The Salmon in the Classroom program, eliminated last year by the state Department of Fish and Wildlife, is back.

The program has been resurrected by advocates who formed the Salmon Education Alliance and have mapped a plan to administer the program privately.

"This is a hands-on invaluable lesson on the life cycle of salmon," said Jane Kuechle, with FISH, the Friends of the Issaquah Salmon Hatchery and one of the regional coordinators of the new program. "The educational value is immeasurable."

Late last year, Fish and Wildlife said the Legislature eliminated the program as part of budget cuts. In place for 20 years, the program introduced about 40,000 schoolchildren a year to the life of salmon.

Eliminating the program saved $442,000 for the current biennium.

Fish and Wildlife will still administer the permits for the schoolchildren to receive eggs from a hatchery, raise tiny salmon and release them to a local stream.

"From the agency's point of view, there was no more Salmon in the Classroom program," said Josh Nicholas, who is coordinating the new program for Fish and Wildlife. "That it will continue is awesome. I'm glad they've stepped up to the plate. It's important that students learn about the salmon life cycle."

Seattle Public Utilities is funding part of the program, after City Council President Richard Conlin, learning that it was ending, got the city to commit $10,000 through SPU to keep it going.

"It's really critical that kids get in touch with the environment at an early age and have a connection to the natural world," Conlin said.

About 500 schools statewide, including 50 in Seattle, will participate in the program.

The Seattle program will be coordinated by SPU and the Seattle Parks Department. The job of the coordinators will be to track and fix equipment, manage information, help schools obtain the salmon eggs and provide rearing and release information, said Brian Gay, a Seattle Parks Department naturalist. The eggs will be delivered in January and could be released to streams as early as March, he said.

Part of what the coordinators will do, said Kuechle, is to handle the paperwork that used to fall to Fish and Wildlife. She said the Salmon Educational Alliance will have to raise money to fund the program.

The schools that obtained equipment from the state can keep it as a donation, Nicholas said.

Susan Gilmore: 206-464-2054 or sgilmore@seattletimes.com