Piper’s Orchard, a film…

Adam Wargacki works with other volunteers to care for Piper’s Orchard, now hidden away along a forest stream in Seattle’s Carkeek Park. Much of the fruit harvested there goes to food banks through City Fruit, but sometimes Adam and fellow orchardists make cider. “We go kind of slow,” he says, “but that’s how the work gets done. People coming together and doing what they enjoy, which is working with each other and working on these trees.”  Watch more stories at Truth About Trees.

And what a run it was!

This male Chum salmon returned to its home waters in Venema Creek. Salmon return to their home waters to spawn, needing 2 things: a mate and suitable habitat for spawning; Photo by Matt Kuhar, CWCAP Naturalist, Nov 12, 2016

The 2016 fall chum salmon run has come to end, and what a run it was!

Chum were first reported on October 27, about the same time as last year.  While this season may have ended a week or so early compared to last year, the numbers were close to last year’s numbers. 

Here is a summary of numbers for the last three years.

Did you see a fish this year at Carkeek Park?  Leave a comment and tell us what you saw!

2016 Annual Salmon Celebration at Carkeek Park — in honor of Nancy Malmgren, 1929-2016

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Salmon Celebration in honor of Nancy MalmgrenOn the Sunday before Thanksgiving (November 20, 2016; 11AM-2PM), all ages are invited to Carkeek Park for activities to welcome the salmon home. Celebrate with hot drinks, music, good food, and a kid-friendly scavenger hunt through the park. Volunteer Salmon Stewards will be on hand to answer questions. This year we will be celebrating in honor of the wonderful advocate’s legacy left by the late, great Nancy Malmgren.  For more details call 206-684-5999 or email bill.malatinsky@seattle.gov.  Also visit the Carkeek Park Salmon Stewards Facebook page.

It’s Salmon SEEson again!

Salmon SEEson, Fall 2016Chum salmon are running at Carkeek Park!  To celebrate, come out to the park and get to know the salmon!

Students from public and private elementary schools are learning by observing, conversing, and applying their experiences. Park visitors from near and far are visiting the park to watch salmon swim upstream to locate suitable habitat and mates for this annual spawning event.

The first fish were sighted on Oct 27, 2016 by Andrea F. on Piper’s Creek. Look for increasing numbers of live salmon through November with fish still in the creek in the first couple of weeks in December.

Remember, please stay on the trails and use the viewing areas to watch for salmon.  Keep all of your dog friends leashed and out of the creeks and away from the creek banks.

Here are some of the activities you might want to know about:

Salmon Stewards
Each Saturday & Sunday in November and the 1st weekend in December, 11AM—2PM; Carkeek Park Salmon Stewards are a community of local volunteers trained to welcome, engage, educate, and inspire park visitors drawn by the annual Piper’s Creek salmon run.

Carkeek Salmon Search Program
November through the beginning of December; outdoor workshops each year bring Salmon in the Schools classrooms to the park to learn fish dissection, creek walk discoveries of returning salmon, and the detailed salmon life cycle as it applies to human and natural obstacles to survival. Seattle Public Utilities and local Naturalists partner with teachers to share the exciting salmon run and park resources with hundreds of local youth. Some of the returning adult fish the students see may have been released by their schools 3-5 years earlier as small salmon fry, also part of the Salmon in the Schools program.

Salmon Spawning Survey
Each Saturday in November until the end of the salmon run in December; trained CWCAP volunteers collect data from deceased salmon to determine their numbers and spawning success. This annual survey follows the story of these fish after they are released from the Les Malmgren Imprint Pond 3-5 years earlier.

Salmon egg deliveries
Early January
Salmon fry deliveries
→ February
→ March
→ April