All of us could use some good news these days. We were excited to see recently that Tahlequah, a member of the endangered Southern Resident Orca Whales’ J-Pod, is pregnant again. Many of you will remember Tahlequah for a more tragic reason: her 17-day, 1,100- mile tour of grief with her dead calf two years ago. It’s great news to learn she’s pregnant again. However, it’s a long road ahead for that calf to survive and an even longer road to recovery for the Southern Residents. It is more important than ever that we keep up our efforts to recover the Southern Residents.

Puyallup WA - The public is invited to join the Puyallup River Watershed Council in a month long celebration of the return of salmon to spawn in the Puyallup watershed, a migration that has been taking place for millennia. We will have a virtual event with both online learning activities like recorded and live videos, interactive story maps, and curricula, as well as activities for all ages that can be done on your own at home or in places like Swan Creek Park. Content and activities will be added throughout the month of October on Facebook and a website.

“We will miss not having the Salmon Homecoming at the Puyallup Hatchery with tours to Clarks Creek again this year. While the newly renovated facility is closed to the public due to Covid-19, know it is very busy behind the scenes with rearing Coho, Rainbow Trout and, arriving this week, our first Chinook salmon eggs which will be part of the Chinook recovery program in Puget Sound!" said Richard Johnson, President of the Puyallup Historical Hatchery Foundation.

"Although we can't get together for a community event, there's still a great opportunity to learn more about salmon and their importance to our region with these resources. And if you can do it safely, it's always fun to get outside and see the salmon returning to local streams," said Chris Towe, an environmental educator at the Pierce Conservation District, an event partner.

You can participate in the virtual salmon homecoming celebration by visiting the new event webpage starting October 1^st at: https://piercecd.org/539/Puyallup-Watershed-Salmon-Homecoming

You can also follow us all month long on Facebook on our new event page at: www.facebook.com/puyallupsalmon

Special thanks to our event partners:

Metro Parks Tacoma – Tacoma Nature Center, Pierce Conservation District, Pierce County, Puyallup and Chambers Watersheds Lead Entity for Salmon Recovery, Puyallup Historic Hatchery Foundation,  Puyallup River Watershed Council, Port of Tacoma, Tahoma Audubon Society, UW Tacoma, and Washington Dept. of Fish and Wildlife.

Contact: Robert Wright, Communications Officer – Puyallup River Watershed Council (253) 230-5582 or robertw@sumnerwa.gov for more information.

Our Shore Friendly Program, launched in Fall 2019, was recently featured by the National Association of Conservation Districts for our participation in the #DistrictsConserveCoasts campaign. The campaign, as a part of National Ocean Month, highlighted efforts by districts around the country to conserve and restore coastal areas facing a diversity of challenges. According to NACD, of the nearly 3,000 conservation districts across the United States, over 300 are located on the coasts and Great Lakes. Districts are tackling local challenges from habitat and species loss, to harmful algal blooms, to shoreline erosion and sea-level rise.