Community Corner
Head To Riverbank To Watch Salmon Spawn
October weekends provide great opportunities to watch salmon, learn more about them from naturalists at parks and fish hatchery.
It’s October, and that means salmon have returned to the Cedar River to spawn, and nature lovers are looking for the best vantage points to watch the annual migration.
There are five public locations in Renton and nearby King County that provide excellent viewing of the salmon. They are: , Cedar River Park, Riverview Park, Cavanaugh Pond Natural Area and Landsburg Park.
Salmon-watchers can always visit these spots on their own. However, starting Saturday, Oct. 15, and continuing every weekend through the end of October, Friends of the Cedar River Watershed offer free nature programs in all five locations. The kid-friendly programs will be offered from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. each day.
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Most of the salmon in the Cedar River are sockeye. A smaller number of chinook and coho also spawn in the river.
Salmon that spawn in the waterways that feed Lake Washington return to the lake through the Chittenden Locks in Ballard. Rand Little, senior fisheries biologist with Seattle Public Utilities, said the number of fish returning through the locks has been fairly low for all species this year.
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“There is a lot of speculation about what caused the low returns this year,” Little said. “Most of the chinook and sockeye returning this year went downstream in 2008. That year, the river produced good numbers of young fish. It appears that these fish may have experienced reduced survival rates in the lake and/or the ocean, but no one is really sure of the cause.”
Most of the chinook and coho that return to Lake Washington ultimately go up Issaquah Creek, to the Issaquah Salmon Hatchery. The hatchery is another excellent place to watch salmon spawn, and it’s a short drive from Renton.
The hatchery is open during daylight hours, and its indoor displays are open from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. And every Saturday between now and Nov. 5, docent-led tours are available from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. Weekday tours can be arranged by e-mailing volunteer@issaquahfish.org.
King County also maintains a Salmon Seeson web site with a calendar of all the salmon-viewing opportunities in the area.
