Salmon season is in full swing in Whatcom County, and this Saturday a beloved annual 5K is bringing the community together at Birch Bay to celebrate the fish that define the region. The Run with the Chums 5K, organized by the Whatcom Conservation District, returns on September 12 with a brand-new kids obstacle course designed to get young runners thinking about the obstacles salmon face on their own journeys.
What Is the Run with the Chums?
The Run with the Chums 5K has become a staple of Whatcom County's fall calendar, blending community fitness with conservation education. The race is held at Birch Bay, one of the most scenic stretches of coastline in Whatcom County, and draws runners of all ages who want to support local watershed health while enjoying the early autumn weather along the Salish Sea.
This year's event adds a highlight specifically for young families: the Smolt Sprint Obstacle Course. Designed for children under 10, the course is themed around the real-world challenges juvenile salmon face as they migrate from freshwater streams to the ocean. Young participants will navigate obstacles representing culverts, strong currents, logs, eagles, bears, and even people. The idea is both playful and educational, grounding conservation messaging in something kids can experience with their own bodies.
To compete in the Smolt Sprint, children are grouped with others of a similar age, keeping the competition friendly and age-appropriate. Parents are encouraged to cheer from the sidelines or run the main 5K course themselves before or after the kids' event.
Why Salmon and Why Now
Chum salmon, the species the race is named for, are one of five Pacific salmon species found in Whatcom County streams. Each fall, adult chum return from the Pacific Ocean to spawn in local waterways, completing a journey that began years earlier when they hatched in the same gravel beds where they will now reproduce. The cycle is one of the most dramatic in North American wildlife, and it plays out just miles from downtown Bellingham every September and October.
But that journey is increasingly difficult. The Whatcom Conservation District has documented dozens of barriers to fish passage across Whatcom County, including undersized or poorly installed culverts beneath roads that salmon physically cannot swim through. When a culvert blocks passage, entire sections of a stream are cut off from spawning habitat. County road crews and state agencies have been working for years to replace barrier culverts, a multi-decade and multi-million-dollar effort, but hundreds of problem sites remain.
That context is exactly what the Smolt Sprint is designed to communicate. Salmon do not just swim upstream; they navigate a gauntlet of human-built obstacles, natural predators, shifting water temperatures, and altered stream flows. A child crawling through a tunnel representing a blocked culvert is more likely to remember that lesson than any classroom explanation.
How to Register and What to Expect
Registration for the Run with the Chums 5K and the Smolt Sprint Obstacle Course is open online through the Whatcom Conservation District. The event takes place Saturday, September 12 at Birch Bay, with the Smolt Sprint preceding the main 5K. Participants are asked to register in advance so organizers can group children by age for the obstacle course.
Birch Bay is located in the northwestern corner of Whatcom County, roughly 20 miles north of Bellingham along Birch Bay Drive. The bay itself is a shallow, warm-water inlet popular with families, and the surrounding area includes Birch Bay State Park, which offers camping, beach access, and birding opportunities. In fall, the tidal flats attract shorebirds migrating through the Pacific Flyway, making the weekend a natural fit for anyone who enjoys the outdoors beyond just the race itself.
Past editions of the Run with the Chums have featured conservation booths from local organizations working on watershed restoration, invasive species removal, and salmon monitoring. Attendees can expect to learn about ongoing projects across the Nooksack watershed while connecting with neighbors who care about the same waterways.
The Bigger Picture for Whatcom County Watersheds
Salmon are what ecologists call a keystone species. Their bodies, after spawning, fertilize streamside vegetation with marine-derived nutrients carried from the open ocean. The trees that shade and cool Whatcom County creeks are partly fed by generations of salmon that died in the same gravel. Bears, eagles, and dozens of other species depend on the fall salmon run for critical calorie intake before winter. When salmon populations decline, those effects ripple outward in ways that are still being studied.
Whatcom County has made significant investments in salmon habitat in recent years. The proposed county budget for 2027 and 2028 includes using the Flood Fund to secure up to $30 million in state matching dollars for Nooksack River flood prevention projects, many of which also have salmon habitat co-benefits. Whatcom County is also home to the Nooksack Salmon Enhancement Association, which has planted hundreds of thousands of native streamside plants and restored miles of stream banks over the past three decades.
Events like the Run with the Chums connect casual community members to that larger conservation effort. Most of the people who run the 5K are not scientists or agency staff; they are Whatcom County residents who enjoy local trails, fish the streams with their kids, or simply appreciate knowing that healthy waterways are part of what makes this place worth living in.
For full registration details, course maps, and event timing, visit the Whatcom Conservation District website. Space for the Smolt Sprint is limited, so families with children under 10 are encouraged to register early. More background on local salmon habitat work and upcoming conservation events can also be found in recent local environmental coverage.
