MARBLEMOUNT — After salmon fight their way upstream in the Skagit River to lay their eggs, they die — providing a source of food for scavengers including bald eagles and black bears but leaving their young defenseless until they hatch.

Seattle City Light, which operates three hydroelectric dams on the upper Skagit River, is tasked as part of its federal license with protecting those eggs if possible.


Seattle City Light fisheries biologist Erin Lowery explains Nov. 29, from a sandbar in the Skagit River, how and why the utility that operates three hydropower dams in the river does salmon spawning surveys each week.

— Reporter Kimberly Cauvel: 360-416-2199, kcauvel@skagitpublishing.com, Twitter: @Kimberly_SVH, Facebook.com/bykimberlycauvel

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