Salmon are here! To celebrate, come out to Carkeek Park and get to know the salmon!
The first chum salmon of the season were sighted and reported on Thu. Oct 27, 2016 by Andrea F. on Piper’s Creek! Last year the first chum salmon were sighted on October 26, 2015.
Remember, please stay on the trails and use the viewing areas to watch for salmon. Keep all of your dog friends leashed and out of the creeks and away from the creek banks.
Here are some of the activities you might want to know about:
Carkeek Salmon Search Program
November through the beginning of December; outdoor workshops each year bring Salmon in the Schools classrooms to the park to learn fish dissection, creek walk discoveries of returning salmon, and the detailed salmon life cycle as it applies to human and natural obstacles to survival. Seattle Public Utilities and local Naturalists partner with teachers to share the exciting salmon run and park resources with hundreds of local youth. Some of the returning adult fish the students see may have been released by their schools 3-5 years earlier as small salmon fry, also part of the Salmon in the Schools program.
Salmon Stewards
Each Saturday & Sunday in November and the 1st weekend in December, 11AM—2PM; Carkeek Park Salmon Stewards are a community of local volunteers trained to welcome, engage, educate, and inspire park visitors drawn by the annual Piper’s Creek salmon run.
Salmon Spawning Survey
Each Saturday in November until the end of the salmon run in December; trained CWCAP volunteers collect data from deceased salmon to determine their numbers and spawning success. This annual survey follows the story of these fish after they are released from the Les Malmgren Imprint Pond 3-5 years earlier.
Salmon egg delivery
Early January; the Suquamish Tribe’s Grovers Creek Salmon Hatchery provides 20,000 chum salmon eggs each year to CWCAP where they are reared in the Imprint Pond’s Egg Incubator/Self-release tanks. At the same time, nearly 30 local schools participating in the Salmon in the Schools – Seattle program will each get their 220-250 eggs (see April fry deliveries below).
- February; the Suquamish Tribe’s Grovers Creek Salmon Hatchery provides 70,000 chum salmon fry each year to CWCAP. The first batch of 35,000 are delivered to the Imprint Pond where they are imprinted, fed, and later released into Venema Creek.
- March; the Suquamish Tribe’s Grovers Creek Salmon Hatchery provides 70,000 chum salmon fry each year to CWCAP. The second batch of 35,000 are delivered to the Imprint Pond where they are imprinted, fed, and later released into Venema Creek.
- April; after rearing 220-250 salmon eggs provided by the Suquamish Tribe chilled aquariums, 29 local school field trips bring salmon fry to the Imprint Pond where they are imprinted and fed by CWCAP volunteers. They are released into Venema Creek during a great release party on Saturday evening during Carkeek Park’s Annual Earth Day Celebration.