Salmon Project

Raising salmon from eggs, then releasing into Hylebos Creek

In the late 1980s, before anyone was monitoring our local declining Salmon population, our school started its Salmon Project. That's over 25 years of helping the salmon!

Students visit the Soos Creek Hatchery to get salmon eggs.
They take water from the Hylebos Creek...
...to put in the tank for the salmon eggs.
They prepare the tank...
...and then add the salmon eggs.
The salmon grow...
...until they are mature enough to be released.
The older students teach...
...the younger students about the lifecycle of the salmon and about protecting our environment.
The whole school (Toddler - 8th grade)...
...participates in releasing...
...the salmon into the Hylebos Creek.
Older students help younger students...
...release their salmon...
...into the Hylebos Creek.
This is Mrs. Justus (our founder) with her Great Grandkids, who are also students in the school.
Students watching a salmon spawn upstream (on our campus).
Adult salmon spawning up the Hylebos Creek to lay eggs! So exciting!
Mrs. Justus, our founder, in the 1950s teaching about the Hylebos Creek's delicate Eco-System.

Federal Way Mirror Newspaper Articles about our Salmon Project:

2012
Salmon savers: Spring Valley Montessori nurses creek to health
http://www.federalwaymirror.com/news/154218245.html

2010
Federal Way kids release salmon hatchlings into the wild
http://www.federalwaymirror.com/lifestyle/94616324.html

2008
School boosts local salmon supply
http://www.federalwaymirror.com/news/17087361.html

Every year the 4th - 8th grade students get salmon eggs from our local hatchery, and then raise them until they are fingerlings. The students study the life cycle of the salmon, and then go to the younger students' classrooms and teach them about the salmon. The young children love having the older students in their classes!

All of the classrooms love taking nature hikes to visit the salmon tank and see the progress of their growth.

When the Salmon are mature enough, the entire school participates in releasing the salmon into the Hylebos Creek. Each student names a baby Salmon, and then release it into the Hylebos Creek. (Nemo and Dori have been popular Salmon names for a few years now.)

It's really fun to be part of helping the environment, and helping the dwindling Salmon population. You're never to young to think about how you can make a positive impact on our environment and the world.