Episode 16: Why Did the Salmon Swim Upstream?

How adorable is this cat? He says two comes before one because that’s how the cool kids are doing it.

Steelhead at the Long Live the Kings Lilliwaup Conservation Facility

We bring you part 1 of our two part salmon series! Part 2 (Episode 15: A Culvert Affair) was released last month. That’s how we do. In this episode we interview Joy Waltermire, a steelhead biologist with Long Live the Kings. She’s an expert on salmon, and we ask her all sorts of ridiculous questions, like why does she never talk about king salmon if her organization is called Long Live the Kings, (she does, king is the nickname for chinook salmon…) and why did the salmon cross the road? (Follow our Facebook page - link below - to see a picture of salmon actually crossing the road!)

We also discuss the salmon lifecycle, the uniqueness of steelhead, and why salmon are important in our Salish Sea ecosystem. We have a great conversation about one huge salmon barrier - the Hood Canal Floating Bridge.

Our citizen science segment isn’t called out specifically in this episode, but we talk about Survive the Sound, which is Long Live the Kings’ game where you choose a salmon and then watch it migrate out of the stream in early May and see if it survives the sound and makes it to the ocean. We talk about reasons most of the salmon don’t make it. Be on the lookout in April for the signup!

Learn more about SurvivetheSound.org, an interactive online awareness building game to save salmon and steelhead in the Pacific Northwest, prey desperately needed by starving resident orca.

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