Salmon in the Schools is a program that teaches students that we all have a role to play in protecting our local watersheds. Each year, about 70 schools raise young salmon and learn about how human actions impact salmon and our local waterways.
In the Pacific Northwest, salmon are important to our history, culture and economy. They are an indicator of the health of our waterways and feed both people and orcas. Each January, classes receive salmon eggs and begin to learn about the salmon lifecycle and what kind of habitat salmon need to thrive. In spring, students take a field trip to a local creek to release the salmon they’ve raised during the school year.
The program began in 1991 with the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife and has been nurtured, cared for, and run in Seattle since then by a leadership team of representatives from Seattle Public Utilities, Fauntleroy Watershed Council, and Carkeek Watershed Community Action Project.
Salmon in the Schools – Seattle is funded by Seattle Public Utilities and as of January 2023, IslandWood has been selected to work in partnership with the leadership team to help coordinate and run the program moving forward.
For more detailed information about the program visit Salmon in the Schools.
This video, called Sound Bound, tells the story of one class’s experience with the program. You can get a good sense for what it’s like to participate in Salmon in the Schools by watching!
IslandWood acknowledges that the land on which we gather is within the ancestral territory of the suqʷabš “People of Clear Salt Water” (Suquamish People). Expert fisherman, canoe builders and basket weavers, the suqʷabš live in harmony with the lands and waterways along Washington’s Central Salish Sea as they have for thousands of years. Here, the suqʷabš live and protect the land and waters of their ancestors for future generations as promised by the Point Elliot Treaty of 1855. While the majority of our work takes place on Suquamish and Duwamish (dxʷdɐwʔabʃ) land, we also conduct programs on the land of the Snohomish (sduhúbʃ), Puyallup (spuyaləpabš), Muckleshoot (buklshuhls), Skokomish (sqoqc’bes), and S’Klallam (nəxʷsƛ̕ay̕əm) peoples.
IslandWood is a registered 501(c)(3) charitable organization. Our tax ID number is 31-1654076.
4450 Blakely Ave. NE, Bainbridge Island, WA 98110 206.855.4300