Tag: My Edmonds News

Posted: April 3, 2017
By Larry Vogel

Link to My Edmonds News article

The Edmonds-Woodway High School Students Saving Salmon Club took advantage of Monday’s beautiful spring weather to dig in — literally — on their latest project to enhance salmon habitat in Edmonds.

“Shell Creek is an important piece of salmon habitat that runs right through Edmonds,” said club advisor Joe Scordino. “It runs through backyards, under roadways, and past numerous homes and businesses, but most importantly, it supports vital runs of Sockeye, Coho and Chum salmon. These fish not only pass through Edmonds but actually build redds (nests), spawn, lay eggs, and hatch their young right in our community.”

A retired biologist, Scordino volunteers as an advisor to the Students Saving Salmon Club. A hands-on kind of teacher, Scordino jumps right in alongside the students providing a great example of enthusiasm and dedication.

This week the club is working on habitat enhancement along a section of Shell Creek that passes through the residential Brookmere neighborhood. Monday saw them at the home of Sandra Centala.

“When I first saw this property twelve years ago, the salmon stream really hooked me,” Centala said. “For years I’ve watched the salmon come up the creek, fight their way past the several low waterfalls on my property, and complete their spawning ritual right in my own backyard. It is absolutely thrilling. I never get tired of witnessing this miracle of nature.”

But in the past four to five years, Centala has noticed fewer salmon in Shell Creek.

“When I first moved in, there were often six to eight pairs at a time waiting in line to jump the waterfalls,” she said. “But the numbers have been down recently.”

According to Scordino, part of the reason could be the condition of the shoreline. Right now it’s a grassy lawn that needs regular mowing and contributes a certain amount of runoff to the stream. He and the students are addressing this by planting native shrubs including Snowberry, Mock Orange, and Red-flowering Currant along the stream course.

“Once these plants get established, they’ll enhance the habitat in several ways,” he says. “In addition to slowing runoff and thereby enhancing the quality of the water that enters the stream, they’ll provide habitat and cover for wildlife including birds and at least one family of river otters that calls this section of Shell Creek home.”

This project is funded by the Rose Foundation and will include other properties in the Brookmere neighborhood.

— Story and photos by Larry Vogel