Issaquah Salmon Hatchery spawns chinook, coho
November 6, 2012
FISH docent Grace Reamer holds a handful of chinook salmon eggs for students at the Issaquah Salmon Hatchery on Oct. 30. By Greg Farrar
Issaquah Salmon Hatchery workers and volunteers sloshed around in 40-degree water Oct. 30, as the annual effort to spawn coho salmon started again.
Teams from the state Department of Fish and Wildlife and Friends of the Issaquah Salmon Hatchery plan to collect 1.2 million coho eggs. The process to spawn coho started about a month after hatchery workers and volunteers started spawning chinook. In the resulting effort, teams collected 2.2 million eggs.
FISH Executive Director Jane Kuechle and John Kugen, hatchery foreman, said the partnership between the nonprofit organization and the state agency is essential for the survival of Issaquah Creek salmon — and the hatchery.
The hatchery, a fixture in downtown Issaquah for 75 years, spawns and raises coho and chinook.
State fisheries experts expected a more robust chinook salmon return but a smaller coho salmon return to Puget Sound streams in 2012.
“It comes and goes,” Kugen said. “The best one that we had that I can remember was 2001, when we had 18,000 coho and then a couple years ago we had 13,000. Coho come back in bigger numbers because they’re released as bigger smolts. They’re about 7 or 8 inches long, so there’s less predation on them than chinook.”
Gubernatorial hopefuls support hatcheries, parks
October 23, 2012
Democrat Jay Inslee and Republican Rob McKenna clashed in a recent series of debates, but the candidates vying to serve as Washington’s next governor share similar positions on local issues, such as support for the state parks system.
Jay Inslee
Rob McKenna
The race at the state level is focused on the candidates’ policies on education and transportation — hot topics on the docket as Inslee and McKenna met in recent weeks.
The Issaquah Press asked the candidates about funding for state parks, salmon restoration and growth management — key concerns in Issaquah and the surrounding area.
Issaquah High School swimmer crosses Lake Washington for charity
September 4, 2012
Gabrielle Gevers, of Issaquah, recently completed the PSBC Swim for Life, a swim across Lake Washington.
The annual event attracts adventure athletes who are daring and fit enough to brave a 2 ½-mile paddle through the icy, dark waters of Lake Washington, and who are also raising money to help in the fight against leukemia and other life threatening diseases that require blood donations. The Swim for Life is a fundraiser for the Puget Sound Blood Center.
“It was the longest distance I have ever swum,” Gevers said. “I am a sprinter, so 2 ½ miles is really something for me. My dad and I swam it together, and my mom and brother Gentry kayaked with us as my support team.
Rough waters continue for Miss Red Dot
August 7, 2012
Miss Red Dot racing in Heat 2B of the Lamb Weston Columbia Cup in the Tri-Cities. By David Cormier
Issaquah driver is out of Seafair after crash
It was just your typical 190 mph morning stroll along the waters of the Columbia River when Miss Red Dot driver Kip Brown took the ride of his life.
“We had a steering failure,” he said. “At that point, it went into a pretty violent hook and I was just along for the ride.”
City Council renews animal control contract
July 3, 2012
King County remains the provider of animal control services in Issaquah under a contract approved by the City Council.
The current provider, Regional Animal Services of King County, changed the formula for how cities pay for the agency. Under the old agreement, cities paid equal amounts based on population and the number of calls, but the updated agreement ditches the 50-50 agreement for a method based more on number of calls in a particular city.
The contract amounts to about $60,000 per year for Issaquah. The agreement is in place through December 2015.
“We think they made it a little more fair,” city Parks & Recreation Director Anne McGill said.
King County Flood Control District preserves dollars for salmon projects
June 19, 2012
Issaquah salmon-restoration projects could garner grant dollars after all, even though a lawsuit threatened to cut off funds for conservation projects countywide.
King County Flood Control District leaders decided to fund salmon-recovery projects after the King Conservation District stopped doling out grants amid a legal challenge.
Flood Control District officials approved $3 million May 14 for projects to improve water quality, protect and restore habitat, and support salmon recovery efforts. King County Council members sit as the executive board for the Flood Control District.
The decision is meant to plug a gap left after the King Conservation District halted a separate process to issue salmon-recovery grants. Read more
King County reminds boaters to avoid lake buoys
May 8, 2012
King County officials reminded boaters to avoid environmental monitoring buoys in lakes Sammamish and Washington after a Lake Washington buoy sustained damage.
King County reminds boaters to avoid lake buoys
April 30, 2012
NEW — 6 a.m. April 30, 2012
King County officials reminded boaters to avoid environmental monitoring buoys in lakes Sammamish and Washington after a Lake Washington buoy sustained damage.
Officials said a boat struck the bright yellow buoy between 4-6 p.m. April 23. The impact caused the buoy to flip and submerged sensitive data-collection equipment. The tally for damage is expected to reach at least $5,600.
The incident echoes a similar problem from Lake Sammamish. In July 2010, vandals flipped a buoy bobbing in the lake and caused tens of thousands of dollars in damage. In May 2009, vandals also damaged a buoy on Lake Sammamish.
Crews managed to repair the buoys involved in the earlier vandalism incidents.
Wanted: Locals’ 1962 Seattle World’s Fair memories
April 3, 2012
April 21 marks 50 years since the Century 21 Exposition opened — and transformed the Puget Sound region.
Though the fair unfolded 17 miles east, on the Seattle Center grounds, Issaquah residents headed to the expo in hordes.
Some Issaquah residents spent a summer working at the fair. Many more residents crossed Lake Washington to experience the fair’s futuristic fun.
Issaquah also greeted travelers as the Century 21 Exposition at a tourism station along U.S. Route 10, a precursor to Interstate 90.
Now, as the fair’s 50th anniversary approaches, The Issaquah Press is seeking Century 21 memories from local residents for upcoming coverage of the milestone.
Email your contact information to editor@isspress.com by April 18, or contact the newspaper on Twitter at www.twitter.com/issaquahpress, or on Facebook at www.facebook.com/issaquahpress.
Tomorrow turns 50: In 1962, Issaquah residents crossed Lake Washington for fair’s futuristic fun
February 21, 2012
Diners enjoy drinks — and a now-forbidden smoke — in the Eye of the Needle revolving restaurant atop the Space Needle. MOHAI, Milkie Studio Collection
The distance from Issaquah to the future measured a mere 17 miles.
In 1962, as the Century 21 Exposition greeted fairgoers from the United States and beyond, residents from Issaquah — then home to about 3,000 people — crossed Lake Washington from April 21 to Oct. 21 for the Space Age fair.
Nowadays, 50 years after the spectacle at Seattle Center closed, memories remain as clear as the Bubbleator dome. The fair introduced countless palates to strawberry-topped Belgian waffles and tempted millions of guests to brave the maze inside the IBM Pavilion.
“Everybody went to the fair,” said Lorraine McConaghy, public historian for the Seattle-based Museum of History & Industry, or MOHAI. “It was not just an urban phenomenon. It was a regional phenomenon.”
The iconic Space Needle — then painted in Technicolor hues — and the Bubbleator left lasting impressions on locals. The bubble-shaped elevator carried fairgoers to exhibits inside the Washington State Coliseum.
