Squaxin Island Tribe's Natural Resources

The name “Salish Sea” was chosen as the “Name of the Year” by the American Name Society.  Last year’s winner was “Barack Hussein Obama.”  Check out www.kitsapsun.com/news/2010/jan/12/salish-sea-becomes-name-of-the-year for more details.

A news release this afternoon:

The Squaxin Island Tribe has filed a second petition with the state Department of Ecology (DOE) to stop all new water withdrawals, including permit-exempt wells, in the Johns Creek watershed near Shelton. The action was taken to protect several runs of salmon that spawn and rear in the creek.

“There isn’t enough water in Johns Creek to support salmon,” said Andy Whitener, natural resources director for the Squaxin Island Tribe. Likely because of withdrawals from hundreds of domestic and municipal wells, the creek does not meet state mandated minimum flows to protect salmon.

The tribe filed the petition under a state law that closes a watershed from future withdrawals if not enough information is available to justify those withdrawals.

This new petition comes almost two years after the state declined an initial call from the tribe to protect Johns Creek. With the original refusal came the promise that the state would work with Mason County to develop ways to achieve minimum streamflows. “That so-called ‘alternative path forward’ never materialized,” Whitener said. “Neither the state or Mason County took any action.”

Read the entire news release here.

Thousands of chum salmon have started to make their journey up Kennedy Creek to spawn.  The past weeks small rain events have push this fish out of the estuary in to the spawning grounds.    It’s great to see the chum are here.

Squaxin Island Tribe treaty fisheries do target chum destined for Totten inlet streams.   The fishery is managed according to  escapement requirements for stocks that are intercepted.    The Totten Inlet escapement goal for this year is 11, 500 chum.

Weekly adult spawner stream surveys are conducted to ensure we are meeting escapement goals.

Kennedy Creek Adult Spawner Survey Counts

Date                   River Mile    Observer     Live    Dead
10/15/2009     0.0-2.3         WDFW           0           3
10/22/2009    0.0-2.3         WDFW         151         3
10/29/2009    0.0-2.3         WDFW        2503      3
11/5/2009      0.0-2.3          WDFW        7208    223

Kennedy Creek Salmon Trail is a great place to view spawning chum.

The trail is open to the public from 10 am to 4 pm on the following days in November:

* Weekends (10/31/09 – 11/29/09)
* Day after Thanksgiving (11/27/09)
* Veteran’s Day (11/11/09)

For more information go South Puget Sound Salmon Enhancement Groups Kennedy Creek Salmon Trail website.

Chum anglers at the mouth of Kennedy Creek

The Washington State Board on Geographic Names met on Oct. 30 and gave formal approval to the term “Salish Sea” as an umbrella name for Puget Sound, Hood Canal, Admiralty Inlet,  Strait of Juan de Fuca, and Strait of Georgia.  Its formal adoption by the state helps solidify the Squaxin view that the Tribe occupies the “Headwaters of the Salish Sea.”

It’s that time of year again when Squaxin NR staff puts on the chest wadders and walk  a number of streams in the the South Puget Sound area counting the returning Chum and Coho salmon.    We are  in the streams 3 to 4 days out of the week count chum and hopefully finding some Coho too.

Joe Peters in Campbell Creek doing an adult spawner survey.

We are monitoring about 15 streams.  The data collected is used to formulate the overall escapement for chum and coho in each surveyed region.

Fish Ladder from Lake Limmerick feeds into Cranberry Creek

Also 2009 marks the 10th year of installing a trap on Cranberry Creek.  This trap is located above a fish ladder at Lake Limmerick.  The target species in this trap is Coho, where we see up to 30 coho a year.  A number of Chum also are encountered.

Fish Tech Bear Lewis scooping chum salmon out of a fish trap in Cranberry Creek

Squaxin Fish Tech. Danny Snyder sampling the Tribes coho fishery. Photo by Emmett O'Connell

This year the Squaxin Island Tribe closed the  Arcadia Pt. area in Pickering Passage during  its Treaty coho fishery to protect wild chum salmon.   The area is well know by Tribal fishermen as a great place to intercept chum salmon as they begin to return to Totten and Hammersley Inlet streams.

In 2008 an unusually high number of chum were caught at Arcadia during coho season. This catch led the tribe to close its chum fishery for a couple of weeks in November to ensure enough fish made it back to Kennedy Creek to perpetuate the run.  We manage our chum fishery based on the numbers of chum we see in the creek.  If we are not making escapement we restrict and even close our chum fishery……….

See the story by Emmett O’Connell, information officer, NWIFC

October 15th was one of two days this year that the shellfish industry picked up garbage on beaches in South Sound. Four Choice High School students and their leader, John Johnson pitched in to clean up debris on the Twin River Ranch tidal marshland at the head of Oakland Bay.

In the phot0, Michael Hooton shows off the garbage pile.  Taylor Shellfish will bring a boat in later in the day at high tide to collect the garbage for disposal.

This is the first time garbage has been picked up in the Twin River Ranch tidal marshlands.  The effort was spurred on by the pending acquisition of the property by the Capitol Land Trust.  The land trust intends to maintain the property for its fish and wildlife habitat value.

Video of  Squaxin Island Tribe Fish Techs Danny Snyder and Bear Lewis sampling the Tribes coho commercial fishery.

Commercial sampling video

Video recorded and provided by Emmett O’Connell, South Sound Information and Education Officer, NWIFC.

Lee Pilon of WDFW collecting Male Chinook milt.

On Monday September 21, WDFW staff with some help from Squaxin NR staff began spawning approximatly 100 female and 100 male Chinook at the Tumwater Falls Hatchery.

Will Henderson sorting male and female chinook for spawning

Joe Peters sorting male and female chinook

An estimated 500,000 eggs were taken and milt from 100 males to Minter Creek Hatchery for fertilization.   Eventually these fertilized eggs will return to Tumwater Falls Hatchery as Fry.

All spawned fish and surplus fish went to a food bank.

If you have time go check out the spawning of the Chinook Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays  around 8 am to 11 am at the Tumwater Falls Hatchery for the next couple of weeks.

Joe Peters and Will Henderson taking a break from sorting fish