Salmon Bingo winners showing off their prizes at Whatcom Creek.

The fall season is the busiest time of year for our Stewardship Team. Not only were we working with our rockstar volunteers planting trees every Saturday, but we are also taking advantage of the best season to see salmon, spawning season. Salmon migrate back from the ocean to freshwater streams between September through December, and this is when the 20-40 pound, brightly colored fish are the most fun to watch (plus their 2-foot-long size makes them easier to see than when they are 3-inch fry). We hosted 10 salmon sighting events with over 600 participants that joined us in marveling at these scaly creatures as well as the other animals that look forward to this yearly migration like eagles and seals.

A harbor seal looking for salmon in Whatcom Creek.

As keystone species, salmon have a relationship with over 130 different animals in the pacific northwest, not to mention the countless native plants that use the marine nutrients that salmon bring back each year to grow big and strong. Having the opportunity to see these animals make their final journey home each year is special and being able to share that with our community is even better. Shout out to our partners that help make these events happen, Bellingham Family Partnership, Skagit Fisheries Enhancement Group, Taylor Shellfish Farm, Whatcom Land Trust, the City of Bellingham, and the City of Lynden.

We also rolled out our brand-new program, Salmon Spotters, a citizen science project that will help us better understand when and where salmon are returning to local streams. Over 40 volunteers signed up to monitor creeks throughout Whatcom County and keep a lookout for salmon. More information about how our first year went and the data our dedicated spotters collected will be available at the end of January at www.n-sea.org/spotters.

Through rain and shine, mud and…more mud, we are so thankful for the 496 volunteers that gave over 1,500 hours to plant trees, remove invasive vegetation, and improve salmon habitat throughout Whatcom County this fall! We celebrated some momentous days with Make a Difference Day partnered with the City of Bellingham and our annual Orca Recovery Day with the Whatcom Conservation District and Whatcom Land Trust. We also continued our midweek Stream Team events where we revisited over 2 acres of habitat to provide some much-needed maintenance to plantings that happened decades ago.

With the 2,339 plants installed during the fall work parties, the year ended with a record breaking 9,707 trees and shrubs planted by volunteers in 2023. While many of those plants were part of the large estuary project at the beginning of the year, the rest were placed along nearly 1.5 miles of riparian habitat across the county. This work wouldn’t be possible without the support of amazing community partners and the local businesses that help fuel our hardworking volunteers, Tony’s Coffee, The Bagelry, and the Community Food Co-op.

We will start the new year with our annual Martin Luther King Jr. Day of Service Community Work Party with the City of Bellingham on Saturday, January 13th from 10am to 1pm along Squalicum Creek. Together, we will plant native trees and shrubs to restore fish and wildlife habitat and improve water quality near the Squalicum Creek Re-route project. NSEA will also host a couple of midweek events before our spring work party season goes into full swing in mid-February. Visit www.n-sea.org/stream-stewards for details.

Salmon Discovery Program

Through rain and shine, mud and…more mud, fall work parties were awesome!