From September to January of each year, the salmon come home! Our SalmonWatcher volunteers, trained in salmon identification and monitoring protocols, regularly visit a specific spot on a local creek to record returning salmon. SalmonWatchers also help collect DNA from fish carcasses to help build a Salish Sea wide library of salmon genetic diversity and to record the types of salmon that call our streams home.

Salmonwatch volunteers can access all protocols and paperwork through the volunteer portal.

Following the salmon season, our creeks continue to teem with life, including trout! Coastal cutthroat trout are an integral part of stream networks and are abundant in island creeks, even more so than salmon. However, they’re often overlooked and understudied. To deepen our understanding of trout’s role and habitats in our local ecosystem, we launched a community science program called Trout Trackers in 2024. Volunteers survey the creek reaches weekly from February to May, documenting the presence of sea-run cutthroat trout. Check out below for insights from our first year of collecting quantitative data on spawning sea-run trout on the island.

Publications and Press

Vashon Salmon Watchers quick guide

2024 Salmonwatcher training video (password: *U&b7mEe)

2024 Trout Tracker summary report

Access our Water Wellness Toolbox for resources on education, watershed stewardship and how to run stormwater and watershed community science projects.

Perla, BS. 2014. Quick summary of Vashon Salmon Observations 2001-2009. White paper.

Salmon slideshow 2019