The Kennedy Creek Salmon Trail, located between Olympia and Shelton (here is a map), will be open for visitors on weekends beginning Saturday October 31, through Sunday November 29. This is an excellent opportunity for local South Sound residents to see thousands of chum salmon spawning in a natural environment.

This is the ninth year of the Trail, and we have shown a tremendous amount of growth during the past several years. The Trail is a community asset and each year over 5,000 people visit the Trail to learn more about salmon. This year the Trail will be also highlighted in the 2009 November issue of National Geographic Traveler magazine. Come check out what all of the hype is about.

The half-mile trail is hosted by the South Puget Sound Salmon Enhancement Group (SPSSEG) and Mason Conservation District (MCD) and is partially ADA accessible. Volunteer trail guides will be on-site during the weekends to answer any questions. For more general information, call (360) 412-0808 x 2 or go to spsseg.org.

The Kennedy Creek Salmon Trail is directly supported by SPSSEG and MCD (plus many other partners). Taylor Shellfish owns the Trail property and has committed to a 20-year lease with SPSSEG.

Open to the Public:
Saturdays and Sundays, October 31 to November 29
10 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Holidays Open: Wednesday, November 11 and Friday, November 27
10 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Directions
The Salmon Trail is located off Highway 101 halfway between Olympia and Shelton. Southbound from Shelton, turn west on Old Olympic Highway at milepost 356. Northbound from Olympia, turn west on Old Olympic Highway between milepost 358 and 357. Go ¾ mile to a gravel logging road signed “Kennedy Creek Salmon Trail.” Follow the gravel road ½ mile to the Kennedy Creek Salmon Trail parking lot.

Group Tours
Weekday visits for schools and other organized groups are available by reservation only. For more information or reservations, contact Stephanie at the Mason Conservation District (360) 427-9436 x 13 or stephanie@masoncd.org

While we were there we took a look at what was happening in the creek.

There were amazingly a few live chum, but most of them were in an advanced state of decay.

Notice the whiteness in the water around the fish? It isn’t a reflection,  it is (they are) actually saprophytic oomycetes or (water molds). These molds are a keen source of food for the caddisfly larvae that put on their best growth at the time of the fall salmon return. You’ll notice that in the late summer and early fall, the caddisfly larvae, encased in a sheath of sand and rock particles, develop on the rocks in the stream bed, growing big enough to roam around (Larry Dominguez, personal communication 12/12/08).

This life history is one that has adapted to specific types of available nutrients at a certain time of year. It is one of the mecahnisms for the absorption into the food chain of marine derived nutirents (Larry Dominguez, personal communication, 12/12/08).

Here is a photo that shows the entire stream bed covered by the water molds:

Now, we like to keep it real here at SPSSEG….

and we just couldn’t help ourselves from prodding some carcasses to see what was happening inside of them…

and just beneath them…

Maggots galore! Yet another way the marine-derived nutrients pass from salmon to others in the food chain.

Here’s a little video for those of you who are interested in some more maggot action ; )

LETS NOT FORGET THE WILDLIFE CAMERA!

This is the first year we installed a game camera to catch predators in the act of eating the Kennedy Creek chum. Though we did not catch anything like bear (though we know they’re out there!), we did get some critters on film. (Alas, there is always next year.)

This week it is clear to me that salmon are such an integral part of the health of this ecosystem.  Even in death they provide for new generations of many different organisms.  In nature it seems nothing goes to waste!

Chums Swimming and Dying