Cornwall Park's Fenced Woods and Squalicum Creek Share One Fall Calendar
October 15, 2026
October 15, 2026
The City of Bellingham's page for the Cornwall Memorial Park forest restoration opens with a photo of ground near disc golf hole 1, captioned as "a part of Cornwall Park with almost no understory." That bare patch is what the fences are for. The city states why it cares in its first few lines. Restoring the forest is meant to "support salmon habitat and water quality in Squalicum Creek, which flows through Cornwall Memorial Park."
That makes the fenced woods and the creek one story. Their seasons also line up. Planting crews work in fall and winter, and fall and winter are when salmon come back to Squalicum Creek. From now through January, the work behind the fences and the fish in the water are on the same schedule.
Cornwall Memorial Park is one of Bellingham's oldest parks, with 70 acres of natural area split between mature conifer forest and open fields. According to the city, heavier use over the years has packed down the soil in parts of the forest. Compacted soil harms Western Hemlock, Douglas Fir, and Western Red Cedar and can kill them. In November 2025, the city's Urban Forestry team removed 20 dead or dying trees from the park.
The fencing went up before those removals. Priority areas were identified, mapped, assessed, and fenced in mid-2025. They will stay closed to the public for three to five years. The city's restoration page also lists what is not changing. No trails, parking spaces, sports courts, restrooms, or other park infrastructure are planned to close. My Bellingham Now reported the same in its July 24, 2026 story on the closures.
The first planting is done. In February 2026, volunteers put 162 native trees and shrubs into the southernmost zone. More planting will follow over the next three to five fall and winter seasons. Staff, volunteers, and Washington Conservation Corps crews may all take part. The city notes that native trees, shrubs, and groundcovers take three to five years to establish, depending on soil, weather, and disturbance. That is why the fences have the same three-to-five-year timeline as the plants.
Restoring the forest floor helps the creek. A healthier understory and less erosion feed into Squalicum Creek, which the city names as one of the main reasons for the project. Here is what is in the creek this season.
The Nooksack Salmon Enhancement Association's Salmon Sighting Experience Guide lists Cornwall Park as a Squalicum Creek viewing site. Its documented species are:
| Species | Window listed for Cornwall Park |
|---|---|
| Fall Chinook | October to November |
| Chum | November to January |
| Coho | November to January |
On mid-October, the Chinook window is already open and the chum and coho windows start in a few weeks. NSEA's species page puts chum spawning a little earlier, from October through January in the Nooksack and in creeks including Squalicum. For anyone keeping an eye on the water, both sources point to the same thing. The season is starting now and runs past New Year's.
NSEA's posted fall 2026 Salmon Sighting events cover Oyster, Chuckanut, Fishtrap, and Whatcom creeks. Squalicum Creek is not on the list. Cornwall Park has no guided day with volunteers at the bank, so anyone who wants to see fish here has to time it on their own.
NSEA's Salmon Sighting Experience Guide covers the basics. The creek runs through the northern part of the park, and there are two parking lots along Meridian St. The park address is 3424 Meridian St. The guide also says that spawning seasons are fairly predictable but climate, recent weather, and species all affect where and when salmon spawn. "Patience is key when trying to observe spawning salmon."
The same guide lists more than 1.5 miles of trail, two playgrounds, restrooms, and picnic shelters at Cornwall. You can easily fit a creek check into a walk you were already taking. NSEA also runs Salmon Spotters, a community-science program that tracks returns from year to year. That is one way a casual sighting can become useful data.
Wild Whatcom also has two programs in the park this Friday, October 16. Wild Things runs from 9:30 to 11 a.m. Wonder Walks follows from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. Wild Whatcom describes it as a slow-paced walk for adults 18 and older who are curious about local plants and animals.
The clearest link between the fences and the fish is the Make a Difference Day and Arbor Day 2026 Community Work Party. It runs Saturday, November 7, from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. The City of Bellingham and NSEA are hosting it. Volunteers will plant native trees and shrubs and pull invasive weeds near Squalicum Creek. The stated goals are better water quality, healthier downstream salmon habitat, and a restored understory. The listing says the event builds on the new forest restoration project.
The date also falls inside the chum and coho windows NSEA lists for Cornwall. The people planting along the creek will be working at the time of year the guide expects those fish to be in it.
The event details from the Volunteer Bellingham listing:
Space is limited and registration takes two steps. Completing the waiver does not sign you up. You still have to click "Sign Up" afterward to finish registering.
The disc golf course is where most park users run into the fences day to day. Whatcom Disc Golf Club lists Cornwall Park as a course established in 1996, with nine par-3 holes, alternate basket positions, and paver tee pads. It calls the course best suited to beginners, families, and intermediate and advanced players. UDisc's course page describes holes 1 through 5 as the ones nearest Meridian and holes 6 through 9 as past the pickleball courts.
The bare ground in the city's photo is near hole 1, so the restoration starts right at the first tee. The city put limited-access gates in the fences so players can get stray discs back. City, club, and UDisc listings all still show nine holes. None of the sources reviewed for this post mention a hole being closed or a tee being moved because of the fencing.
The club lists year-round meetups at the hole 7 pavilion, with Sunday doubles and Friday skins and glow rounds. The club says part of its mission is working with local parks and recreation staff to maintain existing courses.
The city's plans for Squalicum Creek continue past the park boundary. The Meridian–Birchwood project's fall 2026 status describes three pieces of work: extending the Bay to Baker Trail west from Cornwall Park, restoring a creek tributary called Tributary W, and rebuilding the Meridian/Birchwood intersection as a multimodal roundabout. The project is in design, permitting, and right-of-way acquisition. The city lists construction for the fourth quarter of 2027, depending on permits and land acquisition.
A separate Squalicum Creek fish-passage project at the Meridian bridge is moving toward 60% design, and the city is applying for construction grants. Both timelines are tentative. Taken together with the restoration, they show the city working on the creek on both sides of Meridian. The planting inside the park is the piece already underway, and the next round is the Saturday morning of November 7.
If watching the park's forest come back has you wondering how being near Cornwall Memorial Park affects your own home's value, Michelle Harrington has worked these neighborhoods for more than 23 years. She can walk you through what that location means for your property. Start with an Instant Home Valuation, then call her to talk through the details.
Stay up to date on the latest real estate trends.
1318 12TH ST BELLINGHAM WA 98225