SOUTH LAKE TAHOE — The annual Kokanee Salmon Festival was held this weekend in South Lake Tahoe at Taylor Creek. Thousands of visitors witnessed the annual salmon migration, in which mature salmon return to shallow streams where they were born.
Visitors watched the annual ritual, in which the salmon select a mate, spawn and die.
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The event is at the Taylor Creek Visitor Center, operated by the U.S. Forest Service. According to the Forest Service, “almost as dramatic as the story of life and death being played out in the water are the colorful combinations of orange, gold and red as the vegetation prepares to shed their foliage in anticipation of winter.”
The event features family friendly interpretive displays and a salmon barbecue. While the festival was held October 1 and 2, 2011, the fish can be viewed through October.
“Spawn typically lasts through the month of October, with the peak in approximately two weeks,” said Lisa Herron of the Forest Service.
The Visitor Center is open through October 31, weather permitting.
