Water Tenders "Salmon Seeson" Cancelled, No Rain

Water Tender President Susan Wilkins at 
 Issaquah fish hatchery 

My daughter, Lexie, was the youth Water Tender Board Member while in high school.  She wrote a white paper on Bear Creek nimbyism and organized Key Club restoration work parties.  In 2023, she was promoted to Lead Environmental Scientist / Planner for a regional engineering company in Spokane.  Lexie's LinkedIn information.

At tour of the Salmon Fish Hatchery with Water Tender President Susan Wilkins. 

Every year from September - October during the "Salmon Seeson" you will find the Water Tenders at North Bear Creek educating children, families and adults about the life cycle of salmon.  This Fall was the 4-year cycle for sockeye so we were expecting a good run.  The Water Tenders put up sandwich board signs along Avondale Road to direct viewers to the creek. We usually see a lot of  returning salmon but this year owing to a prolonged drought there were none to be seen so the exhibit was shut down. Usually over 100 viewers walk up the trail to see coho, sockeye and chinook salmon.

Every year the Water Tenders pick up 1-2 Chinook salmon from the Issaquah fish hatchery for their Bear Creel exhibit.  Susan Wilkins, Water Tenders President says," this is an excellent way for viewers to see and touch the gills, scaling, and fins for show and tell."  Here's a picture of Susan at the hatchery standing by two chinook she was saving for the exhibit.

Salmon docent holding chinook 

According to their mission statement, "The Water Tenders are a group of individuals who care about the wetlands and streams in King County. We are your neighbors, friends, and family. All of us are willing donate our time and energy to preserving, protecting and restoring the wonderful natural  heritage of Washington State. We believe that it is our community’s responsibility to be good stewards of our natural resources in order to preserve them for the next generations. Water Tenders was founded in 1989 and is proud to have spearheaded and accomplished many efforts towards those ends."

A few other Water Tenders projects are removal of invasive Knotweed and Blackberry shrubs from wetlands and creeks, monitoring the Western Pearl Schell populations -- an indicator of stream health -- measuring rainfall within the Bear Creek Basin, and activism to protect wetlands and streams from proposed environmental sensitive land-use developments.   

If you'd like more information about the Water Tenders or want to join this non--profit ($25) please e-mail Bob at redmondblog@gmail.com  

 -- Bob Yoder, Fall of 2018
    Photos, Yoder