05:39 PM PDT on Tuesday, August 4, 2009
EVERETT, Wash. - It will take more than the words "abracadabra" or "presto," but a team of workers and volunteers plan to turn tires into salmon. Near the Everett Boeing plant - between Mukilteo and Everett - is Japanese Gulch. It's a popular recreation spot. Salmon used to spawn there, too. And at one time, it was also the dumping spot for a wrecking yard. Thousands of tires litter the creek at the bottom of the gulch. Now the cities of Everett and Mukilteo, along with the Department of Ecology, are doing something about it. All this week, workers are dragging the tires to a staging spot at the bottom of gulch, where a crane is hoisting them to dumpsters above. The old tires will be recycled or used for fuel. Later, volunteers will come in and spread spawning sand in the gulch, hoping that eventually salmon will return.
