe Lloyd slides a 5-foot-long plant stalk down the back of his shirt and calls out, “Follow the bulrush!” He strides across the marsh, the plant rising like a tour guide’s umbrella, so no one from his wetland plant identification class gets lost in the crowd.

There isn’t much of a crowd at Skagit Bay Estuary’s Craft Island — a salt marsh at the mouth of the Skagit River — but it’s not impossible to imagine losing your way among the tall reeds, rushes and grasses, where trails are often rearranged by each high tide.