Cypress Island is the westernmost part of

Skagit County, Washington Skagit County is a county in the U.S. state of Washington. As of the 2020 census, the population was 129,523. The county seat and largest city is Mount Vernon. The county was formed in 1883 from Whatcom County and is named for the Skagit I ...

and is about halfway between the mainland and offshore San Juan County. It is separated from Blakely Island to the west by

Rosario Strait Rosario Strait is a strait in northern Washington state, separating San Juan County and Skagit and Whatcom Counties. It extends from the Strait of Juan de Fuca about north to the Strait of Georgia. The USGS defines its southern boundary as a ...

and from

Guemes Island Guemes Island is a small island in western Skagit County, Washington, United States. It is located north of Fidalgo Island and the city of Anacortes, and is accessible by private boat and by the Guemes Island ferry operated by Skagit County. ...

to the east by Bellingham Channel. The island has a land area of , and a population of 40 persons as of the

2000 United States Census The United States census of 2000, conducted by the Census Bureau, determined the resident population of the United States on April 1, 2000, to be 281,421,906, an increase of 13.2 percent over the 248,709,873 people enumerated during the 1990 c ...

. The

Washington Department of Natural Resources The Washington State Department of Natural Resources (DNR) manages over of forest, range, agricultural, and commercial lands in the U.S. state of Washington. The DNR also manages of aquatic areas which include shorelines, tidelands, lands un ...

manages about of the island and leaves the island in a natural state. Cypress is heavily forested and has a system of trails linking various parts of the island. In roughly the middle of the island is a lake of about . On the southeastern corner of the island is a sheltered bay featuring a salmon fish farm. Cypress is not served by

ferry A ferry is a ship, watercraft or amphibious vehicle used to carry passengers, and sometimes vehicles and cargo, across a body of water. A passenger ferry with many stops, such as in Venice, Italy, is sometimes called a water bus or water ta ...

and there are no public utilities on the island. The island is a popular destination for

kayak A kayak is a small, narrow watercraft which is typically propelled by means of a double-bladed paddle. The word kayak originates from the Greenlandic word '' qajaq'' (). The traditional kayak has a covered deck and one or more cockpits, each s ...

trips due its relatively close proximity to the mainland and to the camping available at two sites on the east side. Sheltered anchorages for boaters can be found in Eagle Harbor with public state park facilities.

Natural features

Most of the island is underlain by

ultramafic Ultramafic rocks (also referred to as ultrabasic rocks, although the terms are not wholly equivalent) are igneous and meta-igneous rocks with a very low silica content (less than 45%), generally >18% MgO, high FeO, low potassium, and are composed ...

rock such as

serpentinite Serpentinite is a rock composed predominantly of one or more serpentine group minerals, the name originating from the similarity of the texture of the rock to that of the skin of a snake. Serpentinite has been called ''serpentine'' or ''s ...

, which provides a poor balance of nutrients to soils that develop on it. The island's common soil series is Guemes very stony loam. Limited areas of fertile non-ultramafic soils occur around the island's northern end and in small pockets elsewhere. Most of these are mapped as Catla gravelly ashy sandy loam. Forests on the island are dominated by

Douglas-fir The Douglas fir (''Pseudotsuga menziesii'') is an evergreen conifer species in the pine family, Pinaceae. It is native to western North America and is also known as Douglas-fir, Douglas spruce, Oregon pine, and Columbian pine. There are three va ...

. The magnesium-rich bedrock supports a considerable population of Seaside Juniper. Other common trees include shore pine,

Pacific madrone ''Arbutus menziesii'' or Pacific madrone (commonly madrone or madrona in the United States and arbutus in Canada), is a species of broadleaf evergreen tree in the family Ericaceae, native to the western coastal areas of North America, from Br ...

and

Douglas maple ''Acer glabrum'' is a species of maple native to western North America, from southeastern Alaska, British Columbia and western Alberta, east to western Nebraska, and south through Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Montana and Colorado to California, Ari ...

. Some

western hemlock ''Tsuga heterophylla'', the western hemlock or western hemlock-spruce, is a species of hemlock native to the west coast of North America, with its northwestern limit on the Kenai Peninsula, Alaska, and its southeastern limit in northern Sonoma ...

western red cedar ''Thuja plicata'' is an evergreen coniferous tree in the cypress family Cupressaceae, native to western North America. Its common name is western redcedar (western red cedar in the UK), and it is also called Pacific redcedar, giant arborvitae ...

grand fir ''Abies grandis'' (grand fir, giant fir, lowland white fir, great silver fir, western white fir, Vancouver fir, or Oregon fir) is a fir native to the Pacific Northwest and Northern California of North America, occurring at altitudes of sea leve ...

red alder ''Alnus rubra'', the red alder, is a deciduous broadleaf tree native to western North America (Alaska, Yukon, British Columbia, Washington, Oregon, California, Idaho and Montana). Description Red alder is the largest species of alder in ...

and

bigleaf maple ''Acer macrophyllum'', the bigleaf maple or Oregon maple, is a large deciduous tree in the genus '' Acer''. It is native to western North America, mostly near the Pacific coast, from southernmost Alaska to southern California. Some stands are al ...

also occur.

History

Native presence

Prior to homesteading in the early twentieth century, the island was used by the

Samish The Samish are a Native American people who live in the U.S. state of Washington. They are a Central Coast Salish people. Through the years, they were assigned to reservations dominated by other Tribes, for instance, the Swinomish Indians of th ...

tribe, which had a winter village established on nearby

.The Samish Tribe of Indians vs. United States
, Indian Claims Commission, 1958 Samish fishing villages were present on Cypress until 1900.

Early exploration

The first sighting of Cypress Island by Europeans was by the Spanish during the 1791 voyage of

José María Narváez José María Narváez (1768 – August 4, 1840) was a Spanish naval officer, explorer, and navigator notable for his work in the Gulf Islands and Lower Mainland of present-day British Columbia. In 1791, as commander of the schooner '' Santa ...

, who named it San Vincente. The island was named again by Captain

George Vancouver Captain George Vancouver (22 June 1757 – 10 May 1798) was a British Royal Navy officer best known for his 1791–1795 expedition, which explored and charted North America's northwestern Pacific Coast regions, including the coasts of what are ...

in early June 1792, when he mistook juniper trees for cypress trees. Vancouver reports that the Chatham, one of the vessels in his party, lost an anchor in Strawberry Bay, on the west side of the island. Vancouver wrote:

The island of Cypress is principally composed of high rocky mountains and steep perpendicular cliffs which in the center of Strawberry bay fall a little back and the space between the foot of the mountains and the sea side is occupied by low marshy land through which are several small runs of most excellent water that find their way into the bay by oozing through the beach.

Preservation

In 1975, the

(DNR) designated as a Natural Area Preserve, and added 56 more acres in 1978. At that time, however, most of the island remained in private hands. Several attempts were made to develop the island. Spokane industrialist Raymond A. Hanson acquired on Cypress Island in 1978 Lonnie Rosenwald, "Spokane developer's project hits widespread opposition"
The Spokesman-Review, Spokane, August 16, 1987 and, in the 1980s proposed first a large-scale public utility development and then a five-star resort and golf-course. Small land-owners on the island, organized in a group called "Friends of Cypress Island" fought both proposals. Hanson finally sold his land to the Department of Natural Resources in 1989.Bill Deitrich, "Cypress - An Island Set Apart -- The State Finds The Best Way To Preserve Pristine Property - Buy It!"
Seattle Times, July 22, 1990 This purchase along with subsequent, smaller purchases, have allowed the Natural Area Preserve to be expanded to , out of the that comprise the Cypress Island Natural Resources Conservation Area. The waters surrounding the island became a DNR Aquatic Reserve in 2007.Cypress Island Comprehensive Management Plan
, Washington Department of Natural Resources, 2007Washington State Department of Natural Resources, Cypress Island Aquatic Reserve

References

External links

Cypress Island: Blocks 1025 and 1026, Census Tract 9501, Skagit County, Washington
United States Census Bureau
Cypress Island Natural Resources Conservation Area Management Plan
{{authority control Islands of Skagit County, Washington Islands of Washington (state) Washington Natural Areas Program Protected areas of Skagit County, Washington Pacific islands of Washington (state)