What are the crews by the lake off Inglewood Hill actually building, and when does it pay off? The short answer is a creek channel for a fish that lives in Lake Sammamish and nowhere else. The longer answer starts a few miles south, at a small unmarked parking area on East Lake Sammamish Parkway SE. There, a similar fix has already been tested by the fish themselves.
King County describes Lake Sammamish kokanee as a native, genetically distinct freshwater salmon found nowhere else. They spend three to four years in the lake and then return to the streams where they were born to spawn. Every barrier between the lake and those streams matters. Sammamish's shoreline has been working through those barriers one creek at a time.
Two calendars that hand off at the end of October
The George Davis Creek Fish Passage and Storm Improvement Project broke ground on June 1, 2026. The City of Sammamish's hydraulic permit allows in-water work from June 15 through October 31. King County's 2026 Salmon SEEson guide puts kokanee viewing at Ebright, Lewis, and Laughing Jacobs creeks between early November and late January. Work inside the stream has to stop just as the fish arrive.
Here is how the season lines up:
- June 1, 2026. Construction begins off East Lake Sammamish Shore Lane NE. A 600-foot section of the East Lake Sammamish Trail closes between Louis Thompson Rd NE and NE Inglewood Hill Rd, with no detour.
- September 28 to October 2. East Lake Sammamish Parkway near NE 7th Court, and possibly Shore Lane, runs one lane in each direction at 20 mph.
- October 21. The Lake Sammamish Kokanee Work Group holds a public hybrid fall meeting at Redmond City Hall from 2 to 4:30 p.m. to share science assessments for its Ecological Survey update. The Eventbrite listing doesn't print the year, so confirm the date before you go.
- October 31. The in-water work window closes.
- November 4. Friends of Lake Sammamish State Park hosts a Lakeside Lecture on kokanee from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m., with UW professor Jeff Jensen and Dave Kyle of Trout Unlimited.
- Early November through late January. Kokanee viewing season.
- Q4 2026. The City's target for substantial completion at George Davis Creek. Final completion is targeted for Q2 2027.
The trail closure is scheduled through the end of the year. For the first two months of viewing season, the trail stays split in two near Inglewood Hill.
Ebright Creek already ran this experiment
Ebright Creek is a finished version of what George Davis Creek is becoming. The City's Ebright Creek fish passage project page records kokanee passing the newly built culvert in December 2021. That's the same kind of crossing now under construction to the north. In July 2026, King County named box culverts under King County Parks' East Lake Sammamish Trail and the Parkway among the most successful kokanee recovery actions so far.
The run numbers back that up. In 2017-18, just 19 adult kokanee returned from Lake Sammamish to their spawning grounds. In early 2025, biologists reported more than 8,300 adults returning. King County calls the 2024-25 run the second-highest return since monitoring began in 1996. The Snoqualmie Tribe's own estimate of about 8,000 fish ranks it third. Either way, it ranks among the strongest returns on record, in a population that had nearly vanished eight years earlier.
George Davis Creek is meant to repeat that result. The City started the project in 2018 to deal with an aging drainage system near the creek's approach to the Parkway. The concerns included costly annual work to clear sediment from a high-flow bypass, a system near the end of its expected life, and multiple barriers to fish passage for migrating kokanee. In 2019 the City chose to replace the drainage system with an open stream channel. It runs from Lake Sammamish 900 feet east to where the creek flows through what the City calls "an undisturbed, pristine ravine." Once the stream restoration is done, crews will remove the temporary bypass and the creek's full flow will run all the way to the lake again.
King County's trail page describes the payoff:
Once complete, this will open high‑quality salmon habitat on George Davis Creek and finish the last section of the ELST.
That sentence describes two projects. After the new culverts go in, the County will build a new wide paved trail section over them. That section completes the 11-mile trail between Redmond, Sammamish, and Issaquah, which the County first opened as a gravel interim path in 2006. The closure near Inglewood Hill is the last gap in a trail that has been filled in piece by piece since 2011.
The fish side will take longer to show. Kokanee return to the stream where they were born, after three to four years in the lake. The partners describe George Davis as a project "expected to contribute to even stronger returns in the coming years." The phrase "coming years" matters here.
Where to stand this winter
Of the three kokanee creeks in the Salmon SEEson guide, Ebright is the one on the Sammamish side of the lake. It's also well south of the trail closure.
| Creek | Where to go | What the guide says |
|---|---|---|
| Ebright Creek, Sammamish | 127 E. Lake Sammamish Parkway SE. Park in the small unmarked lot west of the Parkway, then walk about 50 feet south on the East Lake Sammamish Trail. | Go early or late in the day to cut glare. Be considerate of neighbors. |
| Lewis Creek, Issaquah | The bridge on 185th Place SE, with street parking at the bridge | A bridge viewing point. This is not Bellevue's Lewis Creek Park on Lakemont Blvd SE, which is a separate site. |
| Laughing Jacobs Creek, Issaquah | Lake Sammamish State Park boat launch, then the route to the Hans Jensen Group Camp bridge | Respect nearby private property. Check access if a private event is underway at the group camp. |
Ebright Creek also runs through Ebright Creek Park, a 12-acre City park along a known kokanee spawning creek. The City's park write-up doesn't name a specific viewing spot, so use the Salmon SEEson directions above for access. The guide says sightings are not guaranteed at any of these creeks and recommends checking before you go.
The Issaquah Creek boardwalk at Lake Sammamish State Park is a different trip on a different schedule. The guide lists it from mid-September through October, for salmon heading up Issaquah Creek, and lists Laughing Jacobs separately for kokanee. For kokanee, the guide points you to the November-through-January creeks instead.
The count still being quoted is from 2024-25
The two most recent King County updates on kokanee both cite the 2024-25 run. The County's December 24, 2025 year-end roundup uses the 8,300-plus figure for "2024-25 spawning run." The July 20, 2026 work group update repeats it and doesn't report a total for the 2025-26 run.
So this winter has two open questions. One is how last season's run turned out, which may come up at the October 21 work group meeting or the November 4 lecture. The other is whether the gains hold while a third creek is being reconnected. The Snoqualmie Tribe has also reported that three barriers on Zackuse Creek were replaced, though one impassable culvert still blocks part of that creek. The shoreline is still a work in progress.
Recovery here has always depended on many groups. The Kokanee Work Group's members include the City of Sammamish, the Snoqualmie Indian Tribe, Friends of Pine Lake, Save Lake Sammamish, Friends of Lake Sammamish State Park, Trout Unlimited, and the University of Washington. The roster also lists "residents who live in lake watershed."
Before you head to the creek
- Check the City's Cone Zone page for Parkway lane restrictions near the George Davis work. The City updates it weekly during construction.
- If you're biking or walking the trail to Ebright from the north, there is no way through the 600-foot closure between Louis Thompson Rd NE and NE Inglewood Hill Rd.
- Go early or late in the day. The guide's advice for each kokanee creek is aimed at reducing glare on the water.
- Register for the November 4 Lakeside Lecture through Friends of Lake Sammamish State Park if you'd rather hear from the researchers before you look for fish.
If you're curious how creek work like this shows up around homes on the east side of the lake, from trail access to Parkway traffic to the projects scheduled into 2027, Hearken, LLC is glad to talk it through. Michael and Jerome follow these shoreline projects closely. A free home valuation is an easy way to start that conversation.
