Lake Whatcom - Watershed Land Use

Watershed Land Use

Based on the 2000 census, there are about 13,000 residents within the Lake Whatcom Watershed. Current zoning will allow an increase to about 28,000. (Ecology, TMDL)

Land use on and around Lake Whatcom vary by basin. Most of Basin 1 falls in Bellingham City limits, which includes the most populous neighborhood, Silver Beach Creek. This is a high density residential neighborhood, with several public parks and open space tracts.

Basin 2 contains the Geneva neighborhood on the southern shore of the basin. This area has mixed zoning of urban residential, rural residential and rural forestry. The northern portion of the watershed in Basin 2 is zoned for rural, rural residential and rural forestry.

Basin 3 contains the Sudden Valley neighborhood which is high density residential. This is the primary residential population of Basin 3, as the rest of its watershed is zoned for commercial and rural forestry, as well as a small recreational open space and low density rural.

In 2001 the City of Bellingham placed a $5 per month fee on water bills to create a fund for purchasing land in the Lake Whatcom Watershed. To date 1,554 acres have been protected through the program, accounting for approximately 5% of the watershed. These properties are throughout the watershed, with the most (by acreage) found in Basin 3.

Whatcom County has a temporary ban on creations of new lots under 5 acres in the watershed. This ban has been in place since 2005.