Volunteers work to protect salmon habitat on MLK Day

WOODINVILLE, Wash. — About 70 volunteers worked to protect local Chinook salmon at the West Sammamish River Trail on Monday.

Volunteers removed non-native berries and planted new shrubs, which, when grown, will help keep water temperatures cool and provide other benefits.

“Branches from these trees might fall into the river… leading to places for juvenile salmon to hide from predators and have slow-water habitat,” Amani Moyer-Ali, a restoration project manager with Mid Sound Fisheries Enhancement Group, said on Friday.

Congresswoman Suzan DelBene and Woodinville Mayor Mike Millman joined volunteers on Monday.

Monday is Martin Luther King Jr. Day, the only federal holiday designated by Congress as a national day of service.

The volunteer event was organized by Mid Sound Fisheries Enhancement Group, an organization working to protect and restore local fish populations.

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