SEEC Commissioners and (crouching) Rudy, our communications person, group up for a photo on Ross Dam, in the North Cascades, Washington State, USA.
A really big sky.
A really wild North Cascades landscape.
A really big Ross Dam.
On the weekend of September 11-13, 2026, the Commissioners of the Skagit Environmental Endowment Commission gathered in the Upper Skagit watershed. Commissioner Lynn Best provided a historical, storied perspective informed by her significant involvment with the Commission and her role with Seattle City Light in years gone by. Commissioner Jon Riedel explained what we were seeing as the Commission toured Diablo Lake, above Diablo Dam to the base of Ross Dam near the power station. His North Cascades National Park Service career years studying the geology and glaciers added layers and layers of a centuries-spanning perspective on what we were walking on, boating on and viewing slack jawed, unable to take it all in!
The Commission was capably hosted by the diligent and personable staff at North Cascades Insitute, located at the edge of Diablo Lake. Three bear cubs and their mama entertained all as they spent days munching on ripe fruit in a nearby apple tree, choosing even to nap in the branches rather than get down first.
The weekend ended with a quarterly business meeting on Sunday. Note that all quarterly business meetings are to be considered public meetings with notices and agenda available at skagiteec.org/about/public.
Note that the Upper Skagit watershed, including Ross Lake lies within the homelands of the Upper Skagit, Sauk-Suiattle, Swinomish, Nlaka’pamux, Stó:lō and Syilx peoples.