The annual Chum run takes place in mid-November in Donkey Creek Park, also known as txʷaalqəł Estuary (Donkey Creek Park, 8714 N. Harborview Drive); here the community comes together to celebrate the return of chum to Gig Harbor. Chum is a type of salmon found throughout the North Pacific Ocean in parts of Canada, Washington, and even Asia. As the chum come home to spawn and eventually die, they are found in smaller bodies of water like rivers or streams. Yearly, the city of Gig Harbor releases one million chum eggs into a small hatchery at Donkey Creek Park; with these numbers, we should expect to see dozens, if not hundreds, of fish return to Donkey Creek in late fall to early winter. However, this stream has run dry, and in the last couple of years, we see only 1-2 a year. An avid fisherman and Gig Harbor native, Andy Philley, stated, “For as long as I’ve lived here and have watched the fish populations, I have never seen more than three fish in that creek at a time.” The chum not returning is not without reason, as construction and other circumstances have turned the creek almost inhospitable for salmon looking to spawn.

Salmon spawn in areas with large enough rocks or gravel to protect their eggs from strong currents or predators. In Donkey Creek the gravel is thin and sparse; the creek is mostly filled with dirt and roots, making it almost impossible to keep eggs safe. In 2024 Washington experienced record-breaking return rates on salmon, In Tumwater, almost 200,000 sockeye salmon returned to the Tumwater Dam on the Wenatchee River, the highest number in years. In these cities, lots of money and time get put into supporting the salmon population and helping to keep their habitats safe. Recently, at the same dam in Tumwater, a $4.56 million budget was approved; this money will solely be spent on projects that help maintain the salmon populations in Tumwater. The only way to have a perfect habitat for salmon is to have other salmon; the more salmon, the stronger the habitat and the stronger the survival rates of eggs. Making Donkey Creek a more suitable and habitable place for salmon will almost ensure a stronger run in years to come.

What is preventing Donkey Creek from being a keystone place for the chum run in Gig Harbor? Up until 2012, there was a culvert in Donkey Creek that severely damaged the salmon population and habitat. Upon removal, construction was done to make a bridge on Harborview Drive; this effort was to open up the creek to become a more suitable environment for the salmon. Donkey Creek still isn’t perfect; being near a shooting range, Donkey Creek has been exposed to lead contamination that has negatively affected the life span of the chum and severely lowered the survival rates of the chum eggs. However, the hardest obstacle for Gig Harbor to fix, which is expected to cost $8 million, is the removal of the “salmon barrier,” which is a culvert still located towards the start of Donkey Creek away from the mouth where the salmon get stopped, and if they can’t escape, they die there. It is widely known that Donkey Creek won’t have a successful salmon run if the “salmon barrier” doesn’t get addressed and removed.

Gig Harbor is a beautiful town with an outstanding aquatic environment at the city’s core. All throughout the Gig Harbor coastline and the surrounding Puget Sound, thousands of fishermen set sail to hopefully catch a fish. One of those fishermen, Jackson Philley, describes Chum salmon as the worst salmon to eat, but he describes the Chum as the most fun fish to catch. Schools all around Washington go on field trips to waterways or hatcheries to look at and learn about fish and their habitats. Long-time Gig Harbor resident Sophia Robertson (12) stated, “Releasing the baby salmon in third grade was one of the most memorable field trips I had in school.” Any seafood you eat in a restaurant or buy in a store comes from a funded hatchery or river that protects fish. We take and take so much from the environment, so when it comes time to reap what we sow, we can’t turn a blind eye to the fish in our own backyard that need our help.