A Stairway for Salmon!

This morning we walked about three miles from our house in West Seattle to Fauntleroy Creek, which empties into the Sound just south of Lincoln Park and the ferry dock. In 1991, as part of Seattle Public Utilities' "Salmon in the Schools" program, local elementary school students and adult volunteers made the first annual release of salmon fry into Fauntleroy Creek. By 1994, they began to count mature fish as they returned to their "creek home" to spawn. 

An 11 foot high tide would give the fish a good head start into the creek, so we were hopeful and excited. Nineteen Coho Salmon have already been spotted since October 25th, including several lone males and 5 breeding pair. As it happened, we didn't get to see any salmon ourselves, but we did get the chance to explore a major part of the Fauntleroy Creek watershed we weren't even aware of before, including a stairway - for fish!

The fish ladder at Fauntleroy Creek was opened by Seattle Public Utilities in 1998 to enable more fish to make the 7-foot climb up from the beach at Fauntleroy Cove. The ladder consists of 4 underground pools, a 200-foot culvert, and an 8-pool fish ladder - which we think of as an 8-step "fish stairway!"

The slides below feature views from our walk today. Most are pictures of Fauntleroy Creek along a section that must be accessed through private property (it's not normally open to visitors, but this weekend was an exception). However there is an elevated public viewing area from which you can view both the creek and the Sound. To find it, take a look at the map for Chapter 16's "Fauntleroy and Morgan Junction" route, if you have the book. Just south of the Fauntleroy Ferry Terminal pictured at the bottom of the map, you'll see a small stairway going up from Fauntleroy Way SW to SW Director Street (the latter is unnamed on the map). At the top of the stairs turn right.

There's a bit of Fall color in the slides below, and one photo updates a previous posting on the big Combined Sewage Outflow project along the "Fauntleroy and Morgan Junction" route.

Enjoy!