Crossposted from Field Notes

King County Executive Girmay Zahilay kicked off a summer gathering of the Lake Sammamish Kokanee Work Group amid hopeful signs of a sustainable recovery for a native salmon species that is important to the region’s history and habitat.

Hosted at the Snoqualmie Indian Tribe’s new Harvest Kitchen in Snoqualmie, the partners provided an update on actions they have taken in recent years to ensure the survival of the freshwater kokanee and previewed actions they will take next. The gathering occurred 18 months after King County biologists reported a surge in the number of adult kokanee returning from Lake Sammamish to spawn the next generation after a catastrophic decline eight years earlier. Read more.