Small fry wade into science on Salmon Watch field trips.Byline: Bill Bishop The Register-Guard McKENZIE BRIDGE - The spectacle of spring chinook salmon chinook salmon or king salmon Prized North Pacific food and sport fish (Oncorhynchus tshawytscha) of the salmon family. The average weight is about 22 lbs (10 kg), but individuals of 50–80 lbs (22–36 kg) are not unusual. thrashing in spawning beds along the McKenzie River would make a great school field trip any day. But there's more to Oregon Trout's 10-year-old Salmon Watch program, which takes thousands of Oregon students on a tour of the river ecosystem to instill in·still v. To pour in drop by drop. in  stil·la tion n. a deeper understanding of how little things
add up in the big picture.
Wearing borrowed rubber boots in ankle-deep shallows last week, Kathleen Conery and her classmates Classmates can refer to either:
Peering intently at a tiny red worm squiggling madly in a teaspoonful tea·spoon·ful n. pl. tea·spoon·fuls Abbr. t. or tsp. The amount that a teaspoon can hold. Noun 1. of river water, Conery used a field guide to determine it was the larva larva, in zoology larva, independent, immature animal that undergoes a profound change, or metamorphosis, to assume the typical adult form. Larvae occur in almost all of the animal phyla; because most are tiny or microscopic, they are rarely seen. of a midge midge, name for any of numerous minute, fragile flies in several families. The family Chironomidae consists of about 2,000 species, most of which are widely distributed. The herbivorous larvae are found in all freshwaters; the larvae of some species live in saltwater. that will someday transform into an insect - unless a fish finds it first. Conery also tested river water for purity and learned to identify redds, the gravel beds where salmon spawn. "It's cool to see how things work," said Conery, one of 32 Roosevelt Middle School students in Daven da·ven intr.v. da·vened, da·ven·ing, da·vens To recite Jewish liturgical prayers. Tubb's science class. "It's really cool to see all the salmon, how big they are." Tubb, an 18-year teaching veteran, has organized two Oregon Trout outings annually for his students for the past seven years. Before they ever get on the bus, he makes sure they have a good overview of the salmon life cycle, the ecosystem the fish depend on, and the salmon's place in native cultures. "What I want kids to get from this is just to see how amazing they are," Tubb said, as he gathered with his students near the spawning channel for a presentation by Jeff Ziller, district fishery biologist for the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife The Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife (ODFW) is an agency of the government of the U.S. state of Oregon responsible for programs protecting Oregon fish and wildlife resources and their habitats. . Dozens of salmon - dark and decrepit de·crep·it adj. Weakened, worn out, impaired, or broken down by old age, illness, or hard use. See Synonyms at weak. [Middle English, from Old French, from Latin d from their arduous journey upriver - pass the last days of their lives in the Eugene Water & Electric Board's spawning channel. EWEB EWEB Eugene Water and Electric Board (Oregon) built and maintains the channel, a series of gravel bars in a side channel of the McKenzie, to replace spawning habitat lost when EWEB built the Carmen-Smith hydropower hy·dro·pow·er n. Hydroelectric power. project in the 1960s. The EWEB electric generators on the project power 17,500 Eugene homes. Ziller pointed to female salmon working in the channel, laying about 100 eggs at a time and fanning gravel over them to create consecutive layers in a redd. Each female carries about 4,000 eggs, although larger fish carry more, Ziller said. He pointed to the hook-nosed males that vie for domination in each redd, chasing smaller males away and earning the right to fertilize the eggs. The eggs hatch in February and the salmon fry grow to about 3 inches over the summer. They'll be about twice that size next February. By April, they'll be headed for the ocean. After a few years, they will return to the Columbia in January and February as adults. By September, they will be back near their birthplace to spawn and die - their carcasses returning nutrients to the river to feed insects, animals and other fish, Ziller tells the students. "This is the first time I've been this close to them," said Adam Roberts, 12. "It's cool to see them alive, instead of, like, with butter on it." Almost 25,000 students have participated in Salmon Watch programs as the project expanded over the past decade, said Tom Tattam, regional education coordinator for Oregon Trout. About 4,470 students will attend 149 field trips in 19 Oregon counties this year. Oregon Trout, with government agencies, private foundations, public utilities and corporate sponsors, hopes to expand the program to every county by 2005, Tattam said. SALMON WATCH What: A project of Oregon Trout to foster deeper understanding of salmon habitat, ecosystems and the cultural values salmon represent. Who: About 25,000 students, 425 teachers and 1,550 volunteers participated in the first decade of the project. Government agencies, utilities, private corporations and foundations contribute money and employee time. More information: Tom Tattam, regional coordinator, 753-4280; on the Web at ortrout.org. - Oregon Trout CAPTION(S): Amber Zluticky and classmates watch salmon in the spawning channel through polarized A one-way direction of a signal or the molecules within a material pointing in one direction. glasses as part of a Salmon Watch tour. E d u c a t i o n E x t r a INSIDE Education Extra: Faces & Places, School Achievements and more / B4 Brian Davies / The Register-Guard David Stokes (left) and Aaron Jacobs examine specimens as Roosevelt Middle School students study stream ecology in the McKenzie River below Trail Bridge Reservoir. |
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