Retired teacher Mary Magill has made it her mission to educate local students about salmon.

Magill takes salmon eggs to three Lynnwood elementary schools — Lynndale, Lynnwood and Meadowdale — and gives a presentation about the importance of salmon in our environment. Then she puts 200 salmon eggs in the school aquarium. The eggs come from the Issaquah Salmon Hatchery through a permit that a teacher at each school has from the Washington State Department of Fish and Wildlife.

Several classrooms at each school follow the development of the eggs as they hatch and then grow to a size that allows them to be safely released. The three schools will take a field trip, provided by the City of Lynnwood, to Halls Lake to release the small salmon in April.

“Mary raised salmon in her classroom for many years and when she retired, she felt this salmon-raising curriculum was very important,” said Jim Siscel, the Salmon In Schools area coordinator. When Magill asked if she could continue to be involved, Siscel welcomed her to the team.

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