Earth Day marks the 2016 Kokanee Release, where locals will release hatchery salmon into Issaquah Creek — a stream that hasn’t seen freshwater kokanee populations since the historic run there went extinct in the 1980s.

Lake Sammamish Kokanee, commonly known for their red coloring, used to thrive in 10s of thousands in the Lake Washington watershed, according to David St. John, coordinator and chair of the Lake Sammamish Kokanee Work Group. Today, the kokanee only spawn in three local streams.

The Kokanee Release event, put on by the Lake Sammamish Kokanee Workgroup, will take place from 11:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Friday at Confluence Park in Issaquah. The public is welcome.

This year marks the third-highest kokanee return in two decades and the seventh consecutive year of success in the supplemental hatchery program, according to St. John.

The Kokanee Workgroup, established in 2007, includes private lakeside property owners, King County, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife, Snoqualmie Tribe, Trout Unlimited, Friends of Pine Lake, Friends of Issaquah Fish Hatchery, the cities of Sammamish, Issaquah, Bellevue and Redmond.

Its goal is to prevent the kokanee salmon’s extinction, to build a healthy, self-sustaining population and to renew a kokanee fishery.