Kids learn what it's like to be a salmon - Field trip exposes students to the fish population and its habitat

 

by Lori Varosh
Journal Reporter

King County Journal

October 4, 2003

 

DUVALL -- Wearing hand-colored fish-shaped hats, nearly two dozen fifth graders from Coe Elementary School in Seattle “swam upstream” this week to learn first-hand about the tribulations of salmon.

 

They dodged kids in bear or eagle hats and kids with fishing equipment.

 

They negotiated log jams and culverts. Only a handful of “salmon” survived to spawn.

The Journey Home obstacle course is part of a year-old Environmental Discovery Program developed by Seattle-based Stewardship Partners and run by Duvall-based Washington Trout.

 

Both are nonprofit organizations intent on restoring healthy ecosystems and introducing urban and suburban students to the natural environment.

 

In all, 100 fourth- and fifth-graders from four Eastside or Seattle schools are participating, said program coordinator Leah Hausman.

 

Each three-part class includes the daylong field trip to Oxbow Farm.

 

The organic produce operation lies south of Duvall in the midst of a 100-acre nature preserve surrounding Oxbow Lake, which was created when the Snoqualmie River changed course, and remains connected to the river by a seasonal channel.

 

Students filled out journals, increasing their awareness of birds and other creatures by recording every sound they heard.

 

They hiked to Oxbow Lake, examining plants, slugs and animal tracks through a magnifying glass on the way.

 

They spotted red-tailed hawks and local dogs. But the activity that evoked the most screams was the obstacle course.

 

“A nest of salmon eggs is called what?” asked Hausman.

 

“A redd,” cried Chris, earning the right to play the predatory eagle.

 

The area between fresh and salt water is an estuary, said Jackson, earning the chance to become the bear.

 

“Let's stick together, guys,” called one salmon.

 

“They've figured out how to be less vulnerable,” observed Kathleen Warham, a parent volunteer and Coe PTA president.

 

Even though four fish made it safely up one tributary, they learned their eggs would be killed by pollution.

 

“That's cheating,” Alaia said.

 

“It happens, though,” Hausman said.

 

The goal, Hausman said, is to awaken the ecological sensitivity of kids, some of whom had never before visited as wild a place as the Snoqualmie Valley. It's part of the mission of Washington Trout: to “preserve, protect and restore” the state's wild fish populations and habitat.

 

Lori Varosh can be reached at lori.varosh@kingcountyjournal.com or 425-453-4243.

 

STUDY TEACHING SPECIAL PROGRAMS PHOTOS: By Maxwell Balmain/Journal: 1) Chris Tapper, right, a "salmon predator," catches Edros Palisoc, a "salmon" attempting to make it through a man-made culvert. The culvert is part of an obstacle course that kids from Coe Elementary in Seattle had to run through at a farm in Duvall. The Environmental Discovery program, run by Duvall-based Washington Trout, teaches kids about ecosystems and the challanges returning salmon face. 2) Emma Mansfield, a "fisherman," attempts to net spawning "salmon" during a run through another obstacle course.