HISTORY & ACCOMPLISHMENTS
A passion for the survival of wild salmon has been at LLTK's core since the beginning. The organization was founded in 1986 by a group of salmon enthusiasts alarmed by declines in wild salmon runs. Convinced of the long-term need for habitat protection and restoration, LLTK's founders were also intrigued by the potential for an ideal hatchery operation to address salmon recovery in the near term. Could hatcheries, they wondered, be reimagined as part of the solution rather than part of the problem? Could hatcheries, working in concert with habitat restoration, help restore wild salmon populations and support sustainable fisheries?
Hands-On Experience
LLTK's first project was to transform a traditional hatchery on the Wishkah River near Grays Harbor into a workshop for multiple fish-rearing strategies. The pioneering work at Wishkah, focused on refining natural rearing techniques and on creating and restoring habitat, supports recovery of wild salmon and a popular Grays Harbor fishery. LLTK managed and operated the Wishkah hatchery, in partnership with the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife, the Quinault Indian Nation, the Chehalis Basin Fisheries Task Force, and others, until 2007, when we officially returned management responsibility to the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife.
After establishing 501(c)3 nonprofit status in 1986, LLTK created two more fish-rearing facilities, both built entirely with private funds. One is at Glenwood Springs on Orcas Island, where LLTK brought chinook salmon and a natural rearing program to an Orcas Island stream, creating a salmon run where none existed before. Along with research and conservation opportunities, this new fishery diverts pressure from wild runs and provides salmon for sport and commercial fishers from Oregon to Alaska.
Visit our Glenwood Springs hatchery
The other is at Lilliwaup Creek on Hood Canal. An emergency room for imperiled fish, it is devoted to recovery of Hood Canal's most threatened salmonid species: summer chum salmon. The Lilliwaup hatchery also operates a first-of-its-kind steelhead recovery program and is an important research center. In 1995 LLTK, in partnership with the Hood Canal Salmon Enhancement Group, launched a major research project to find out whether naturally spawning chinook salmon runs could be returned to the nearby Hamma Hamma and Duckabush rivers. The Lilliwaup hatchery is currently the central rearing-place for the innovative Hood Canal Steelhead Project.
A Broadening Mandate
In the late 1990s, when the threat to wild salmon was underscored by multiple listings under the Endangered Species Act (ESA), the scope of our work expanded. LLTK began facilitating workshops for local and tribal leaders to build support for salmon recovery in the Hood Canal watershed. In 1998 we helped form the Skagit Watershed Council. In 1999 LLTK was appointed to the executive committee for the Snohomish/King/Pierce tri-county salmon recovery effort.
LLTK also developed the ESA Handbook for local governments in Western Washington, the first handbook of its kind to help local governments respond proactively to the listing of salmon as threatened under the ESA.
LLTK currently serves on the Policy Development Committee of Shared Strategy for Puget Sound, a collaborative effort to build a practical, cost-effective salmon recovery plan endorsed by the people living and working in the watersheds of Puget Sound. NOAA Fisheries has stated that the Shared Strategy plan will serve as the basis for the recovery plan for species listed as threatened under the federal Endangered Species Act.
Hatchery Reform
With our own fish-rearing facilities showing considerable promise, in 1999 LLTK's board charged staff with seeing our innovative hatchery work scientifically tested and replicated on a broader scale. In May of that year, a group of leading scientists issued a report to Congress saying hatcheries had the potential to make a major positive impact on the recovery of wild salmon, in just a few years and at relatively small costs.
In response, Congress created and funded the Puget Sound and Coastal Washington Hatchery Reform Project, a groundbreaking, science-driven effort to rethink how hatcheries can be managed to help conserve naturally spawning populations and to support sustainable fisheries. Congress mandated the project be led by scientists and established the Hatchery Scientific Review Group (HSRG), an independent panel of nine highly regarded scientists. Congress also designated LLTK as the project's independent, third-party facilitator.