46 students from Roxhill Elementary were the first to visit Fauntleroy Creek as this year’s Salmon In The Schools releases begin.

Volunteer creek stewards help school students and staff release the fry they’ve been raising at school, a process that starts with volunteers delivering eggs from hatcheries. Over the next five weeks, 17 releases are planned at Fauntleroy Creek, one of Seattle’s few remaining salmon-bearing creeks.

The annual salmon life cycle continues in the creek with coho spawners’ return in fall – last year volunteers counted 254, one of the highest totals since creek restoration a quarter-century ago.