If you have not yet visited Tennant Lake in Ferndale this summer, August is one of the best windows to do it. The boardwalk trail through the marsh is open now, but it closes annually when waterfowl hunting season begins in October, making late summer the sweet spot for exploring this gem of the Whatcom County parks system.
Tennant Lake Natural History Interpretive Center and its associated Fragrance Garden are part of the Whatcom County Parks system, sitting adjacent to Hovander Homestead Park on the floodplain of the Nooksack River south of Ferndale. The combination of a floating boardwalk through a freshwater marsh, a fragrance garden designed for visitors with visual impairments, and an interpretive center with local natural history displays makes it a genuinely distinctive destination in the county.
What Makes Tennant Lake Worth the Trip
The centerpiece of a visit is the floating boardwalk that winds through the heart of a shallow freshwater marsh. In summer, the marsh is thick with cattails, wapato, and water lilies. Herons, red-winged blackbirds, marsh wrens, and a rotating cast of waterfowl move through the reeds. On calm mornings, the surface of the lake reflects Mount Baker to the east, a view that requires no hiking and almost no effort to reach.
The boardwalk is accessible and flat, making it suitable for strollers, wheelchairs, and visitors of all ages. Because it floats, it moves gently with the water level, which gives the walk a subtly different feel in late summer when water levels are lower compared to the spring snowmelt pulse.
Adjacent to the interpretive center, the Fragrance Garden was designed specifically for visitors with visual impairments, with raised beds at wheelchair height and plant labels written in both standard text and Braille. The garden features fragrant and textured plants that can be touched and smelled, creating an experience that engages senses beyond sight. It remains one of the few public gardens in Whatcom County designed with accessibility as a primary consideration.
The October Closure and Why It Happens
The boardwalk closes each fall when the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife opens the waterfowl hunting season. Tennant Lake sits within a managed area where hunting is permitted, and the boardwalk closure is a safety measure for both visitors and hunters. The exact closure date varies slightly by year depending on the official season opener, but October is reliably the month when access ends.
That means the window between now and late September offers some of the year's best conditions for a visit. Late summer brings warm temperatures, dry trails, and the highest diversity of marsh bird activity before migration begins to shift the resident population. Dragonflies and damselflies are at peak abundance in August, and the marsh vegetation is at its most lush.
Getting There and What to Bring
Tennant Lake is located at 5236 Nielsen Road in Ferndale, just off Hovander Road on the south side of town. The site is well-signed and easily reached from Interstate 5 via the Ferndale exit. Parking is free. The interpretive center building may have limited hours, but the boardwalk and grounds are generally accessible during daylight hours.
Bring binoculars if you have them. Mosquito repellent is advisable in August, particularly in the morning and evening hours near the marsh. The trail is short enough to walk in under 30 minutes at a leisurely pace, but the marsh rewards those who pause and observe quietly.
Tennant Lake pairs naturally with a visit to neighboring Hovander Homestead Park, where a historic farmhouse, large barn, river access, and open meadows round out a full half-day outing. For families looking for a low-cost, educational outdoor destination in Whatcom County this August, the Ferndale parks corridor is one of the better options in the region.
More information about Tennant Lake and the full Whatcom County parks system is available at the Whatcom County government website, which lists current hours, programs, and seasonal closures for all county-managed natural areas. For questions specific to the interpretive center or fragrance garden, residents can contact Whatcom County Parks directly.
