The first thing you see when you enter Camp Colman, is The Lagoon.

Speckled with docks and nestled in the woods just south of Joemma Beach State Park, it’s an integral part of the 109-year-old camp run by the YMCA of Greater Seattle.

But The Lagoon — officially named Whiteman Cove — was once a thriving 29-acre estuary with free-flowing tides into and out of Case Inlet. Juvenile salmon and steelhead nestled in pockets of gravel, safely growing into ocean-faring fish, until 1962, when the Washington State Department of Fisheries (now Fish and Wildlife) turned it into a lagoon with a berm and two culverts — tubes that let fish swim through developed areas — to raise farmed fish.

“These pocket estuaries are disproportionately important for juvenile salmon and they are, unfortunately, the types of places that have been pretty heavily impacted by development,” says Jamie Glasgow, director of science and research at Wild Fish Conservancy, a nonprofit conservation organization headquartered in Duvall.

Camp Colman moved from its original Gig Harbor site to the site of the fish farm in the late 1960s, in part because it wanted to make use of the lagoon’s still waters for teaching water sports.

“It’s really easy for beginners to learn how to canoe and paddle board there. You’re not fighting against big currents and waves, and it’s just a really delightful experience,” says Meredith Cambre, the Y’s senior executive director for camping and outdoor leadership. Campers also gather at The Lagoon for fun campwide activities, like the Belly Flop Contest, she says. “A key piece of the camp experience is being in or on the water.”

But while the camp was helping thousands of campers learn to safely play in the water, multiple species of salmon weren’t able to access that space.

Read the full article about restoring fish passages by Hannah Weinberger at The Counter.