Adult Salmonid Monitoring Program
Lake Sammamish
Kokanee Work Group
The Kokanee Work Group (KWG) is a large partnership of people, representatives, and organizations whose purpose is to facilitate the growth of the Lake Sammamish kokanee salmon population. This group is a rare collaboration in that its sources of support are multifaceted and diverse. These people have proved that working together is the best option for the kokanee.
For example, when it comes to the Zackuse Creek Fish Passage & Creek Restoration Project, KWG members came together from all sides. Snoqualmie Tribal staff began working closely with private landowner Wally Pereyra to build a relationship founded in environmental conservation. Pereyra recognized the Snoqualmie Tribe’s ties to his property and has demonstrated immense trust of the Tribe to remain connected to that land. From there a team was fostered with KWG and the nonprofit Trout Unlimited to prove to the City of Sammamish and King County that the Zackuse Creek culvert was an opportunity to serve the kokanee.
To learn more about the work that the Kokanee Work Group does, you can visit their website on King County at Lake Sammamish Kokanee Work Group
Adult Salmonid Monitoring Updates
Probable Coho Urban Runoff Mortality Syndrome Culprit Identified
Here in the Puget Sound we commonly see high mortality in Coho salmon due to stormwater exposure when adults migrate up urban creeks to reproduce. Though there is a large spectrum of urban pollutants, a highly toxic 6PPD quinone product commonly used in tire rubber has now been identified in creeks at toxic levels. This breaking research will hopefully lead to regulation and consumer products that do not contain this toxic chemical as we rely on cars for transportation in our society and cannot escape the fact that tires are an important part of that.
“A ubiquitous tire rubber-derived chemical induces acute mortality in coho salmon”
Z. Tian et al., Science 10.1126/science.abd6951 (2020).
Kokanee Salmon Return Update - Mar. 2021
The Remote Stream Incubator on Zackuse Creek is up and running. Snoqualmie Tribe staff and WCC crew members have been assisting partners at Trout Unlimited and the Lake Sammamish Kokanee Working Group with monitoring and maintenance of the system since December. In mid-February, kokanee fry were observed to be hatching from eggs placed at the beginning of winter. These eggs were taken from eggs collected from other Lake Sammamish Creeks.
We are hopeful that the remote stream incubator project will help to return Lake Sammamish Kokanee to Zackuse Creek. This is the third year of kokanee supplementation after the removal of the East Lake Sammamish Parkway culvert that previously blocked spawning kokanee from returning to their historic habitat.
Since kokanee salmon take 3 years to mature in Lake Sammamish, we hope to see the first spawners from this program return this fall. The Remote Stream Incubator program is an effort to “jump start” what we hope will be a self-sustaining kokanee run in Zackuse Creek like the one that existed in the past.
Kokanee Salmon Return Update - Nov. 2020
In early November 2020, ENR Team Members and the WCC crew met up with Dave Kyle from Trout Unlimited to Walk Zackuse Creek and learn how to survey for fish that are returning. This will be the first year of fish spawning surveys up Zackuse Creek since the lower culverts were removed and the area restored in 2018. The surveys are looking for returning adult Kokanee and Redds (spawning nests) this year in Zackuse Creek. More updates to come as the surveys continue until December 17th. In the meantime for more information check out https://lakesammamishkokanee.com/
