Did you know there are salmon in Thornton Creek?
On Thursday, Jan. 20, Olympic Hills Elementary School teacher Eddie Paltrineri will share his experiences with the Salmon in the Schools program, which offers students the opportunity to hatch Coho eggs, release the fry into Thornton Creek, and learn about the life cycle of the salmon.
Eddie Paltrineri, left, shown with Wayne Rohay, both teachers at Olympic Hills Elementary School, will speak Jan. 20 about Salmon in the Schools.
However, the program, which passed from the state to the city of Seattle, and then to the school district, now is in danger of being dropped altogether. Paltrineri will speak about the program at the start of the next Thornton Creek Alliance membership meeting, which is free and open to the public, starting at 7 p.m. Jan. 20 at Meadowbrook Community Center, Room 1, 10517 35th Ave. N.E.
The business portion of the meeting will take place after the Salmon in the Schools presentation.
Want to learn more about the Thornton Creek Alliance? Below is their pitch:
Please consider joining and taking an active role in the Alliance on behalf of a healthier Thornton Creek Watershed. You would be joining a group of over 100 longtime members, that would benefit from more people serving on its board in a leadership capacity. We welcome your ideas and knowledge about the watershed and how to care for it. You will find our group interested and supportive of your environmental concerns whether they involve the entire watershed or just a specific subject or site. As an alliance we are prepared to serve as an umbrella for a wide variety of activities. The fact that we are all-volunteer and nongovernmental allows us a great deal of latitude in our advocacy.
In the past couple of years our activities have included restoration of riparian areas, lobbying the City of Seattle on behalf of natural ecosystems, obtaining grants for riparian work, assisting with the development of the Feet First NE Seattle walking map, giving away native plants, representation on the Thornton Creek Watershed Oversight Council, and much more. Our quarterly meeting speakers have included Russell Link (WA Dept of Fish & Wildlife) with his entertaining discussion of bringing wildlife to the back yard, Alan Johnson (Natural Systems Design) with a history of the Thornton Creek Watershed, and representatives from Seattle Public Utilities keeping us updated on their plans and issues and listening to ours.
To learn more, check them out on Facebook.
