Sunny weather is expected this weekend for the Kokanee Salmon Festival in Lake Tahoe. Every October, the salmon make their way up Taylor Creek to spawn, offering visitors a glimpse and nature.
"It's a very exciting time, ecologically, for this area," Joy Barney, U.S. Forest Service Conservation Education Program Specialist said.
Most of Tahoe's Kokanee Salmon are born in Taylor Creek, then spend two to four years in Lake Tahoe before they return to their birthplace. It usually takes a few weeks for the salmon to swim upstream, mate and spawn. The males create a nest, called a redd where the courtship happens.
"They fan the rocks so that the rocks are free of sediment in that area," Barney said. "Then the female comes up and will be attracted by this wonderful nest this male has made."
The red-colored fish are easy to spot, spending their time in the creek for most of October until the male and female spawn.
"The two will be sort of side-by-side, so you'll see the spawning activity happen," Barney said. "After all of that happens, they're pretty much done, and that's when they die."
The annual event is a big draw for adults and children. A group of Kings Beach second graders took a field trip to Taylor Creek, Thursday, getting an up-close look at the salmon and other wildlife.
"That it's a long adventure and that you get to see all the animals and fish," Keegan O'Brien said.
"We're looking at all the fishes and the crawdads and it's a really nice view so we get to see all the fishes and it's really awesome," Beau Berger said.
Officials gathered for a ribbon-cutting ceremony, Thursday morning, to celebrate the construction of a new boardwalk along one section of Taylor Creek. The $25,000 structure was paid for with private money donations. Tahoe Blue Vodka paid for half of it.
"It was important because if you spend any time out here, all you can really hear are the shrills and joy and screaming of little kids when they see a salmon for the first time," Amy Berry, CEO of the Tahoe Fund said. "Unfortunately, the boardwalk that was here previously was really in disrepair and kind of under water, and then, unfortunately, it allowed people to get into the creek and take selfies with bears."
Bears and other animals come to Taylor Creek to eat the salmon as they make their way upstream, and park officials say people were taking too many risks with the bears.
"People were getting too close to the bears, honestly, and that was creating an issue with space and we had some real potential for bears to react in a negative way and injure people," Jeff Marsolais, Forest Supervisor for Lake Tahoe Basin Forest Service said.
The new boardwalk has railings that keep people contained on the path. Marsolais says it is an important component for people who want to utilize these public lands.
"This is a world class recreation destination," Marsolais said. "It's having places for them to come visit their public lands and to see these activities is always important."
20,000 to 90,000 salmon swim up Taylor Creek every fall. Each redd contains about 400 eggs but only four to eight of them survive to maturity.
The Kokanee Salmon Festival is at Taylor Creek, this Saturday and Sunday from 10am-4pm.
