At the bottom of a cold stream in Everett, a tiny fish hides in the gap between two rocks, guarding a cluster of pale eggs.
Romeo, a Cottus aleuticus, or Coastrange sculpin, is protecting the clutch from other predators in the Trout Stream Exhibit at the Adopt a Stream Foundation’s Northwest Stream Center in McCollum Park. All day and night for the next three weeks, he will wave his pectoral fins to increase water and oxygen flow over the eggs. He will not leave the nest until they hatch — not even to feed. And he does this job alone; the female who laid the eggs is off somewhere else in the stream, making Romeo the single father of 1,000.
“I like to view these riffle sculpin as sentinels, or ‘canaries in a mine shaft,’” said Tom Murdoch, the director emeritus and founder of the Northwest Stream Center. “Because if your stream can’t support this little sculpin, it’s not going to support salmon or trout.”
The Adopt a Stream Foundation, or AASF, began as a nonprofit in 1985. Its mission was to teach people how to become stewards of their watersheds. The first outreach efforts began with local high schools and elementary schools. In 1992, AASF partnered with Snohomish Country Parks and Recreation, which led to the creation of the Northwest Stream Center.
The center spans 25 acres and features two salmon streams surrounded by wetland systems and forest. Its most popular attraction is a nature walk, where visitors can stroll through the riparian zone of North Creek and learn more about the unique ecosystem.
The center began construction on the 160-foot Trout Stream Exhibit in 2006 with funding from the Tulalip Tribes. It was finished in 2011, with additional funding from donations and the work of volunteers. The stream flows into a large pond that used to be the site of a gravel parking lot.
In it, Romeo cohabitates with species native to Washington’s streams, like cutthroat trout, crayfish, and freshwater mussels. Visitors are able to take a peek under the surface to see and learn about what lives in the streams flowing through urban areas.
AASF hopes to raise $2.5 million to expand even further, with plans to convert the existing visitors building into a sustainable Ecosystem Lab.
The completed lab will have a variety of sustainability features: Solar panels for the facility’s energy needs; a rainfall collection system with low-water toilets and waterless urinals; and energy-efficient appliances and insulation. The lab will help the AASF manage another 12 acres of forest near the stream center, as well as the existing 25 acres of forest and wetland on NWSC grounds. According to AASF, it will be the first such lab in the United States.
Inside the lab, visitors can learn about energy-efficient appliances and the ecological benefits of UV-reflective windows. They can discover how many solar panels they would need to power their homes on an interactive display, or see the temperature differences between warm and cool colored roof and road materials.
“We’re creating a lab that’s actually accessible to the public, unlike a lab at a university or a biotech firm,” Murdoch said. “You can come here, see all the sustainability practices we’re putting into play and say, ‘Hey, I can do some of this stuff at home, maybe in my workplace or out in my community.’”
After construction of the lab, the foundation hopes to plant 10,000 trees and shrubs per year while restoring the degraded riparian zones of other salmon streams off-campus — ensuring that more hardworking sculpins like Romeo will have healthy habitats to raise their young.
The Northwest Stream Center is open to visitors Tuesday - Saturday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.
