This newsletter provides updates about the federal relicensing of the Skagit Hydroelectric Project. More information is available on the project website or by emailing the project team at scl_skagitrelicensing@seattle.gov.

Ignited by lightning strike on July 29, the Sourdough Fire burned more than 6,000 acres in North Cascades National Park adjacent to Seattle City Light’s Skagit Hydroelectric project and the towns of Diablo and Newhalem. A multiagency fire response unit with more than 400 personnel continues to coordinate and implement firefighting and containment efforts.

As always, City Light and its partners focus on protecting people and infrastructure. While the fire is not expected to affect relicensing overall, prioritizing people’s safety may require revisions to some ongoing relicensing study schedules. Additionally, out of an abundance of caution, City Light twice deenergized the transmission systems that service Ross and Diablo dams to provide safe access to fire crews and staff and safeguard infrastructure. City Light’s staff maintained operations and monitored infrastructure so that little to no impacts of the fire were experienced by customers. The dams have since returned to regular operations.

The successful containment of the Sourdough Fire can be attributed in part to the incredible response provided by the National Park Service and the federal Incident Management Team. The effort demanded extensive coordination and teamwork to assist in standing up a fully functioning “city” to meet the needs of more than 400 firefighters and responders. City Light was able to work side-by-side with a very experienced team to observe, inform, teach, and assist.

“I want to recognize the many dozens of City Light staff members from across our divisions who put in long hours to make sure that our people and infrastructure were kept safe and secure throughout the Sourdough Fire,” said Mike Haynes, interim General Manager and CEO of Seattle City Light. “We’re looking ahead to how we will be applying lessons learned and best practices to improve our emergency response and operational processes.”

Sourdough Fire. Photo credit: North Cascades Institute

City Light has actively managed wildfire risk for years. The utility released its Wildfire Risk Reduction Strategy in August. The strategy prioritizes minimizing potential damage through risk reduction plans that deter wildfire occurrences while also ensuring City Light is prepared to respond effectively and recover quickly. It is being applied in real-time in the Skagit and will continue to serve City Light through the recovery period.

Over the past three decades, more than 30,000 youth from Burlington-Edison, Sedro-Woolley, Anacortes, Mount Vernon, and other nearby school districts have experienced the wonder of the North Cascades through Mountain School, a nationally recognized environmental education program run by the North Cascades Institute (NCI). Each fall and spring, hundreds of 5th graders travel to the North Cascades Environmental Learning Center (ELC) to spend three days and two nights with the outdoors as their classroom, learning about ecosystems and the natural and cultural history of the mountains. Led by a passionate, diverse, and knowledgeable team of instructors and coordinators, students explore watersheds and forests, discover plants and wildlife, and learn about the indigenous tribes that have called the North Cascades home since time immemorial.

Unfortunately, NCI has had to cancel Mountain School—and all programs based at the ELC—through the end of 2023 due to the Sourdough Fire (see more about the fire above). NCI spokesperson Christian Martin told the Skagit Valley Herald that the decision to cancel fall programs was “excruciating,” and Mountain School Program Director Eric Buher said the decision means 712 fifth-grade students from Skagit County will not be able to attend Mountain School this fall. 

This isn’t the first time NCI has had to shut down Mountain School’s physical operations due to circumstances beyond its control. When the pandemic hit in 2020, stay-at-home guidelines and school closures required the program to adapt quickly to online learning. The result—Mountain School at Home, an online curriculum of lessons and activities to support teachers, families, and students—is still available to anyone, including students whose fall adventures have been canceled due to wildfire smoke.

Buher told the Herald that it is frustrating to not be able to teach kids this fall, but that the closure highlights the importance of NCI’s work. Mountain School students learn about environmental stewardship, which they will use when responding to events such as this.

In an interview with Crosscut, Martin shared the irony of having to cancel programs due to wildfire. Many of NCI’s classes and programs focus on the importance of wildfire in the ecology of Northwest forests and the impact of climate change. Wildfire creates animal habitat and refreshes the forest. But climate change has increased the intensity and frequency of wildfire. “It’s a natural phenomenon,” Martin told Crosscut, “and yet we’re stuck in the middle. This is good and normal – and also this is not normal.”          

NCI hopes to reopen Mountain School in the spring. 

Mountain School 2022

A microphone, set up deep in the forest, records continuously for seven days.

Congratulations to Seattle City Light’s Skagit Hydropower Relicensing Sound Study team for being voted the 2023 winner of the Institute of Noise Control Engineering - USA Nancy Timmerman Members’ Choice Award! The award-winning study involved unattended noise measurements taken over seven days at six locations in the study area during both the peak summer recreation season and springtime off-peak season. Data collected included continuous acoustical and meteorological measurements and digital audio recordings. Measurement results and digital audio recordings were processed using National Park Service soundscape study methods, and included the percent of time human-caused noises were audible and the calculation of the natural ambient sound level. The final study report identified everything from sound power levels and flow rates for dam spills to the noise emissions from an old steam engine train bell occasionally rung by visitors to Newhalem.

City Light’s sound study is an important tool for analyzing whether Skagit Project-related noises affect wildlife and will help the NPS achieve its noise management goals.

More information on City Light’s Project Sound Assessment is available in the February 2022 Relicensing Newsletter.

City Light's Hydroelectric Resources

Learn more about the Skagit River Hydroelectric Project and other City Light hydroelectric resources.

Skagit Relicensing Project Resources

Learn more about the relicensing process, including the library of public documents.

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