Cross-posted from WRLD News

During a recent site visit on Bear Creek, Senior Ecologist Jen Vanderhoof was thrilled to see dozens of big, beautiful Chinook salmon in the creek near the reach known as Little Bit/Klapp. But as quickly as her heart soared it sank when she saw many of the salmon getting trapped and dying in a thicket of reed canary grass surrounding a beaver dam. Jen immediately did what she could to help the salmon on site and then emailed several colleagues King County’s Water and Land Resources Division (WRLD) to request help. Jen stressed that the fish were dying and required immediate action.

Fish Passage Restoration Program manager Evan Lewis volunteered to go out the next morning with Jen to manually trim the grass. Evan and Jen were immediately rewarded seeing salmon find water instead of weeds as seen in this video.

Jason Mulvihill-Kuntz, Salmon Recovery Manager for the Lake Washington/Cedar/Sammamish Watershed (WRIA8), alerted the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW) and connected them with County staff. As the Salmon Recovery manager for the area where the problem was occurring, Jason reached out to WDFW since they are a co-manager and this would technically be there jurisdiction. However, the team was able to be on the ground immediately to address the problem rather than wait for a coordinated response.

Though further conversations and investigations are planned. Kudos to Jen, Evan and Jason for their quick, coordinated response to save salmon.