Appreciation, Curiosity, Enjoyment, and Stewardship; Engaging in Education

As the Education Associate at SFEG, it is my pleasure and privilege to help teach local K-12 students (and the occasional adult) about salmon habitat, watershed health, and environmental stewardship. Those involved in our educational programs learn about the salmon life cycle, salmon habitat requirements, perform chemical water quality tests, participate in restoration efforts, and even see spawning salmon (most of this dependent on nature working to our benefit). These programs have been in practice for well over a decade but year after year subtle changes occur to ensure a full and dynamic learning experience. This year we have been repeatedly partnering with other organizations to bring a well-rounded experience to participating students: the Marblemount Fish Hatchery and the Skagit River Bald Eagle Interpretive Center.

The Marblemount Fish Hatchery, run by the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife, hosts facility tours, connects to beautiful walking trails, and maintains an informative visitor’s center in addition to raising thousands upon thousands of fish each year. As a part of our Salmon in the Classroom Program, schools will receive 250 coho eggs from the hatchery to be tank-raised then released by the students. Many of these students visit the hatchery on SFEG led field trips and see a spawning demonstration, fry rearing in the holding ponds, and returning spawning adults making their way up Clark Creek to the fish trap. The staff at the hatchery have been readily lending their expertise which enriches the entire experience for students and teachers alike. Several students go from exclamations of “ew gross!” to clamoring to stick their hands in a bucket full of salmon eggs or from impatiently asking to return to the bus to “I wanna stay and look!” at the spawning adults visible along the Clark Creek trail.

After immersing the students in salmon at the hatchery, the folks at the Skagit River Bald Eagle Interpretive Center offer a different perspective. Salmon are in integral part of the Pacific Northwest coastal ecosystem, providing nutrients for numerous species from bears to birds to Sitka spruce trees to seals. Decline in salmon populations has caused a ripple through the food web with marked changes in several species including the transient Bald Eagle population that usually flocks to the upper Skagit River to feast on spawning salmon. Knowledgeable volunteers at the Bald Eagle Interpretive Center show students a life sized recreation of a first year eagle’s nest and narrate the careful process of selecting and placing building materials. Inside the center, students can see two stuffed and mounted eagles, eggs collected from local birds, and imitation scat from several of the area’s predatory mammals. Other students cling to binoculars and use the spotting scope to scan for eagles along the banks of the Skagit River.

Connecting the schools of children to the schools of salmon and to the more visible soaring eagles and the multitude of greenery in the Pacific Northwest are the first few links in the chain of environmental stewardship. If students can make these kinds of connections, if they can explain how their actions affect our waterways and the species that depend on them, the way they think about and engage with the natural world will change forever. Knowledge fosters understanding, understanding inspires care. It’s about way more than just salmon and these students are able to learn this.