Councilmembers Help Sow “Seeds for the Future” von Reichbauer, Phillips Join Students in Releasing Salmon Fry

With the help of students from Spring Valley Montessori School in Federal Way, Metropolitan King County Councilmembers Pete von Reichbauer and Larry Phillips today released salmon fry into Hylebos Creek to help restore the salmon population.

“Restoring the Hylebos is an effort that spans generations,” said von Reichbauer. “These students are joining their parents and grandparents in making sure the waterway continues to be a thriving salmon habitat.” 

Pre-schoolers and kindergartners joined their third and fourth grade classmates in helping von Reichbauer and Phillips release the fry. The timing of the release is important because it will give the fry an opportunity to imprint on the waterway, which is vital in ensuring that in four years, they will return to Hylebos to spawn. 

“By releasing juvenile Coho salmon, these children are literally sowing the seeds of Hylebos Creek’s future,” said Chris Carrel, Executive Director of Friends of Hylebos Wetlands. “Some of the salmon they release will return to Hylebos Creek in four years to spawn more salmon. The experience of releasing baby salmon to the wild will stay with these kids for a lifetime, preparing them to become good stewards of their watershed as they grow up.”

The Hylebos waterway is a vital salmon habitat and is part of the Nearshore Preservation Initiative, a public/private partnership to protect nearshore habitats around Puget Sound that are key salmon habitat for juvenile and mature salmon as well as other species. Included in the visit to Spring Valley was a tour of the Dumas Bay. Local creeks such as Lakota Creek and Joe’s Creek flow into Dumas Bay and von Reichbauer and Phillips had the opportunity to see the habitat restoration taking place along the waterway.

“By releasing juvenile salmon, these students are taking their first steps into what I hope will be a lifetime of environmental protection,” said Larry Phillips.  “If our young citizens continue protecting and enhancing Hylebos Creek and waterways all over King County, this generation of Coho will be the first of many that these children will see.”