Middle Fork Description

The Middle Fork drains approximately 103 mi2 of the west slopes of the Cascade Range, originating at the Deming Glacier on the southern flank of Mount Baker (Figure 1). Over the course of approximately twenty river miles, the Middle Fork flows northwest and reaches the North Fork Nooksack near the town of Deming, Washington. The Middle Fork is one of three forks of the Nooksack River that converge near Deming and together flow north, west and then south in a 36-mile circuitous path to Bellingham Bay. The elevation of the Middle Fork watershed ranges from 10,778 feet at Mount Baker to 285 feet at the confluence with the North Fork Nooksack River. The upper ten miles of the river occupies a heavily forested, confined valley managed by the US Forest Service, Washington Department of Natural Resources, and several timber companies. The lower five miles flow across a broad alluvial plain with the land use in the valley dominated by rural residential and small farms.