Returning Little Red Fish to streams in Lake Forest Park

Historically, McAleer and Lyon creeks were full of little red fish, called kokanee. The Duwamish people caught, dried and ate these plentiful fish. Early settlers recalled that the streams were full of fish. As European settlers arrived, they logged the forests and built homes near the streams.

Both development and undersized culverts which blocked the return of fish reduced the kokanee population to zero in Lake Forest Park streams. 

Kokanee are a type of salmon that do not migrate to the ocean. Instead, the local runs of kokanee hatch in streams and then spend their lives in Lake Washington or Lake Sammamish before returning to the streams to spawn.

The kokanee pictured here are from Ebright Creek at the south end of Lake Sammamish. 

These fish are part of a huge November run of approximately 6000 fish returning to the stream. 

This contrasts with recent runs that have been in the single digit.

Dr Jeff Jensen, a Lake Forest Park resident and University of Washington professor, is working with federal, state and local authorities to determine if it is possible to restore a kokanee run to Lake Forest Park streams.

The process of reintroduction requires working with the tribes and the federal government. If the permits are secured the fish would be raised in a remote site incubator. 

Fish incubator 

The incubators are a safe habitat for raising the kokanee fry. 

Water from the stream is piped through the incubator which has a gravel base mimicking natural habitat and providing a protected environment. 

Eggs from a nearby run of kokanee fry would be placed in the incubator to grow until they are large enough to leave the incubator and enter the stream.

The fry raised in local streams should return in three years to the stream where they were raised. This process is being used on Lyon Creek to reintroduce Coho and could be used to reintroduce kokanee to the streams.

--Sarah Phillips