Birch Bay County Park

Blaine, Washington
Managed by Puget Soundkeeper Alliance

Located on Birch Bay, Birch Bay State Park has camping and both saltwater and freshwater shorelines. It's a great place for crabbing and clamming (recreational license required for anyone over the age of 15). North of the park on Birch Bay, there are also opportunities for swimming, boating, bird watching, biking, and enjoying sand activities such as kite flying and building sand castles! For those who do want to swim, the water is best at the central part of the bay. It's much rockier in the south end by the state park. The park is open all year for camping and for those just looking for a day trip destination.

WATER QUALITY
  • No data available
  • Current Status
  • This status is based on the latest sample, taken on August 21st, 2017. Puget Soundkeeper Alliance updates the status of this beach as soon as test results become available. These results were posted to Swim Guide on at
For water quality icon legend, click:   
CURRENT WEATHER
12°C
Chance of heavy rain
  • Report Pollution
MONITORING FREQUENCY

Birch Bay County Park is sampled weekly from May 15th to September 15th

SOURCE INFORMATION

The Washington Department of Ecology BEACH program tests water quality at salt water swimming beaches every week from Memorial Day to Labor Day for enterococcus bacteria. This is a fecal indicator bacterium that has been shown to have a high correlation with swimmer related illnesses. Three samples are collected at knee depth from across the beach to give an average and more accurately represent the risk of swimming at the beach.

The samples are then delivered to a state-accredited laboratory for analysis and results are available within 24-36 hours.

During the sampling period, Puget Soundkeeper regularly updates the Swim Guide to reflect the most current information.

Sample results are also shared on the Department of Ecology BEACH program website: https://fortress.wa.gov/ecy/coastalatlas/Tools/BeachClosure.aspx

More information about sampling protocols is available here: http://www.ecy.wa.gov/programs/eap/beach/program.html

WATER QUALITY GRAPH

Birch Bay County Park

Blaine, Washington
Managed by Puget Soundkeeper Alliance
WATER QUALITY
  • No data available
  • Current Status
  • This status is based on the latest sample, taken on August 21st, 2017. Puget Soundkeeper Alliance updates the status of this beach as soon as test results become available. These results were posted to Swim Guide on at
For water quality icon legend, click:   
CURRENT WEATHER
12°C
Chance of heavy rain

Located on Birch Bay, Birch Bay State Park has camping and both saltwater and freshwater shorelines. It's a great place for crabbing and clamming (recreational license required for anyone over the age of 15). North of the park on Birch Bay, there are also opportunities for swimming, boating, bird watching, biking, and enjoying sand activities such as kite flying and building sand castles! For those who do want to swim, the water is best at the central part of the bay. It's much rockier in the south end by the state park. The park is open all year for camping and for those just looking for a day trip destination.

  • Report Pollution
MONITORING FREQUENCY

Birch Bay County Park is sampled weekly from May 15th to September 15th

SOURCE INFORMATION

The Washington Department of Ecology BEACH program tests water quality at salt water swimming beaches every week from Memorial Day to Labor Day for enterococcus bacteria. This is a fecal indicator bacterium that has been shown to have a high correlation with swimmer related illnesses. Three samples are collected at knee depth from across the beach to give an average and more accurately represent the risk of swimming at the beach.

The samples are then delivered to a state-accredited laboratory for analysis and results are available within 24-36 hours.

During the sampling period, Puget Soundkeeper regularly updates the Swim Guide to reflect the most current information.

Sample results are also shared on the Department of Ecology BEACH program website: https://fortress.wa.gov/ecy/coastalatlas/Tools/BeachClosure.aspx

More information about sampling protocols is available here: http://www.ecy.wa.gov/programs/eap/beach/program.html

WATER QUALITY GRAPH



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