Carkeek Watershed Community Action Project (CWCAP) has actively worked to promote clean water and healthy salmon habitat in the Piper’s Creek Watershed since 1979. Alongside this decades-long community effort has been the development of hands-on educational access to outdoor classrooms and salmon rearing in Carkeek Park.
There are two key programs that CWCAP engages in every year with the support of the community, local businesses and agencies:
Salmon Imprinting
Volunteers raise salmon yearly in the Les Malmgren imprint pond at Carkeek Park. In addition to being a valuable educational resource this salmon rearing program is critical to the return of adult salmon to Pipers Creek each fall. Salmon imprinting is our largest program with 350+ volunteer hours and 2700 imprint pond visitors per year. The pond typically receives fish in January or February and volunteers raise salmon from February to May.
Salmon Surveys
Volunteers collect data on the Chum salmon that return to Carkeek Park to spawn every fall. This data is provided to local government as part of an effort to monitor the health of local salmon runs. The survey is also an educational opportunity for park visitors to engage with surveyors about data collection and salmon spawning. The salmon survey typically spans from late October to early December.
