Jetty Island is a

man-made island An artificial island is an island that has been constructed by people rather than formed by natural means. Artificial islands may vary in size from small islets reclaimed solely to support a single pillar of a building or structure to those tha ...

and park in the U.S. state of

Washington Washington commonly refers to: * Washington (state), United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A metonym for the federal government of the United States ** Washington metropolitan area, the metropolitan area centered o ...

, located 30 miles north of

Seattle Seattle ( ) is a seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the seat of King County, Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in both the state of Washington and the Pacific Northwest region o ...

in the

Puget Sound Puget Sound ( ) is a sound of the Pacific Northwest, an inlet of the Pacific Ocean, and part of the Salish Sea. It is located along the northwestern coast of the U.S. state of Washington. It is a complex estuarine system of interconnected m ...

, just off the

Everett, Washington Everett is the county seat and largest city of Snohomish County, Washington, United States. It is north of Seattle and is one of the main cities in the metropolitan area and the Puget Sound region. Everett is the seventh-largest city in the ...

waterfront. The island is two miles long and half a mile wide, approximately 1,800 acres. The island has no plumbing, electricity or structures, only a seasonal floating restroom off the island's shore. During the summer months, a small ferry becomes operational, allowing access to and from the island. During the summer months, Jetty is a popular destination for

kiteboarding Kiteboarding or kitesurfing is a sport that involves using wind power with a large power kite to pull a rider across a water, land, or snow surface. It combines aspects of paragliding, surfing, windsurfing, skateboarding, snowboarding, and wak ...

History

Jetty Island began as a riprap

jetty A jetty is a structure that projects from land out into water. A jetty may serve as a breakwater, as a walkway, or both; or, in pairs, as a means of constricting a channel. The term derives from the French word ', "thrown", signifying somet ...

to provide a navigation channel and protected harbor in the late 19th century. The island is composed of sediment from the Snohomish River; material that was created by the maintenance dredging of the

Snohomish River The Snohomish River is a river in Snohomish County, Washington, formed by the confluence of the Skykomish and Snoqualmie rivers near Monroe. It flows northwest entering Port Gardner Bay, part of Puget Sound, between Everett and Marysville. ...

was used to build the island. The original dredged material was deposited over a 100 years ago and has been added to over time. The Port of Everett gained ownership of Jetty Island in 1929 and, with the help of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, built a new marsh of dredged river materials in 1989.

Ferry

During the summer months, the Port of Everett partners with the City of Everett Parks Department to provide a small ferry that allows access to and from the island. The ferry operates seven days a week and departs from the Port of Everett's boat launch. The ferry service, which began in 1985 with visitors riding for free, is now contracted to Argosy Cruises. It was cancelled for the 2020 season due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identi ...

; the ferry resumed the following season, albeit with the introduction of a fare at $3 for each rider over the age of two due to insufficient donations.

Wildlife

Jetty Island is home to more than 45 bird species including osprey, shorebirds, hawks, eagles, cormorants and ducks. Visitors may see seals surfacing near the waters edge or lounging on the islands shore. On occasion, gray whales can be seen swimming past during spring migration.

References

{{authority control Islands of Washington (state) Artificial islands of Washington (state) Uninhabited islands of Washington (state)