ISSAQUAH, Wash. — The salmon are swimming upstream and that’s the sign of a homecoming the staff and volunteers at Issaquah’s Salmon Hatchery were waiting for.
Issaquah is home to the most visited hatchery in the state with 250,000 visitors a year. The busy season is about to begin as the most popular attraction is returning home in what is expected to be significant volumes.
The hatchery fish are born on the property and raised in Issaquah Creek water until they are around five inches in length then they are released into the ocean. They are out in the Pacific for over three years before following their nose back to Issaquah Creek. As the salmon leave the saltwater they are counted passing through the Ballard locks. By mid-August the count was at more than 5,000 chinook and that’s foreshadowing an above-average count for the past decade.
Many of the coho and chinook do not survive the 45 miles of freshwater passage to the hatchery and the volunteers are on the property to educate guests about the many factors that play a role in the health and survival of our salmon.
Late August rains triggered the migration and several dozen chinook salmon showing up at the hatchery was the indicator the staff needed to turn on the power for the salmon ladder.
The pumps will run continuously for months as the fish make their way up the ladder. The salmon are building in numbers as they wait for the water to cool.
“The best time to see the action and the fish jumping and climbing the ladder is right after it rains,” says Grace Reamer, a volunteer at the hatchery.
The Issaquah Salmon Hatchery was constructed in 1936 as a federal Works Progress Administration venture, created to restore the historic salmon runs that once thrived in Issaquah Creek but had been destroyed by logging, coal mining and other activities in the Issaquah Creek Basin. Today the hatchery raises chinook and coho.
The salmon hatchery is owned and operated by the Washington State Department of Fish and Wildlife and serves as the cornerstone for Issaquah Salmon Days, a festival presented by the Issaquah Chamber of Commerce to honor the annual return of the salmon. A partnership with the nonprofit F.I.S.H provides volunteer docents who serve as educators and ambassadors for the salmon.
Friends of Issaquah Salmon Hatchery have more than 100 volunteers who roam the hatchery every day during spawning season, which lasts until late November, and are happy to answer questions and even lead guided tours.
For more information on the Issaquah Salmon Hatchery, visit their website. The hatchery is open every day until dusk.