November 2025
- Becky Cooke
- Nov 14
- 5 min read
Updated: 6 days ago
November is one of the best months to connect with salmon in Seattle! November through early December, huge chum salmon come splashing through Piper’s Creek in Carkeek Park as they return home to spawn. Chum salmon are big, strong fish who can thrash and splash their way through beaver dams. You might hear them before you see them!
Salmon Stewards are available every Saturday and Sunday from 11-2 throughout November and the first week of December to answer all of your salmon questions. The Salmon Survey team is at Carkeek on Tuesdays and Saturdays from 9-1. The survey team counts the number of live and dead salmon in the creek and is also loves to answer visitor questions. Parking is limited on weekends so come early and carpool.
The annual Salmon Celebration this year is on Saturday, November 22, 2025.
Connect with Carkeek Park
Plan your visit to Carkeek Park here.
Adults, learn more about the history of Carkeek Park here.
Go for a listening walk - if you are in Carkeek, can you hear the salmon?
Connect with Chum Salmon
Learn the 5 species of Pacific Salmon. Did you know you can use your hand to remember the names of the 5 Salmon People? Which one is Chum?
Salmon need "5 C's" for healthy habitat: water that is clean, cold, clear, complex and connected. How many C's do you see in Piper's Creek? Ask a Salmon Steward!
Learn about the Salmon Life Cycle with this fun video
If you go to Carkeek later in November or December, you might notice (with your nose) a lot of dead salmon. This is because pacific salmon are “terminal spawners.” This means that they die soon after they lay their eggs. Sad? Gross? It depends how you look at it. Salmon carcasses feed forest vegetation, animals and insects. This creates a better envirnoment for the little salmon emerging from their eggs in the stream in the spring. This is the most beautiful part of their story and the best way to understand the interconnectedness of salmon to the entire ecosystem. ❤️
Borrow Salmon Matters: How a Fish Feeds A Forest from the library or hear it here
Read about zombie fish and "fish in the trees"
Connect with Beavers
Salmon aren’t the only exciting animal in Piper’s Creek. In the spring of 2023, Beavers NW were contacted about a family of beavers that moved into Carkeek from Golden Gardens. These aquatic engineers have been building dams and creating new wetlands ever since. You will notice new ponds where there used to be walking paths and benches. Is this a benefit? Can Salmon swim through beaver dams? Why are they building all these dams anyway? Are my boots tall enough to walk here? Glad you asked!
Beavers build dams to create ponds around the lodge where they sleep. This keeps them safe from predators. The beaver dams are not helpful for public park walking paths, but they are incredible at creating wetlands that filter water and make it cleaner. These ponds of deep, slow, filtered water allow salmon to rest while they journey upstream to their spawning spot. Want to connect more with beavers?
Go to the Carkeek Park and look for beaver activity. Can you find the beaver dams and their lodge? What else do you notice that tells you beavers are here?
Beaver lodge in Carkeek Park November 2025. Can you imagine if you had to swim under water to get to your front door? What. kind of coat would you need?? 
Look at these beaver chew marks on this cedar tree! Beavers remove the bark to get the layer of cambium underneath. Cambium has starches, sugars and fiber to fill busy beaver bellies. I'll stick with my Mac n' cheese, please! Go for a self guided beaver walk at Magnuson Park
Watch this PBS video to learn how beavers build dams.
Grown ups, watch this bushcraft video on how to build a mini shelter at home. Go outside, gather some sticks and leaves, and see what you can create!
Can you be as persistent as a beaver? Grab some recycling or get creative with materials and see what you can build inside with this Build Like a Beaver Tinkergarten activity
Connect with Douglas Fir
Douglas Fir is one of the most iconic PNW trees. Many people associate evergreen trees with colder weather. Remember the book, Fish In The Trees? Salmon carcasses along salmon streams feed Douglas Firs with ocean nitrogen, helping these trees to grow bigger, faster. These trees can prevent erosion, cool the stream with their overhanging branches and house insects that are food for baby salmon in the spring. Douglas Firs and Salmon have a pretty great relationship! Do you know what a Douglas Fir tree looks like?
Learn about Douglas Fir from Elise Krohn of GRuB
Look on the ground next time you are on a walk. Do you see any Douglas Fir cones? Can you see the little mouse feet and tails in the cones? Hear Elaine Chuang tell the traditional story of how Douglas Fir helped the mice.
Bring a thermos of hot water on your next nature walk. You can add Doug Fir needles to your hot water to make Forest Tea to energize and warm you. Douglas Fir needles are full of Vitamin C and electrolytes when you infuse them in hot water - nature's Gatorade!
Connect with Daybreak Star Indian Cultural Center in Discovery Park
Support Native Artisans and visit Daybreak Star Cultural Center for the Native Arts Market November 22-23, 2025 from 10-5
Connect with Watershed Stewardship
November is one of the rainiest months of the year in Seattle! All that rain runs down the paved streets and into the storm drains, picking up pollution and debris along the way. All that untreated water ends up in Puget Sound.
Go for a litter pick up walk and help keep Puget Sound safer for salmon. Try the Tinkergarten One Bag of Trash Challenge
Grown ups - check your tire pressure! Tires shed a chemical that becomes fatal to salmon when mixed with rain water (6PPD-q) on the roads. If you have a heavier vehicle like a SUV or EV, your tires may create more friction on the road due to the car's weight. Make sure your tires are in good condition. You can learn more about 6PPQ here.
Connect with The Moon
Look at the Moon this month! Some cultures refer to November's moon cycle as the Beaver Moon. In November, beaver may begin to shelter in their lodges with the food they have stored for winter. In early colonial America, fur traders trapped beavers in November to use their pelts for winter. Coast Salish people call this moon cycle the "Moon of the Dog Salmon." Dog salmon is...chum!
Join Wilder Child's Moon Club and learn more about the Beaver Moon
Art work by Nicolette Sowder of Wilder Child Make another fort. Pretend it's a cozy beaver lodge. Get cozy in your lodge with pillows and snacks and look a picture book about beavers
Connect with Gratitude and Lushootseed
Did you meet an animal or plant or a place this month that you feel more connected to? Did you learn anything new or have fun? You can say thank you to that new plant or animal teacher! Say it out loud or in your heart or make some art.
Try saying "thank you" to your new plant or animal teacher in Lushootseed. Lushootseed is one of the tradional languages spoken by Coast Salish people. Hear and learn how to say "Thank You" here. (T'igwicid!)
Do you want to learn more Lushootseed words? There's an app for that! Download the Tulalip Lushootseed App and keep learning.
I hope you will come back for more salmon connections in December!
In Joy, Gratitude and Waterproof shoes,
T'igwicid!
Becky
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