ARLINGTON – About 50 nature enthusiasts were treated to a guided tour of Country Charm Park as part of the Eagle Festival Feb. 3.

The conservation area is across Highway 530 from Twin Rivers Park.

Bill Blake, who worked for the city for 17 years and is now with the Skagit Conservation District, led the tour.

The city has owned the 150 acres of grassland since 2010, he said, adding eventually it will be turned into ballfields.

But the area near the South Fork of the Stillaguamish River will not be touched.

“You will always be able to come here and see nature,” he said.

Passing through the flood plain the group walked through muddy trail to an open beach at the river. Blake said the “Big Rock” there has been a swimming area for years. “There’s hardly anybody here because you have to walk,” he said.

Blake said that area of the river is popular in odd-numbered years because the water is so clear from the shore people can see salmon spawning.

He said the environmental balance is off right now as orca whales are starving.

“They need more,” he said. “We need to think about humans and salmon when we make environmental decisions.”

As a result of the orca woes, the state is planning to have more hatchery fish released.

Blake said part of the problem is seals and sea lions are eating the fish before the orca can get them. He said Native Americans need to be able to harvest them to keep their numbers in check.

One of the hikers saw some footprints in the sand. Blake looked in a book and said they were otters.

He also pointed out the river bank on the opposite side. One area, that had old growth, has little erosion. Another part, which had been planted with grass, had lots of erosion, indirectly saying that nature knows what it is doing.

Blake said when people moved to the area, wildlife were displaced. He said animals come back down as often as they can.

“They don’t like the cold either,” he said, explaining how they move up the mountains to get away from humans.