Congratulations to Kingston and North Kitsap high schools’ gymnasts, swimmers and wrestlers for their performances at state tournaments last week.

Jake Velarde of North Kitsap won his third state wrestling title, the first prep wrestler in Kitsap County to do so. Bobby Reece of Kingston won his second title. Kevin Fox of Kingston placed eighth in swimming, the first Kingston High School swimmer to stand on the podium.

Their performances, and the performances of all student athletes during the season, are testimony to commitment, hard work, perseverance and sportsmanship. When student athletes aren’t maintaining their personal fitness, practicing with their team or on the road at games or meets, they’re in the books, maintaining their grades. That’s no small task. Talk about character building.

Congratulations on a fine season and to the Kingston High School boys basketball team still in the running for State.

Congratulations, too, to those who worked so hard to see the Stillwaters Fish Passage become reality. A bridge has been built over Carpenter Creek and a road and culvert is being removed, restoring the estuary’s natural flow and allowing salmon to return to their natal streams unimpeded.

There’s an important lesson here. The Northwest Indian Fisheries Commission warns that we are losing salmon habitat faster than we are restoring it.

Salmon populations are at a 40-year low. Neighborhoods continue to be built near shorelines, impervious surfaces continue to send contaminated stormwater into the sea, and many culverts remain.

The Stillwaters Fish Passage project shows that we can live in harmony with salmon. It also shows how far we have to go to restore habitat in the region.