Glacier Middle School students walked to the White River Friday, releasing young salmon into a peaceful stretch of water where a small creek spills into the fast-flowing river.

Students in Joe Frame’s GMS classroom had raised the salmon as part of a lesson about ecosystems and protecting natural habitat.

At the river, students were assisted by volunteers from Citizens for a Healthy Bay, a nonprofit group that works to enhance Tacoma’s Commencement Bay and other regional waters. Students were quizzed about the riverside habitat – Was it a good place to release the salmon? Was it a likely spot for them to return for spawning? – and they tested the water for both temperature and ph level. At left, students release their young fish. Photo by Kevin Hanson