Stilly-Snohomish Fisheries

Education and hatchery programs:our hatchery located at the willow creek salmon and watershed education center raised 80,000 coho salmon which were then released into 9 local tributaries within lake washington and puget sound watersheds. Volunteers helped with every stage of the salmon rearing process, giving over 1892 hours in the year 2024.in 2024, sss engaged 7226 youth and adults in lessons that forged a connection between the community and salmon recovery while empowering participants to make positive changes for the future of pacific salmon.our salmon in schools program brought coho salmon to 26 schools where students raised them from the egg to fry stage while learning the importance of salmon to our ecosystem, economy, and culture in washington. Students then joined sss educators on a field trip where they released their salmon into a local stream.sss partnered with the snohomish county juvenile court to provide the youth exploring stream science (yess) program. Yess engages youth from the scjc diversion program in meaningful and hands-on watershed science experiences. Youth who qualify for diversion programs have been charged with a crime and sentenced to detention, however, due to the low risk of re-offense, have been given the option to complete community-based service learning with sss. This program has been a wonderful success as we have seen students who had the 'too cool for school' persona blossom into budding scientists, full of knowledge about salmon and their habitat. Sss hosted a summer camp at the hatchery in edmonds where campers spent time outside learning about their local environment and how they can be stewards for their communities. 3 weeks of camp were offered in 2024, hosting 58 campers total. Several local schools and scout troops also visited the hatchery for outdoor field trips reaching over 6336 youth.

Stewardship program:in 2024 sss's volunteer programs engaged nearly 300 community members of all ages in salmon recovery. These volunteers directly contributed to salmon recovery by assisting with every stage of the salmon-rearing process at our hatchery in edmonds and contributed to restoring salmon spawning habitat through riparian restoration. Additionally, our edmonds stewards program, which is funded by the city of edmonds, engaged trained volunteers and community members in the restoration of city of edmonds parks that include traditional salmon habitat or old growth forest. These trained volunteers act as leaders in stewardship and lead weekly public events that educate the community on the importance of removing invasive vegetation and planting native trees and shrubs. Sss's 2024 volunteer programs contributed over 1892 volunteer hours of service and inspired countless others to take the individual actions they can to improve salmon populations.furthermore, sss provided education and outreach opportunities for the greater community at tabling events such as festivals, school science nights, and city events throughout the stillaguamish and snohomish watersheds. These events reached over 2,169 participants and were vital in raising community awareness about individual impacts on salmon recovery and empowering the community to take action to improve water quality.