Salmon Watcher Program

The Salmon Watcher Program was a multi-jurisdictional effort focused at protecting a Pacific Northwest treasure and educating the community in the process. The 20-year-old program involved volunteers watching streams for spawning salmon in King and Snohomish Counties. This effort mainly focused on waters within the Lake Washington Watershed. After 20 incredible years of volunteer service and fish data collection, the program ended after the 2015 spawning season. Some of the program's long-time partners, such as the Bellevue Stream Team, will continue to hold Salmon Watcher trainings and collect data each fall. This website will continue to provide information for how you can help salmon as well as how you can get involved in on-going volunteer efforts in the region.

Other local programs

Bellevue Stream Team. Bellevue Stream Team will continue to hold a Salmon Watcher training each fall!
Miller and Walker creeks. Want to watch for salmon and live near Miller or Walker creeks in Burien? Check out Community Salmon Investigation.

Where to see fish...

If it is salmon spawning season (September through December) and you'd like to get out and see fish, here are some ideas and opportunities:

Salmon Seeson -- good places to see salmon spawning in the Lake Washington Watershed
Spawning salmon viewing locations page.
Check our Streams page to see what fish you might expect to show up in your stream in the fall.

Want to help salmon?

Want to help salmon? We've got some great ideas listed on the Helping Salmon page.
Need to report a code violation? More information can be found on the Helping Salmon page.

Want to learn more?

Learn more about the ecological impacts of stormwater runoff, including coho pre-spawning mortalities including a video (external link).
Learn to identify the salmon species found in our local streams.
View our annual reports and fish distribution maps.