Late summer chum went extinct on Chimacum creek in the late 1980's.  Concerned citizens, fisherman, and environmentalists banded together in an attempt to raise consciousness of the situation and build a community of support for the salmon.  In 1991 a volunteer project was started to reintroduce summer chum to the creek.   The first returning adults from this effort are expected in September 1999.   This effort has been a cause celebre and inspiration for many people, and has slowing gone from being tolerated by fisheries to held up as a model.  It is an attempt to be good stewards of the watershed in our midst, to act locally in the preservation of a way of life. With this project we have a second chance to have a thriving summer chum run in the Chimacum watershed. Much is left to be done in preparing the creek for the return, but this imminent moment is cause to celebrate.

The Watershed

Chimacum creek drains the Quimper peninsula on the northeast corner of the Olympic peninsula. The watershed length is approximately 15 miles with 30 miles of total creek bed. The watershed encompasses 37 square miles. It is entirely within the rainshadow of the Olympics and receives 28 inches of rain a year at the headwaters and 18 inches at the mouth.

The headwaters of the creek gather in two separate basins. The upper reaches of both basins are primarily private woodlands. Several small creeks drain these basins and join to create the east and west forks of Chimacum creek. Coho spawn in many of these small creeks. The east and west forks of the creek drop at moderate gradient through these woodlands for a few miles to extremely low gradient valley floors dominated by pasture lands. After 5-8 miles of pasture the creeks join together near HJ Carroll park. The pasture land section of the creek is generally open, dredged creek channel that until recently was unfenced. Dairy cattle are common in the creek.

After the forks join, the creek descends the final 100 feet of elevation in 3 miles. The creek forms a progressively deeper canyon that is mostly wooded and undeveloped. Low density residential development dominates the area outside the canyon. The stretch from the Hadlock road to the Irondale road is where the canyon starts. Below the Irondale road the canyon is well developed. There is substantial creek side vegetation and a fair amount of instream wood. Confinement and cover within this zone are uniform except for one small area of 500 feet (at around 2000 feet), where the creek enters a wider, open area. This wider area was the top of the chum spawning area in the 70s and early 80s. At the time there was a small log jam that backed up water. It was not thought that the jam was a problem to fish passage which is certainly true for coho.

The creek enters Port Townsend bay just south of Kala Point. Extensive eel grass beds surround the mouth. The tidally influenced estuary extends 1 mile inland. This exceptionally pristine estuary is one of the only puget sound estuaries without extensive development. It has a gorge like cross section with 100 foot high, wooded banks, 200-300 feet apart. At high tide this area is full bank to bank, at low tide the creek meanders in the middle. There is very little vegetation in this zone except for grasses, and marsh plants. There is little or no cover for fish.

The Short History of Fish in Chimacum Creek

Historically, native coho, summer and fall chum, and steelhead were present in the creek. Currently coho, fall chum and steelhead are present in small numbers. Cutthroat trout, scupins, and stickalbacks are present in the creek as well.

A local high school teacher, Ray Lowrie, coordinated an extensive survey of the creek throughout the 70s and early 80s.  Late summer chum spawned above the estuary only in the first 6000 feet of the creek, diminishing substantially after the first 2000 feet near the location of the recent beaver dams where there was a log jam. If it was a barrier, recent failure of the beaver dams opens the possibility that chum may more fully utilize the creek. Coho spawned above the agricultural lands on both forks.

Poaching was extensive. A common activity for kids at the time was to "bash" fish with a machete. Various people recall bashing as many as 100 fish in a day. This activity was slowly curtailed as Ray brought kids into the fisheries class and they learned to count coup in new ways.

Fish runs became larger into the early eighties. Fall 1982 was the huge year for chum and coho. Ray’s class tagged 1000 coho at Center in two days. State fisheries estimated 1000 chum and 5000 coho, based on the idea that surveyors see 1/3 of dogs and 1/6 of silvers.   Then disaster struck . . two major washouts occurred during the early eighties. In January 1983 the Irondale road washed out depositing 10,000-20,000 cubic yards of fill into the creek just above the chum spawning grounds. A reddish brown plume covered lower Port Townsend bay for weeks. A major slide occured in the upper basin toward eaglemount depositing another 15,000 cubic yards of material.

In August 1983, Chimacum students went down and looked things over. Sediment did not appear bad but on closer inspection the creek bed was very, very hard. Sediments had cemented the gravel together. Despite a substantial number of returning fish (though less than the previous year) there were no visible signs of redds that year. The second year after the wash out there were even less fish.

A thousand returning late summer chum were counted in 1982. Wild Olympic Salmon installed a weir in the creek during 1989, 1990 and 1991. After three years of monitoring the weir, the late summer chum run was determined to be extinct. Sediment is by far the most likely primary reason for the demise of the chum.

Long Term Commitment to Re-introduce Late Summer Chum

Wild Olympic Salmon has started a project on nearby Salmon Creek to build runs on late summer chum native to that creek with the intention of reestablishing chum in Chimacum creek. The run was historically at the same time as the Chimacum creek run (both rain shadow creeks) and therefore makes for a good match.

Returning fish are taken, hand spawned, reared, and released to the Salmon creek system. When the return is deemed substantial enough, "extra" fish are transferred to Chimacum creek. In 1996/97, 28,000 fry were released into the Chimacum creek esturary. The first returning adults are expected this fall!

In preparation for this, many projects have been undertaken to prepare Chimacum creek. Gravel cleaning has been undertaken in the main spawning areas for several years. High school students with hand tools cleaned (dug and stirred up sediments) areas in the mid 80s while there were still chum in the creek. Wild Olympic Salmon has cleaned the spawning area 3 times with a power gravel cleaner since 1993 to help prepare the creek. These efforts have led to less compacted beds that seem to remain very sandy. Many projects are contemplated for the coming years to monitor as well as improve conditions.

For a very complete discussion of the chimacum watershed click here.

Back to WOS