AGENCIES, COMMUNITY TO TARGET
FECAL BACTERIA IN CREEK
The State Department of Ecology, Seattle Public Utilities, and the Fauntleroy Watershed Council will soon be implementing a plan to reduce fecal coliform bacteria in Fauntleroy Creek. These bacteria are indicators of pathogens in the water and their primary source in urban streams is usually pet waste.

Ecology is taking public comment on the draft plan for this project through June 16. A copy is available at Southwest Library or on Ecology's website:

www.ecy.wa.gov/programs/wq/tmdl/FauntleroyFCtmdlsummary.html

Lane Bucher gets a helping hand from mom Sarah (left) and John Woodruff, who also had a child on the field trip. The "meet-up" group released coho fry raised by volunteer Jack Lawless. Some 400 salmon releasers - from preschoolers to international adult visitors - placed an estimated 1,600 fry in upper Fauntleroy Creek this spring. Volunteer Judy Pickens led release field trips for a total of eight elementary schools.

OUT-MIGRATION TRAPPING BEGINS
On April 1, volunteer fish biologist Steev Ward installed our smolt trap due upstream of the fish ladder to count and measure fish leaving the creek. He will be joined by volunteer Jack Lawless in checking the trap daily through mid May.

This is the sixth year that we've documented the out-migration to saltwater. Situated below a weir, the soft trap nets smolts that started life a year earlier in the upper creek, as well as any fry determined to head out prematurely.

Last year, volunteers tallied 24 smolts and just 20 fry. That low number of fry suggests that they are finding adequate food and protection to stay put in the creek.

 

We have fish!
On March 6, Phil Sweetland spotted the first "home hatch" coho fry from last fall's spawning in lower Fauntleroy Creek. Experts were confident that the big rainstorm in December had scoured all the redds and that we wouldn't have a natural hatch this year. Mother Coho, however, knew enough to dig redds deep enough for some eggs to survive.

Volunteer fish biologist Steev Ward will do a thorough survey to gauge the magnitude of the hatch. The presence of any fry is very good news that salmon may still have a future in Seattle's urban creeks.

Winter storms
Heavy rain and wind during December brought a torrent of stormwater and bounced logs at the mouth but, all in all, the creek weathered them well.

The newly restored reach to the beach accommodated a tremendous volume of water but, once the rain stopped, it resumed business as usual within its banks and no homes were flooded. The flow brought more gravel into the channel and cut deeper pools, both improving instream habitat. Unfortunately, the torrent likely washed out the redds left in the lower creek by coho spawners.

Because new plants had not yet sent their roots deep into the soil, the area at the mouth of the creek took a beating. Volunteers will soon work with our engineer to add coir logs and matting to check erosion in that area until the plants can do their job.

Spawning Salmon Movie

 

05/14/2008

A SERVICE OF THE FAUNTLEROY WATERSHED COUNCIL

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Artwork Credit:

Here interpreted by artist Richard Sleight, the "salmon-trout's head" ovoid captures the central importance of salmonids (both salmon and their trout cousins) to northern Coast Salish culture. It is often used as the eye in a complex image, with proportions varying according to space and the artist's intentions.