NORMANDY PARK, Wash. -- Trying to restore a dwindling salmon population is no easy task. But one man has taken on that challenge and he's winning.

Andy Batcho is used to tackling the impossible. He was a part of the Apollo Space Program that put man on the moon.

Then he found his next challenge in his own backyard -- turning a weed-infested ditch into a rich salmon habitat.

"It's beginning to look more and more like a natural stream," he said.

Fifteen years ago, the retired Boeing engineer designed a plan to restore Miller and Walker Creeks in his neighborhood just 15 minutes from downtown Seattle.

"It is very complicated and it changes every time we have a rainfall," Batcho said.

Batcho and volunteers put in logs to crate riffles and pools for salmon to spawn and grow. They planted native trees to shade the streams to keep them cool for the fish. The plants brought back bugs, which attracted the salmon.

It's estimated that a couple hundred years ago, when everything was natural around the creeks, 800 to 1,200 salmon returned to the river. Development in the 40s and 50s brought that number to nearly zero. Thanks to Batcho's work, the salmon are coming back. They see 100 to 400 in a good year.

"You see as many as 90 fish come up in three hours," Batcho said.

Field and Stream Magazine recently named Batcho one of its heroes of conservation and awarded him $5,000 and a trip to New York.

"That just blew me away," he said.

But the greatest reward, Batcho said, was watching the community come together.

"The reason you have a good vision is you're standing on the shoulders of giants," he said.

He hopes those creeks will inspire others to do the same in their backyards.

Since receiving national recognition, Batcho has been contacted by various communities and individuals who are seeking his expertise. One student in Issaquah asked for his help restoring a stream near her high school.