By Brandon Stone

Skagit Valley Herald

Due to the partial shutdown of the federal government, those wishing to see Skagit County’s bald eagles will have to make do without volunteers with the Eagle Watcher program.

In a normal year, residents and visitors to the area could count on help observing and learning about eagles from trained volunteers at three spots along Highway 20: the Marblemount Fish Hatchery, milepost 100 and Howard Miller Steelhead Park.

While those spots are primarily staffed by volunteers, the training, equipment and oversight come from the U.S. Forest Service, said 10-year volunteer Elena Bianco. And the shutdown has stopped funding for the Eagle Watcher program.

“It’s definitely a disappointment,” she said. “It’s not a life or death thing … but the upriver communities look forward to it.”

She said people from throughout the country, who often don’t know much about the eagles, stop by Eagle Watcher tents to learn about the birds. They often go on to spend money nearby, she said.

On Dec. 15, the last time Bianco volunteered before the shutdown, each of the three spots saw about 200 visitors, she said, adding that 300 to 400 people usually visit in the weeks after Christmas.

Barbara Johnson, who is volunteering for her fifth year, said she expected the program would be affected when she started hearing rumblings of a government shutdown.

“It’s so sad to me that folks won’t have the opportunity to learn about the eagles,” she said.

The Eagle Watcher program usually operates from early December through January, Johnson said.

Bianco said the program began out of safety concerns.

“People would just pull off on Highway 20 (to birdwatch),” she said. “It wasn’t safe.”

Johnson said without having the Eagle Watcher volunteers around she is concerned that this unsafe behavior may happen again.

“(People) would just stand in the middle of the highway,” she said. “Logging trucks come by, and they don’t stop.”

It’s ironic, Bianco said, that a program aimed at educating the public on one of the country’s national symbols has been shut down due to politics.

“It’s cynical, but I think it does say something about our national leadership,” she said.