By SUSAN MONTOYA BRYAN
Associated Press

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) - With the Rio Grande flowing bank to bank, dozens of children are releasing native fish they spent months raising into the river as part of an ongoing conservation program aimed at linking classrooms with the outdoors.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has teamed up with schools in New Mexico, Texas, California and states on the East Coast to bring more awareness to river systems and the fish that inhabit them.

In New Mexico, the Rio Grande has lost two of its native species in recent decades and the endangered silvery minnow will have an uphill battle this spring after a year in which tens of thousands of them were rescued from stretches of the river that went dry.

Officials say the work done to help the minnow also will benefit the fish reared by the students.

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