Visitors will see salmon developing from eggs to fingerlings, just as they do in Issaquah Creek. Friends of the Issaquah Salmon Hatchery (FISH) is excited to announce a capital campaign to raise $20,000 for this project. The exhibit scheduled to be open in time for the fall 2013 salmon season, to delight and inspire the thousands of visitors who come to the hatchery each year. Join us at the hatchery on July 26th to learn more about this exciting new exhibit. Doors open at 6:00 PM, program at 6:30.
The Issaquah Salmon Hatchery is fortunate to have an aquarium where visitors are able to see both Chinook and Coho salmon fry up close. Unfortunately, the aquarium is aging and desperately needs to be upgraded. FISH's mission is to promote watershed stewardship so that children, youth and adults alike will internalize the importance of protecting the water and surrounding environment that we all share with the salmon. An upgraded aquarium means visitors will be able to watch salmon develop in an environment that reflects the true nature of a healthy watershed habitat.
Each year over 10,000 school children tour the hatchery on classroom field trips. FISH has secured the services of a reputable aquarium design firm, Aquarium Concepts, to create and install a new exhibit that will vastly improve the educational quality of the aquarium and give visitors a much more realistic demonstration of how salmon grow and mature. Larry Kangas, the artist who painted the depiction of salmon predators on the hatchery water tank, has been engaged to create a realistic backdrop to the tanks which will include depictions of native vegetation, logs and lighting to replicate the natural daylight cast as found in Issaquah Creek. Using chillers and a modern filtering system, the water in the tanks will be maintained at optimum conditions for young developing salmon. We have secured the pro-bono services of Jordan Valente Construction to reinforce the shelf on which the aquarium tanks will rest and Illuminate Contracting, LLC who will reroute and install the needed wiring.
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We are asking for your help so we can complete this new exhibit. Our Board of Directors has committed $5,000 in seed money to get us started. The Kiwanis Club of Issaquah has pledged $2,000 and we are asking other organizations and businesses in our community to help with this effort. But it will take all of us to make this vision a reality.
The return of salmon is Issaquah Creek is an annual miracle. Our hatchery is here to keep the salmon coming home. You can support this annual miracle by helping us build our new aquarium so future generations will preserve and protect out salmon and the waters they live in. Click here to donate now!
