Joe Puhn, resource technician with the tribe, walks through the burn area near Johns Creek. View more photos here: http://go.nwifc.org/creekfire

Earthfix has the news on the aftermath of the Powerline 2 fire on the Johns Creek watershed:

“The fire burned all the way down to the water,” says John Konovsky, environmental program manager for the Squaxin Island Tribe. “It’s in a steep ravine and you look up the hillside and all you see is all this ash, this blanket of ash. It looks like a snowstorm actually.”

There’s rain expected this weekend. That could be bad news for the tens of thousands of summer run chum salmon that are spawning in the creek right now.

Konovsky worries that the ash will irritate their gills and smother the eggs.