Sharon Baker (Lincoln Park steward) reports possibly related observations from the north coast

With thanks to David Perasso (Martha Washington Park steward) we are able to include this report from Lincoln Park steward Sharon Baker.  Our thanks to you both.

Hi David, We hiked there [Sharpe Park on Fidalgo Island, just north of Deception Pass] about a month ago. We hiked the outer loop. There are very few sword ferns on much of the loop, but we did notice a few looking dead on the part of the loop where ferns are scarce. The trail to Sares Head has recently been rebuilt. It is in an area with maybe a 75% cover of sword ferns. There were a lot of dead looking ferns in that area. I couldn't feel any fiddlehead down at the base of the ferns. That may not be a good test, I've now been checking and noticing that on healthy looking ferns too.

We hiked Washington Park, in Anacortes about 3 weeks ago. Again, an area that generally doesn't have a lot of sword ferns. We did come into one area with maybe 30-50% sword fern coverage and there were dead ferns there. No other disturbance apparent (in contrast to trail rebuild near Sares Head).