Scene at Meadowdale Beach Park Students helping salmon

Students from Meadowdale High School’s Eco Club, alongside community volunteers, released thousands of baby coho salmon into Lunds Gulch Creek on Sunday. The release involved placing some salmon in clear plastic cups, allowing park visitors to engage in the process. These juvenile salmon will inhabit the creek until early spring 2026, when they will migrate to the sea. After nearly two years at sea, the surviving adults are expected to return to spawn in Lunds Gulch Creek from October to December 2027. The Edmonds Stream Team’s project aims to enhance salmon populations in urban creeks affected by development, in collaboration with the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife.

Each year, coho salmon eggs are provided to the Willow Creek Salmon Hatchery in Edmonds, where they are hatched and nurtured for improved survival. The released fry will imprint on the creek, ensuring their return as adult spawners. In the fall, volunteers will conduct a survey to assess the conditions of the adult coho and chum salmon that spawn in the creek, contributing to ongoing conservation efforts.