View our latest posts: From the Field

Spawner Survey Shenanigans

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by Maddie Hicks

Starting in late October, my spawner survey partner, Eric, and I began our weekly voyage up Ennis and Upper Brickyard Creeks in search of returning adult salmon.  Equipped with our surveying gear and our gloves and socks stuffed with hand warmers, we traversed over log jams and through thickets of blackberry for about a mile of cumulative stream channel.  For the first several weeks of the season, the streams were desolate and even dry in places.  Despite a dismal start, we were welcomed on our fourth survey by over a hundred of the most brilliantly red coho that had been patiently waiting downstream in the Samish River.  We were off to the races!

As we walked upstream for each survey thereafter, we recorded the numbers of live fish, carcasses, and redds (gravel nests that salmon dig to deposit their fertilized eggs) we found.  Not only are these surveys a day well spent getting to hang out with, what in my opinion are the coolest animals ever; the data we collect is also extremely important for salmon recovery.  At the end of the spawner season, we send our numbers to the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife where they are used to make escapement (i.e. spawner abundance) estimates.  These estimates, in turn, are used to monitor population trends and ultimately guide restoration efforts.

During the final weeks of the survey season, we decided to hike past the upstream extent of our reach on Ennis Creek to a waterfall that we’d been told about.  As we admired the waterfall, sweaty and exhausted with twigs and plant pieces sticking out of our clothes, I couldn’t help but think about the amazing resiliency of salmon.  We had only retraced the smallest fraction of the entire journey that a salmon travels in its lifetime.  Salmon are anadromous, meaning that they are born in their natal freshwater streams and migrate out to the ocean, sometimes even thousands of miles north to the Gulf of Alaska, just to swim all the way back to where they started.  Not to mention faced with a slew of natural and anthropogenic obstacles along the way like predators, lack of suitable habitat, and passage barriers. 

Rifling through the pages of my stinky, scale-covered field notebook, we counted a total of 298 fish in Ennis and 17 in Upper Brickyard this season (as well as some bonus findings like pumpkins, a basketball, a foldable chair, and a charcoal barbeque).  Numbers are up from last year for the two reaches that we surveyed, but in past years counts have been in the thousands.  We have a long way to go but we’re making improvements with every restoration project that we and other organizations throughout the watershed implement.  Until next year, spawners!

Appreciation, Curiosity, Enjoyment, and Stewardship; Engaging in Education

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As the Education Associate at SFEG, it is my pleasure and privilege to help teach local K-12 students (and the occasional adult) about salmon habitat, watershed health, and environmental stewardship. Those involved in our educational programs learn about the salmon life cycle, salmon habitat requirements, perform chemical water quality tests, participate in restoration efforts, and even see spawning salmon (most of this dependent on nature working to our benefit). These programs have been in practice for well over a decade but year after year subtle changes occur to ensure a full and dynamic learning experience. This year we have been repeatedly partnering with other organizations to bring a well-rounded experience to participating students: the Marblemount Fish Hatchery and the Skagit River Bald Eagle Interpretive Center.

The Marblemount Fish Hatchery, run by the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife, hosts facility tours, connects to beautiful walking trails, and maintains an informative visitor’s center in addition to raising thousands upon thousands of fish each year. As a part of our Salmon in the Classroom Program, schools will receive 250 coho eggs from the hatchery to be tank-raised then released by the students. Many of these students visit the hatchery on SFEG led field trips and see a spawning demonstration, fry rearing in the holding ponds, and returning spawning adults making their way up Clark Creek to the fish trap. The staff at the hatchery have been readily lending their expertise which enriches the entire experience for students and teachers alike. Several students go from exclamations of “ew gross!” to clamoring to stick their hands in a bucket full of salmon eggs or from impatiently asking to return to the bus to “I wanna stay and look!” at the spawning adults visible along the Clark Creek trail.

Eagles nest at Bald Eagle Interpretive Center

After immersing the students in salmon at the hatchery, the folks at the Skagit River Bald Eagle Interpretive Center offer a different perspective. Salmon are in integral part of the Pacific Northwest coastal ecosystem, providing nutrients for numerous species from bears to birds to Sitka spruce trees to seals. Decline in salmon populations has caused a ripple through the food web with marked changes in several species including the transient Bald Eagle population that usually flocks to the upper Skagit River to feast on spawning salmon. Knowledgeable volunteers at the Bald Eagle Interpretive Center show students a life sized recreation of a first year eagle’s nest and narrate the careful process of selecting and placing building materials. Inside the center, students can see two stuffed and mounted eagles, eggs collected from local birds, and imitation scat from several of the area’s predatory mammals. Other students cling to binoculars and use the spotting scope to scan for eagles along the banks of the Skagit River.

Connecting the schools of children to the schools of salmon and to the more visible soaring eagles and the multitude of greenery in the Pacific Northwest are the first few links in the chain of environmental stewardship. If students can make these kinds of connections, if they can explain how their actions affect our waterways and the species that depend on them, the way they think about and engage with the natural world will change forever. Knowledge fosters understanding, understanding inspires care. It’s about way more than just salmon and these students are able to learn this.

A Heartfelt Good Bye….

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It has been a crazy season of life for Emily and Keelin. Please continue reading below their good byes and feel free to watch a video reflecting on their year: End Of Year

 

Friends,

I can hardly believe it is time to say goodbye already. Who knew 10.5 months was so short? Last August, I crossed the country to serve with Washington Service Corps, experience new things, and discover the Pacific Northwest. I’m not sure what I was expecting, but what I found blew me away! Every bit as beautiful as and very slightly less rainy than I was led to believe, Washington has stolen a piece of my heart. And Skagit County in particular is one of the most welcoming and enjoyable communities in which I have lived.

I could frame this experience around salmon. And that wouldn’t be wrong; they have been central to most of what I’ve learned and experienced. But it wouldn’t be quite right either. It is, after all, about way more than just salmon. I may have been excited to see my first sockeye in Baker Lake, but I have been in as much awe of old growth trees blanketed with moss and dripping with tangled lichens. I’ve seen so many swans, snow geese, bald eagles, and blue herons that I lost count long ago. I’ve soaked up sun and rain alike at restoration sites and gained the satisfaction of putting trees in the ground and taking weeds out of it. All this because of and for the salmon, but hardly contained by them.

Instead, what honestly frames my experience here is not the fish, but the people. From Concrete to La Conner and all the places in between, I am lucky to have gotten to know so many wonderful communities. I have been inspired by passionate volunteers, mentored by experienced educators, and amazed by enthusiastic students. Across the watershed I’ve met people who care about their region and want to make a difference in their own way. Being a part of that has truly been a blessing. And even outside of my service, I’ve been welcomed into the community. People have joyfully shared all their own personal favorite sights, events, and activities with me and recommended far more to explore on my own. And although I couldn’t do everything, I appreciated the openness so many people had to a curious East Coaster.

I came here to volunteer my time and talents with AmeriCorps and SFEG, but in the end, I received so much back it hardly seems like a fair trade. So if you’re reading this, thank you. Thank you for welcoming me and teaching me. Thank you for showing me your world. Thank you for sharing life with me. Thank you for caring. Whether in small ways or large ones you have helped to make this an unforgettable year. I’m proud to have spent this time serving the Skagit Valley and will carry this experience forever as a foundation stone of my future.

With Much Gratitude, 

Emily

 

 

 

Friends,

In just under a week I will be moving on from this position that I’ve held for only a short 10 months. While I know that you all have seen many AmeriCorps members come through Skagit Fisheries, this was the first time for me and it has been outstanding. I know that I’m supposed to say this at the end of something, that it was the best and most exciting journey I’ve ever been on. But I really want to share with you all that I have really enjoyed learning from you.

When I came into this position, I was (and I guess I still am technically) fresh out of college and was excited to start as a Washington Service Corps member in a field that I was passionate about. I want to take time to thank each and every one of you for the impact that you’ve made in my life and my future career. I stress the career part because I am daunted to think about how I can continue to pursue my dream in such a competitive field and thanks to you all, I am so much better prepared for life after.

Thank you to those who were at the Salmon Festival, it was an insane way to start my term but you introduced me to how my life would be the next 10 months. Thank you, especially, for letting me hang out with Sammy Salmon and Ranger Rick.

Thank you to all of the Spawner Surveyors for allowing me to document your walks. I know it was more fun for me to videotape you than it was to be videotaped. Also, I appreciated walking the streams with you guys and hearing your laughter at my fish excitement. My absolute favorite part was getting to interview some of you, learning what drives your passion to volunteer.

To all those who attended the Wild & Scenic Film Festival, you definitely made the night special and showed me just how much support a community can give.

Thank you to those who went to our Salmon Sightings! You guys are the real heroes of the day. Salmon are elusive creatures and yet you still came out in the cold to catch a glimpse!

We have an especially determined group of volunteers who I came to know that attended our planting parties. You guys are hardy folk, especially when it was rainy and windy. You blew me away when we tried to cancel that snowy planting party and some of you still came out!

Thank you to all the teachers who brought your hordes of students out into the cold weather just to learn about the environment. You’re the reason your students get to experience the wonders of outdoors.

Thank you to all the other environmental organizations that I got to work with through SFEG. These include (but are nowhere near the full extent): Skagit Land Trust, the Watershed Council, Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife, Nooksack Salmon Enhancement Association, Skagit Conservation District, North Cascade Institute, oh my goodness and so many more… you showed me that it’s only a competition if we’re not on the same side.

Earth Day Extraordinaires: Thank you for coming together to help plan this crazy day and for making a difference in your community!

Students: I know that you didn’t always want to be outside when it was raining. I know that falling face first into a deep muck-puddle isn’t what you though a field trip would entail, but your perseverance is so commendable. You bring me hope for the future.   

People of Penn Cove: Thank you to the many hundreds of you who visited our booth and the festival. It was so encouraging to meet so many people interested in ecological restoration.

I really want to thank the Marblemount Hatchery staff for your patience in allowing swaths of children see your facility and learn about your operations time and time again.

Lastly, I need to thank those who I get to work with every day. Thank you to all of you who work or have worked with me at SFEG. Thank you for being so patient with me as I learned how to fulfill my position. Thank you for always looking in on me to see how I’m doing. Thank you for inviting me to all of your adventures out into the field, adventures such as steward-shipping, fish seining, surprise vegetation monitoring, nursery days, and many other things. It meant so much to me to get out of the office! Thank you for taking the time (and more than just 10 min I might add…) to teach me something. Thank you to those you who have given me thank you or encouragement cards, I have reread them when I needed encouraging. And, oh my, am I thankful that you guys like to laugh. Never have I ever had such a fun and intellectual group of people to work with.

I know that I have so many more people to send out my appreciation, but this letter can only be so long! I am moving on from SFEG more prepared and excited to continue with my passion of the environment. You all have been so good to me; I hope the next “me” feels the same way! I will surely miss you all!

 

Best Regards,

 

Keelin