The Skykomish River and Its Wild Salmon
Near Stevens Pass Area, Washington
The green river rushing beside the highway is the Skykomish, and it carries something increasingly rare in the Pacific Northwest, wild salmon returning to water with no major dam on its main stem. The Sky flows west out of these mountains, joins the Snoqualmie near Monroe, and together they form the Snohomish on its way to Puget Sound. Four species of Pacific salmon still climb this river, along with prized winter and summer steelhead.
The river takes its name from the Skykomish people, a Coast Salish group whose name is often translated as inland people or upstream people. For them and their neighbors the salmon runs were the foundation of life. Those runs are now under great strain.
Puget Sound Chinook are listed as a threatened species, and in recent years the forecasts for wild Chinook returning to the Snohomish basin have been small. To protect them, fisheries managers have at times limited fishing on the Skykomish. Bald eagles still gather along the banks in winter to feed on spawned out chum, a reminder that these fish feed an entire web of life, from the eagles overhead to the very soil of the forest.
