Lake Sammamish kokanee get boost on road to recovery with Earth Week fish release

April 19 release of juvenile kokanee salmon helps rebuild weak population

Join King County Executive Dow Constantine and other members of the Lake Sammamish Kokanee Work Group on Thursday, April 19, as they release several hundred juvenile kokanee salmon as part of an ongoing effort to return the declining native salmon population to robust health.

The event is at 1 p.m. at the Hans Jensen Youth Camp at Lake Sammamish State Park, 2000 NW Sammamish Rd., in Issaquah. Take Exit 15 from Interstate 90 in Issaquah, and follow the posted signs on sandwich boards along the East Lake Sammamish Parkway.

The kokanee release is one of a number of environmental activities King County is promoting during Earth Week through the “It’s Easy Being Green” campaign. Visit the County’s website, http://www.kingcounty.gov/beinggreen, to discover a long list of green activities happening around the county and learn easy tips for saving money, conserving natural resources or improving our environment.

The young fish released into the wild on April 19 are the young of adult kokanee salmon collected last fall as part of an ongoing emergency hatchery supplementation project. Lake Sammamish kokanee spend their entire lives within the Sammamish watershed, with adult fish primarily spawning in just a handful of streams.

The supplementation project is coordinated by the Lake Sammamish Kokanee Work Group, which includes King County, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife, the cities of Sammamish, Issaquah, Bellevue and Redmond, Trout Unlimited and kokanee recovery advocates.

Work Group members designed the supplementation program with the goal of increasing kokanee survival and ultimately increasing future numbers of adult kokanee spawning in the Lake Sammamish watershed.

The hatchery supplementation program is one component of the overall kokanee recovery project developed by the Work Group, which was established in 2007 to prevent the extinction of Lake Sammamish kokanee and bring them back to robust health.

The hatchery program is funded primarily by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and implemented with the support of the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife and King County. Streamside landowners pitch in by helping find the returning fish in the fall and winter.

Learn more about Lake Sammamish kokanee at: http://www.kingcounty.gov/environment/animalsAndPlants/salmon-and-trout/kokanee.aspx.

Related information

Video: Kokanee release

Kokanee in King County, Washington

Sammamish Watershed

Salmon and trout topics

King County Water and Land Resources