In August 2019, I spent a few days on Orcas Island getting to know the Cascade Creek Watershed at the invitation of Ayn Gailey and Sara Farish, authors of the just published Ode Volume One: Orcas Island. Having seen my Orcas sketchbook pages on Instagram (@anthropocenesketchbook), they wanted to include a few of my drawings in the book. This project turned out to be a wonderful opportunity to put together an ecosystem exploration in cohesive set of drawings.

I visited four different spots along the watershed, starting at the mouth of Cascade Creek where it enters the sea at Buck Bay; then the loop trail at the Coho Preserve; Cascade Creek near the middle of its length, at a series of waterfalls; and finishing at the creek’s headwaters at Mountain Lake.