📍 Animal Acres Park - LFP, WA

September 10th, 2022

The Location

📍 Lake Forest Park, WA

McAleer Creek crosses underneath the road 178th St, across from the popular Animal Acres Park. Due to a stream culvert project seven years ago, two concrete barricades were built and now McAleer Creek is hidden from sight while driving by.

Our goal is to remind people of McAleer Creek and the fact that there are salmon and wildlife hidden in the stream directly below them.

“A Mural With a Purpose”

Backstory About the Project

The idea for Save Our Salmon through Art initiative all started in October 2021. I was one of 28 teens from across the country selected to attend the First Tee Innovators Forum in San Jose - a weekend-long leadership summit challenging teens to develop an innovative community service project to bring back to our communities. My idea for my project was a public art project to raise awareness for salmon - and the Save Our Salmon Mural idea was born. In April 2022, the first mural location was painted on a 112-foot wall along Juanita Creek in Kirkland.

Now the second SOS Mural is coming soon to Lake Forest Park!

Follow @salmonmural on social media

The Cause: Supporting McAleer Creek Salmon

I’m partnering with the Lake Forest Park Stewardship Foundation and the University of Washington (UW)’s North Lake Washington SalmonWatchers program to bring this mural to life. Both groups are working to research, restore, and raise awareness for wetlands and watersheds of Lake Forest Park - to protect streams like McAleer Creek.

Of course, key to this effort is the participation of citizens in learning about and caring about McAleer Creek and the life it sustains - and a mural is the perfect way to bring awareness to the cause!

Community Paint Day

🗓 September 10th, 2022

I partnered with the Seattle-based nonprofit Urban ArtWorks to host a Community Paint Day on Saturday, September 10th, 2022 to host 200+ volunteers to help paint my design onto the barricades.

We hosted signups as one hour shifts from 10am-5pm, with 20+ volunteers per hour - 170+ volunteers during the Saturday Paint Day. No art experience required to participate, and we had everyone ages 4 to 74 help paint this mural!

We also hosted a Community Touchup Day the following Sunday with 30+ experienced artists to finalize details.

The Design

Native Kokanee Salmon

The mural design features kokanee salmon (often referred to as “Little Red Fish”) in McAleer Creek, a bright vivid illustration to remind people of the wildlife we share our local streams with. Kokanee are a type of landlocked sockeye that never make the trip out to the ocean, and are native to McAleer Creek and Lake Washington.

We typically think of sockeye, chinook, and coho when we think of salmon in Lake Washington, but prior to the 20th century kokanee were the most abundant salmon in the lake. Kokanee were thought to have been locally extinct from Lake Washington by the 2000s, but new research is shedding new light on a few local kokanee runs!

Stages Creating the Mural

It all started when the walls were blank!

These two concrete barricades were installed in 2016 during a stream culvert widening project. For seven years from 2016-2022, these barricades were blank concrete!

Here’s the “before” photos prior to our mural:

Stage 1

August 2022 - Prep, Primer, & Outlining

There was a lot of prep behind-the-scenes before we could even start painting. It was a team effort from the get-go - the City of LFP’s Public Works crew pressure washed the wall, and a crew of Shorecrest High School volunteers painted primer onto the barricades at the end of August 2022. Then, artist Austin Picinich worked with a team to draw the outlines onto the primed barricades.

Stage 2

September 10th, 2022 - Community Paint Day

On April 2nd, 2022 we hosted a Community Paint Day with Urban ArtWorks. The whole mural was painted in one day!

Stage 3

September 2022 - Touchup & Details

A crew of 30+ volunteers then went back over the following weeks to touchup the mural, clean up lettering, linework, and details.

The seal the finished mural, the City of LFP’s Public Works staff rolled on a UV protectant and anti-graffiti clearcoating. Since September 2022, the murals have been enjoyed by those

Meet the Creators

About the Artist: Austin Picinich

“I’m a 17-year-old artist from Kirkland, WA. I love brightening up my community, and art is the perfect way to do so! I enjoy acrylic-on-canvas painting as well, but murals are the perfect way to give back with my art. I especially love art that has a message, and raising awareness for salmon through murals is an amazing way to make an impact with art”

Lake Forest Park Stewardship Foundation

LFP Stewardship Foundation is a nonprofit since 1998 working to preserve wetlands and watersheds of Lake Forest Park to restore natural wildlife habitat, while providing educational opportunities for citizens to learn about and help aid conservation of their natural environment.

UW North Lake Washington SalmonWatchers

The SalmonWatchers program - founded and led by UW Bothell biology professor Dr. Jeff Jensen - works with students and community volunteers to positively impact streams like McAleer Creek. Projects include building egg incubators and natural resources for salmon to thrive.

More About McAleer Creek

You can learn more about Lake Forest Park and it’s stream by reading LFP Stewardship Foundation’s “A Salmon’s Guide to Lake Forest Park”

The booklet covers the challenges of being a salmon, and how us community members can help make a difference.

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