Salmon Seen Spawning In Previously Barren Seattle Creek

SEATTLE, WA - A pair of Chinook salmon were caught on camera spawning in a North Seattle creek where salmon hadn't been seen in years. Seattle Public Utilities workers photographed the salmon in Thornton Creek in late October.

In 2014, SPU completed an $8 million restoration of Thornton Creek in the Meadowbrook area east of Northgate. Part of that restoration involved widening the creek and improving the riverbed to help salmon spawn.

“We engineered the streambed vertically and horizontally. Four years after construction, it is maintaining very high-quality gravel. The Chinook salmon pair traveled almost one and a half miles to select this site for spawning. That’s a vote of confidence!” SPU urban creek biologist Katherine Lynch said in a blog post about the salmon.

The spawning Chinook seen in October were the first pair in eight years, according to SPU. The pair were seen near the Thornton Creek Confluence, which is where two branches of the creek meet before emptying into Lake Washington.

Thornton Creek flows for 18 miles and begins in Shoreline near Twin Ponds Park.

Image courtesy SPU