Kenai Peninsula students release salmon, trout into the wild

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (KTUU) - Hundreds of elementary school students from the Kenai Peninsula Borough School District released hatchery-raised rainbow trout and coho salmon fry into the wild Wednesday, according to the Department of Fish and Game.

The trout was released into Johnson Lake, and the coho salmon fry was released into Arc Lake, according to Fish and Game.

The coho was raised in classroom aquariums by schools that participated in the “salmon in the classroom” program. Students collected the eggs in an October “egg take” with Fish and Game.

K-Beach Elementary School teacher Joanna Nichols said she loves seeing the kids watch the salmon grow over the school year.

“You have all these kids watching them eat and asking questions like: ‘Why aren’t these ones alive?’ Or ‘What happened to these?’ Or ‘When the eggs were there like, why are they this color?’” Nichols said. “So all that curiosity was pretty neat, and it wasn’t just in our classroom. The third graders were the ones pretty much taking care of them, but everybody got to be a part of seeing that. So that’s always really neat every year.”

Fish and Game said the activities increase the awareness of the salmon life cycle, healthy environments, and educate Alaska’s youth about the value of the state’s natural resources.

See a spelling or grammar error? Report it to web@ktuu.com

Copyright 2025 KTUU. All rights reserved.