Why Are The Salmon Creek Chum So Important To Us?
Several years ago, Wild Olympic Salmon set out to count the wild Chum in Chimacum Creek, the creek that drains the whole watershed that is Port Townsend, Port Hadlock and the Chimacum valley. Not one was counted. After living here 12,000 years, these salmon had gone extinct. Wild Olympic Salmon was not about to accept this. A vision was created to bring the “ghost chum” back to Chimacum creek. Chimacum Creek’s closest cousin, Salmon Creek, still had a small run of wild chum. If the number of Salmon Creek Chum returns can be increased to to a level (2000 fish or more) , these eggs could be used to reintroduce a summer Chum run to Chimacum Creek. Since starting the Salmon Creek project, the return has more than doubled from an average of 200 fish a year, to 530 fish last year (the first year of the Salmon Creek Hatchery salmon’s return) MANY HAPPY RETURNS, LITTLE CHUMS!
