Nestled alongside the 22-acre Edmonds Marsh, the Willow Creek Salmon & Watershed Education Center (WCSWEC) is a community-based Coho salmon micro-hatchery.

Taken on by Sound Salmon Solutions in 2017, this unique facility is home to several different education programs, including Youth Exploring Stream Science, Salmon in Schools Field Trips, Salish Scientists Summer Camp, and the volunteer-based salmon rearing operation.

Each year, Sound Salmon Solutions and WCSWEC volunteers raise and release 80,000 Coho salmon into the Lake Washington and Puget Sound Watersheds.

As a co-op program of the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife, WCSWEC receives fertilized eggs in early winter. The fish are kept in their egg towers until hatched, then are moved into the rearing troughs as alevin, before being transferred to the outdoor rearing pond as fry.

Their growth is monitored throughout the season. Community and school fish releases begin in spring at 500 fish per pound with individual participants of all ages assisting and experiencing the release of salmon in area streams.

Sound Salmon Solutions is looking forward to another year of community participation, education, and inspiring the next generation of salmon stewards to protect and take ownership of their watersheds for the future of salmon.