If you've hiked along Gold Creek in late summer, you probably found something unsettling for a mountain stream near Snoqualmie Pass: no water. By late July, the lower mile and a half of the creek runs dry, leaving Bull Trout stranded in isolated pools, exposed to predators and heat, unable to reach the spawning
After 14 years of extremely hard work from some very dedicated conservationists, the Gold Creek Valley Restoration Project is officially under construction! KCT and partners from the USFS, USFWS, WDFW, BOR, permitters from the state and the county, the project design team (Natural Systems
Eagle Bend Conservation Area Clean-Up, April 2026 In March, KCT discovered an abandoned camp site deep in the wetlands on the far side of the pond at KCT’s Eagle Bend Conservation Area. While we do allow respectful day use on our conserved lands, camping (short or long term) is
SO Many Fish! If you've been following our Gold Creek Valley Restoration Project, you may have found yourself wondering about Gold Creek Pond. Gold Creek Pond didn't start off as a pond at all. Before the mid 1900's, this area was a forested wetland, but as I-90 was constructed,
Decades of resource extraction from the Gold Creek Valley have left it in a severely degraded state. How Did We Get Here? Aerial imagery from 1942 shows Gold Creek Valley in a mostly intact state, but by 1954, clear-cut logging had occurred along the banks of much of Gold Creek. The removal of
Gold Creek once was home to a thriving population of bull trout and salmon. However, today salmon no longer live here and bull trout numbers are rapidly dwindling. The past 5 years we and our partners have collected data in Gold Creek Valley to understand the causes of bull trout decline and what actions
We're sure you are familiar with flying drones, but have you heard of a floating drone? As part of the Gold Creek Restoration Project we used a boat drone to gather the floor topography (bathymetry) of Gold Creek Pond. Why do we need to know that? We will be using data such as floor depth
We spent some days in October in the field with Inter-Fluve to collect information on the upper Kachess River. Our staff conducted survey work, gathered GPS points, took flow measurements, conducted gravel counts and collected stream bed samples. We also gathered LiDAR data that will be used in conjunction with the data collected on
Through the end of September, we will be working on a fish habitat project. The project will replace two culverts located in Cougar Gulch near Liberty, WA. This relatively small project will benefit fish by removing culverts that are too small for the stream at higher flows. Furthermore, the project will ensure the longevity of
By the time they are adults, bull trout can measure over 2 feet in length and weight over 20 pounds. Their large size lends itself to them being the apex predator in lake and river ecosystems. However, as young fish they are an important part of the food chain as prey. Bull trout begin their
