Kokanee Fry Trapping The kokanee fry trapping season is coming to an end, with the traps being removed from Lewis, Laughing Jacobs and Ebright Creeks on Sunday, May 14. With the low return of adult kokanee in the fall, it was expected that the number of fry entering Lake Sammamish would also be small, which it was. Nevertheless, valuable data, which is useful in determining kokanee population trends, has been collected. Here's an article in a recent issue of Trout Magazine that describes the Kokanee fry trapping experience. Read the article here. Thanks to everyone who has helped with this activity this year!
May All-member Meeting Fly fishing movies, fish stories, great
speakers, and excellent discussions are all on tap for our Wednesday, May 17
gathering from 7-9 PM at the VFW Redmond, 4330 148th Ave NE, Redmond, WA. Join
us as Dave McCoy from Emerald Water Anglers and Giancarlo Lawrence,
@theblackstonefly, share how they are working to build diversity in fly fishing
and outdoor spaces. Gian will share a short movie that screened at the
Telluride Mountain Film Festival as well as an episode from a new series he is
working on. Dave will be s haring about the efforts he and his shop are making to make sure
everyone can get out on the water.
Besides the great presentations, you can meet your TU
teammates, swap fishing stories, and discuss conservation and outreach
projects. You will also want to check out the great raffle prizes, including a
bamboo fly rod custom-made by Steve Foisie, and a guided sea run cutthroat
trout trip for two with Bret Wedeking. This will be the last opportunity to buy
a ticket to win the rod and the guided fishing trip.
If you plan to join us, please RSVP with your name to 3riverstu@gmail.com to
help us plan for the projected attendance. Hope to see you all there!
International Fly
Fishing Film Festival Slated for April 6 at Carlson Theater -Canceled until further notice!
Kokanee Recovery Lake Sammamish Our chapter is working with several governmental and non-governmental agencies and organizations to restore the last remaining native run of kokanee salmon in Lake Samammish. There is always a need for volunteers for kokanee-related projects. For more information on events and projects that we are working on go to - Lake Sammamish kokanee. The Kokanee Work Group (KWG) is an ad hoc group formed in 2007 to investigate the causes of the decline of kokanee within Lake Sammamish. For more information on KWG, go here.
Lake Sammamish Urban Wildlife Refuge Partnership
The Lake Sammamish UWRP is inspiring people from
diverse local communities in the Seattle Metro area to appreciate nature and to
become stewards of the Lake Sammamish watershed. In April 2022, with the support
of the US Fish & Wildlife Service and Washington Parks, Trout Unlimited
hired Alix Lee-Tigner as the Lake Sammamish UWRP Coordinator. Since then, Alix
has been developing additional funding sources through new grants to support
her outreach efforts.
The focus of Alix’s work is building partnerships to
increase engagement, expand capacity, and create opportunities for our
community members to learn and get involved. One upcoming event, scheduled for
June 3, the Lake Sammamish Urban Wildlife Refuge Partnership, Salish
Sea School, Three Rivers Chapter of Trout Unlimited, and Washington
State Parks are joining together to kick-off Orca Action Month. The event will begin at 9:30 AM with a presentation on orcas by
local naturalist and Salish Sea School teacher Tiffany Waldner. Then at 10:30
AM, volunteers will spread out around the park to help pick up trash, keeping
it from entering creeks and the lake. Following the cleanup, participants will
be welcomed to meet at 12:30 PM for complimentary snacks, a stormwater lesson,
and some follow up activities like a prize raffle.
Survival of our iconic salmon species and other
wildlife depends directly on community awareness, involvement, and support for
conservation efforts. To learn more about UWRP and local events and activities,
visit https://www.lakesammamishrefuge.org/upcoming-events
For more information about this project and how it can support out Kokanee project, click here.
Donate Now!
Our chapter can always use your help! We are always looking for volunteers to help with our projects, outings and fundraising. We understand that not all of you can give us your time. You can, however, help us with a donation. The cost of our kokanee recovery projects - stream surveys, fry counting, stream restoration, accoustical tagging, etc are mounting. Please do what you can to save our little red fish!
Spawning Grounds Movie
We have made this movie, which was produced by Nils Cowan and Hemlock productions, available to all of our members and supporters. This inspiring film shows the work being done by the Three Rivers Chapter of Trout Unlimited and our partners to save the Lake Sammamish Kokanee. View the trailer and other information about film showings at -
Chapter Activities
Our chapter is involved in many activities that range from social events, meetings, fishery enhancements and environmental improvement. Some of these activities are listed below -
- Monthly Chapter Meetings
- Monthly board meetings (all members welcome!)
- Annual Fun Run at Lake Sammamish State Park
- Annual Perch Derby at Lake Sammamish
- Issaquah Salmon Days booth
- Fishing Outings
- Kokanee Fry Trapping/Counting
- Fishout in support of Project Healing Waters
- Annual Fly Casting Clinic
- Habitat restoration events, in cooperation with the Snoqualmie Tribe and others
- Sponsor showing of Fly Fishing Film tour movies
- Cedar River cleanup
- Cedar River signage
- Catch invasive African clawed frogs
Volunteers are needed in order to make these activities successful. Come to the monthly meetings to learn more about these activities and how/when to volunteer!
Wild Steelhead Initiative
Trout Unlimited's Wild Steelhead Initiative and Wild Steelheaders United is an ambitious and hopeful effort to protect and restore wild steelhead. Keep up-to-date on this important project at this web site - Wild Steelhead Initiative. You can also follow on Facebook - Wild Steelhead
The Puget Sound Steelhead Advisory Group (which was formed in 2017) has held a number of meetings over the past three years in order to asses the steelhead situation in the Puget Sound area and has come up with a set of recommendations that could lead to restoration of populations as they were in the past. The finished product is a an adaptive and experimental approach for the future of Puget Sound steelhead fisheries and a path toward recovery. Read the Quicksilver Portfolio to learn about the proposed approach.
Join Trout Unlimited
People joining Trout Unlimited for the first time, can join at a reduced rate of only $17.50. For more information and to sign up, click here.
Chapter Fundraising Opportunities
If you shop at Fred Meyer, you can donate to our chapter by signing up at the Community Rewards Program. Just provide your Fred Meyer card number (not a credit card) or the alternate ID you use to get their reward and fuel points. You will be asked for the number of the organization that you want to support. Use QE215 for our chapter.
Board Meetings
Board Meetings are held on the first Wednesday of the month. At the board meetings, business of the chapter is discussed including budgets, projects, outings and spending items.
NGO Partners
Connect with us!
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NEWS
The EPA is using a veto authority in the Clean Water Act to halt the Pebble Mine. KUOW has more details. Largest dam removal project in history! Four Klamath River dams will be removed. Yahoo News has more details. New NOAA report says that breaching the lower 4 Snake River dams is needed to save the salmon runs. More information on KUOW. $220M project Sockeye returns on the Columbia River highest in a decade. Read more about it here. Sockeye counts on Lake Washington remain low. Here's WDFW's daily counts. Read about the decline of Salmon and Steelhead in the Columbia River in this article from Fly Fisherman. American Rivers is presenting a series of "Snake River Dinner Hour" webinairs. To view, click here
Here's a King5 TV story about flying Kokanee from Orcas Island back to King County. Read the story - here.
NW Energy Coalition report shows that Snake River Dams can be removed. Read here - NW Energy Coalition.
View the Salmon Orca Project Speaker Series for February 2022 - click here.
The Washington Supreme Court upheld permits allowing Cooke Aqualculture to raise steelhead in the Puget Sound. Read this article from KNKX.
Kokanee are returning to Zackuse Creek for the fist time in nearly 40 years! More information in this article in the Issaquah Reporter.
Muckleshoot Tribe has begun a "warm water" test fishery on Lake Washington. Read about it in Northwest Sportsmen.
The return of sockey salmon to the Cedar River is the lowest on record! Read about it in this Seattle Times article
16 miles of salmon and steelhead habitat opened up by removal of dam from Middle Fork of the Nooksack River. Read about it in this NOAA Article.
37 miles of salmon habitat opened up by removing dam from the Pilchuck River. Read about it in Seattle Times.
EPA and Corps of Engineers releases Final EIS for Snake River dam removal. Read this article in Save Our Salmon News.
Washington congressional delegation to push for re-start of project to open up salmon habitat above Howard Hanson dam For more information, click here.
Chemicals from tires are suspected in causing deaths of Coho Salmon in Puget Sound area streams.
Kokanee
To view a video describing the problems caused by culverts on salmon spawning streams - click here
.Our chapter is a member of the Kokanee Work Group (KWG), a collaborative group trying to identify the causes of the decline of native Kokanee in Lake Sammamish. To see what the KWG is doing , click here.
David Kyle, along with Chris Gregerson from King County have installed Remote Stream Incubators on Zackuse and Idylwood Creeks. To read David's summary of this project, click here.
The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals has ruled that the State of Washington must remove or repair culverts that are blocking fish passage. To see what culverts in our area are involved, click here.
Steelhead
For information on TU's Wild Steelhead Initiative, click here.
Here's an animated video that vividly describes the difficulties that three steelhead encountered as they attempted to return to their native stream. To view,
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